A koala keeper. Sounds like a fun job, doesn’t it? That’s because it is! But it’s not all about cuddling the cute koalas. There are a lot of jobs that for australian wildlife conservationists to do and they involve hard work and getting hands dirty. So read on and see exactly what it’s like to be a koala keeper.

The day starts at 8:30am for these Australian wildlife conservationists, with a walk up through the park, weaving in-and-out of emus, geese and other free-range birds. Some mornings, upon arrival to the koala enclosure, you may be greeted by some of our furry friends – hungry and waiting for their breakfast!

The first thing to do is a koala head-count to make sure all are present; not always an easy task as they are very good at hiding high up in trees. Leaves from the previous day are removed from the leaf pots and replaced with fresh eucalypt foliage. Whilst the koalas are feeding the enclosure floor is hosed down and dirty branches are cleaned – they may be small but they make a lot of mess!

The adjoining enclosure houses four other marsupials – Swamp Wallabies , Agile Wallabies , Euros and Quokkas . Their enclosure, particularly feeding areas, is raked and all poo picked up. Their food (muesli, pellets, fruit) and water is changed daily, and they will also be provided with old branches to ‘browse’ on 2-3 times a week.

Our Echidnas and Bobtails share the same enclosure, however their feeding regimes are very different. During the warmer months the bobtails will eat 2-3 times a week, but during winter they will enter hibernation and do not require food. Echidnas will eat all year round and are fed once daily on an insectivorous diet; termite mounds are also supplied.

Feed bowls from our other park animals (wombat , possums, birds) are collected and cleaned ready for fresh food. The water in the bird aviary is cleaned and refilled daily, with enrichment branches changed twice a week. The floor and upper railing is thoroughly cleaned 3-4 times a week to remove all bird poo.

Cleaning of the wombat enclosure involves raking up any old food or poo and occasionally changing the hay in the sleeping quarters. The possums are given wattle to eat and browse on several times a week as well as their daily selection of fruit. Old food and poo also needs to be removed on a daily basis.

For our dedicated conservationists the rest of the day involves park maintenance, koala photo sessions with the public and, of course, monitoring all animals. Park maintenance may be tidying the picnic areas, raking leaves and rocks back from paths, and even scraping duck poo off the pathways.

Before the day is over the Boobook owls, Tawny Frogmouths and Kookaburras are fed, and the koalas are given their afternoon leaves. All equipment used during the day is returned to the shed with the hose wound up and water pump turned off. We say goodbye to the sleeping koalas at 4:30pm, where they are locked back up for the night, and head down through the park, weaving in-and-out of emus and geese. Check out some interesting videos on our Australian wildlife conservation video map.