Koala Research

Meet ... Grace

update - 29/4/06
we found Grace with signs of respiratory infection after a sudden cold snap. She was also underweight and had a few other worrying symptoms, so we arranged for her to be rescued that day. Sadly, though a trip to the vet showed her to be in very poor condition with severe pneumonia, ovarian cysts and tooth problems, and given her very poor state of health her recovery was unlikely. None of us wanted her to suffer any more, so she was euthanased quietly that night. An autopsy showed the decision to have been for the best - her health problems were even greater than we had expected. Our thanks go to Anne and Marilyn for trying so hard, and for making such a courageous decision. Thanks too to Mike and Liz for their amazing help and support.

Grace's sudden decline is a mystery to us. This photo was taken in February, and shows her plump and seemingly in good condition, and by April she was dying. A strange injury she had, near her tail, combined with some tooth problems may have left her underweight and vulnerable, and the sudden cold may have brought on the pneumonia. She was 10 to 12 years old (older than I had thought).

We feel privileged to have shared some of her life and she will be remembered. Importantly too, some of the things we have learned from Grace may help other koalas. Right now we are monitoring another little girl koala with a similar looking injury to her tail - if it wasn't for Grace I wouldn't have even noticed it.

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Her name said it all! She looked young and lovely, and never inappropriate. On first meeting she was calm and just a little curious, as if determined that all this nonsense on the ground will not upset her applecart, no matter what it's all about!

She was quite brown in colour - especially her face (don't we love a brunette!) and her ears were long-tufted, particularly towards the bottom, giving her a square-faced appearance.

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