A tiny koala joey is now under the care of Port Macquarie Koala Hospital after being found next to a road with its mother.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The minuscule bundle of fur named Ocean Drive Pixie is one of the youngest koalas to be care for by the hospital, with the barely two month old requiring constant supervision after being rescued from Ocean Drive on May 19.
Pixie is the female offspring of local adult koala, Ocean Thomasina which was rescued after being hit by a car last month said assistant clinical director Scott Castle.
"Both were found down near the Port Macquarie Golf Course road," he said.
"We were notified by a motorist, a member of the public because they saw a koala by the side of the road, brought her in and only then we realised there was a joey.
"It appears Ocean Thomasina was hit by a car but she is still with us, however she is not in very good condition.
"If there was no hospital, it's unlikely that either of them would have survived."
Caring for the 200 gram joey is made even more difficult by the absence of the correct gut bacteria koalas need to breakdown eucalyptus leaves.
Young koalas would usually be inoculated with a 'pap' material poo by eating their mothers poo in the wild.
However to gain the correct gut bacteria staff at the hospital will have to come up with a different option in this case.
"She's at a difficult stage because she's pre-pap," said Mr Castle.
"When they are five or six months of age they need to eat some of their mothers poo to inoculate their gut bacteria so that they can digest eucalypt leaves.
"We need to produce that for her.
"So we can either harvest it from a dead healthy animal or make a poo-shake with healthy poo and pulverised leaves or if we have another mother we can use that.
"I think the chances are good, but we never guarantee.
"If we can't inoculate her gut properly, she could die very quickly."
As the young joey grows to maturity in the next year she will be looked after by local carer Barbara Barrett and put in a re-release group.
"In this case Thomasina and Pixie wouldn't be reunited, we are emulating what would happen in nature anyway," said Mr Castle.
"It's unlikely she's accept her back so what we do now is rear the joey until it's the right age to come back into our re-release yard.
"Then they are released often with a group to establish a population outside of town, last year we released nine and this year we have four or five that will be going out."
What else is making news, sport?
While you're with us, you can now receive updates straight to your inbox from the Port Macquarie News. To make sure you're up to date with all the news, SIGN UP HERE.
