The Koala Hospital in Port Macquarie, Australia, is the world's first hospital dedicated solely to the care and preservation of koalas. The Hospital has a treatment room, six Intensive Care Units, a 24 Hour Rescue and Treatment operation and multiple recovery yards. The Hospital has a research affiliation with the University of Sydney, Australia The hospital has koala admissions of between 200-300 each year. The very sick koalas and new admissions are treated in the hospital's Intensive Care Wing, which is dedicated to John Williamson for his outstanding generosity over many years to the Koala Hospital.
During recuperation the koalas are moved from Intensive Care to the outdoor yards to enjoy the sunshine. Ensuring the koalas receive a varied diet, additional fresh leaves of four different varieties of Eucalypt are supplied daily. The Intensive Care Units and Outdoor Yards are cleaned daily and water bowls replenished. Recovering koalas and orphaned joeys are also given a supplementary diet of milk formula low in lactose especially formulated for animals. This feeding takes place in the outside yards at 8.00am and 3.00pm daily.
"Walk & Talk" tours are conducted at 3.00pm feed daily, and if demand (eg.School Holidays) requires an extra "Walk and Talk" tour, this may be conducted at 10.00am. It is advisable to contact the Hospital in this regard. The "walk & talk" incorporates watching a feed and then a guided tour around the outside yards giving visitors information on all our koalas.
