Little Betty - Our Travelling Vet Service tends to orphaned koala

In March, the Wildlife Victoria Emergency Response Service received a report from a caller in Inverloch who had found a little koala joey sitting by herself at the base of a tree with no mother in sight. She was advised to place the orphaned joey into a washing basket with a towel and keep it in a quiet area inside.

The little joey, nicknamed “Betty” by the caller, had no obvious injuries that could be seen but was much too young to be alone. 

The Wildlife Victoria Emergency Response Operator called one of our local volunteer wildlife shelter operators, Sue, to see if she could take Betty in to care. Sue was able to take on the little one but needed the koala to be transported to her. The caller was more than happy to do this, and after expert advice from our Emergency Response Operator, the caller she set off with Betty to the shelter.  

On arrival, it was clear that something was not right with Betty, so Sue asked our Travelling Vet Service to attend and assess her.

The Travelling Vet Service was dispatched the very next day to perform an examination, and Dr Anita and vet nurse Lee were able to diagnose the issue and gave the young koala the treatment she needed.

They left Betty in Sue’s expert care and stayed in contact over the following days to check on her progress. 

Betty has now been in care with Sue for two weeks and has shown much improvement.

She still has some issues with her kidneys, but she is happily eating and recovering, with the outlook that she will be released back to the wild once she is old enough and fully recovered.

What a great team effort!