00:00Put him on a little bit of gas just to keep him under his anesthetic, because what we'll
00:07be doing is a little bit painful.
00:10You can see this dog has grabbed this poor fella.
00:13So there's teeth marks there, there, there, and then three on the top.
00:17Gee.
00:18Yeah, his shoulder was dislocated, so I popped that one back in.
00:21He's got a lot of swelling from the infection that's sort of spread up his arm to his elbow.
00:25It actually feels better than when he first came in though.
00:27He's going to have a listen to his chest.
00:31Make sure his heart is good.
00:34And do they have any trouble going back into the wild once you've released them back, or
00:37is it just straight back in, no problem?
00:39He knows his territory.
00:40He's been in before.
00:41He's a bit of a frequent flyer.
00:43It's just that he has to be in fighting condition to fight the other boys that are nearby, because
00:47they're all competing for the same space.
00:49It's almost like he's got a digit between his thumb and his fingers.
00:53He's got two thumbs.
00:54These are thumbs.
00:55Wow.
00:56Isn't that cool?
00:58Look at that.
00:59Yeah.
01:00So that's how they grip.
01:01So they're like us, but with an extra thumb on this side.
01:05Did you know they have fingerprints like humans?
01:07I was just looking at that.
01:08Amazing.
01:09Like a primate.
01:10Yeah, so police did a forensic study on their fingerprints and they've got very similar fingerprints
01:14to humans.
01:15Oh, wow.
01:16So we're just going to take some x-rays now, and if you could wait outside for a moment,
01:19that would be great.
01:20Perfect.
01:21No problem.
01:22Okay, so get an instant image.
01:23Oh, wow.
01:24Check at that.
01:25You can really clearly see that double thumb there.
01:27It's got a fair bit of swelling around here, but that's just from the initial infection.
01:30So it's still quite swollen, but much improved on what it was.
01:34Yes.
01:35I'll let you know when we hunt it a bit more.
01:38Oh, he's so cuddly.
01:40I know.
01:41I love that.
01:42Not when he's awake though, but people shreds.
01:43Yeah, he bites people.
01:44Oh, does he?
01:45If he can, he would.
01:47He was unable to be captured for about a week.
01:50Oh, wow.
01:51So he had this for a period of time.
01:53He had to end up getting a cherry picker and a tree climber to physically go up to the top
01:57of the tree and grab him out.
02:00So it was quite a big event.
02:03And the ear tag, will he keep that ear tag in when you release him?
02:06Yes.
02:07And he's got a microchip in as well, so if he loses the ear tag when he's fighting with
02:10the boys...
02:11Those are interesting teeth.
02:12Yeah, so he's got these tubing incisors which allow him to...
02:15It's almost rodentia.
02:16...rip off the leaf.
02:17And then these are his chewing molars, so they're quite sharp.
02:21They need to be because leaf is so tough.
02:24This kind of species requires a very specific kind of care, a very specific conservation
02:31model.
02:32And with people like this behind it, I think it's got a very bright future.
02:35Yeah.
02:36He'll just stand there.
02:37That's it.
02:38He'll think it's a leaf.
02:39No, maybe not.
02:40Oh, then he...
02:41That could be a problem.
02:42He just gets his injection of antibiotics and anti-inflammatory.
02:47It'll help him with the pain as well, won't it?
02:50Yes.
02:51There we go.
02:52He's all done.
02:53Look at that little guy.
02:54Isn't that cool?
02:56All ready to go.
02:57How long till he's fully compus mentis again?
03:00It'll take him a little while.
03:01We usually keep him indoors, monitor them as they wake up.
03:04So he'll be in with us for the next 30 minutes to one hour, depending on how slow he is.
03:08Yeah.
03:09And then he'll go back out on his run once he's fully awake.
03:11Look at that little belly.
03:13Interesting animal.
03:14Wow.
03:15So unique.
03:16Listen to him snoring.
03:18So this is where he's going to wake up, is it?
03:20He's going to wake up here and we'll put some nice leaves...
03:23I bought him some leaves from home, actually, so that he can wake up with his flavour of leaf.
03:28Oh, do you want me to go trim some off?
03:30You can see he's chewing there.
03:31So how do you learn about most of these interventions that are required?
03:35I mean, you can't be everything.
03:36No, but we rely on the general public a great deal.
03:39We have a 24-7 hotline number that they can call if they spot a koala in distress at any time, day or night.
03:46Yes.
03:47And we'll have rescuers go out and collect them.
03:49So we do rely on the public to observe these animals and if they are sick.
03:53And also education is a huge part of what we do here.
03:56We try and alert the public to what a diseased koala looks like, what an injured koala looks like,
04:00what's normal koala behaviour.
04:02If they're sitting on the ground, there's obviously something the matter.
04:05So, yeah.
04:06Our biggest goal is to release koalas, obviously.
04:10And so when a koala makes it to release, everyone's really thrilled
04:15and everyone's putting so much hard work.
04:17And we are really excited about every single one of the individuals.
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