Wildlife carers from across the state converged on Port Macquarie for a Koala Rehabilitation Workshop.
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The two day workshop on August 4-5 is run annually by the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital for WIRES NSW.
Over the two days 100 attendees covered theory and practical ‘hands-on’ aspects of wild koala rehabilitation.
The topics included capture and handling, enclosure design, koala behaviour, population dynamics, diseases, drug therapies and treatments, bushfires and koala joey care.
The workshop is for WIRES and all other licensed wildlife groups in NSW, veterinarians and zookeepers.
Cheyne Flanagan, Clinical Director for Port Macquarie Koala Hospital, said the workshop delivered practical hands-on skills.
“As well as providing valuable information on koala care, the workshop gives attendees an opportunity to share their experiences with wild koalas with others.
“Everyone attending, including the Koala Hospital, will come away from the weekend with new knowledge on working with wild koalas,” she said.
The first day of the workshop was held at the Waters Edge conference centre in Port Macquarie.
Day two was ‘hands-on’ at the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital.
Workshop attendees left Port Macquarie with a copy of the Koala Hospital Rehabilitation Manual.
The manual has been available for 10 years and is revised every two years with the last edition printed in July 2017. It covers all aspects of wild koala rehabilitation.
It is sold throughout Australia and internationally to zoos.
A copy was given to the Head Keeper of the Australian Exhibits at the Duisburg Zoo, where koalas are bred for European zoos, when he visited last December.
“The Koala Hospital has been working in an advisory capacity with overseas zoos for many years. Our goal is to assist them in better management of their koalas, particularly from a handling and housing point of view,” Ms Flanagan said.
