One of my favourite books when I was young was ‘My Family and Other Animals” by Gerald Durrell. I so much wanted to be Gerry – living on an island in Greece, collecting animals and exploring nature all day. In high school, I toyed with becoming a marine biologist so I could swim with dolphins, or becoming a vet so I could work with elephants in the wilds of Africa. But my ever practical Dad talked me out of both options, and instead I chose a degree in Agriculture. A sensible and wise choice.
Actually, I loved working with farmers, but don’t you always wonder, what if …?
This year, I had the pleasure in meeting a real life park ranger, the talented and compassionate Kristen from the Daisy Hill Koala Centre. Kristen has many roles, including caring for koalas that come to the centre after recovering from injury or disease. This is what she said about being a ranger:
“I always wanted to work with animals, right from about the age of six. I thought maybe I would grow up to be a cat minder, or a pet sitter or maybe a ranger. To become a park ranger, I studied Applied Science at Gatton, followed by a six month course at TAFE studying native animal care. (I started with Environmental Science, but there was way too much chemistry.) Once I was finished, I volunteered in a wildlife park at the Gap in Brisbane, before getting the job at Daisy Hill. The best part of my job is having a close relationship with koalas, and the worst is seeing some of the koalas we pick up in the koala ambulance.”
In the picture above, Kristen is feeding a beautiful female koala called Elsa. Elsa was injured by a car at eight months old and arrived at the centre after she was unable to return to the wild. She’d had an upset stomach a few days before, and Kristen collected some droppings from the healthy koalas to feed to Elsa to return some healthy bacteria to her system. A bit like how we would take Inner Health Plus if our system was out of whack. Elsa patiently sucked up all the syringes Kristen had made, and then went off to eat some fresh eucalypt leaves collected by other rangers in the park. It was clear how close Kristen was to her koalas and her knowledge and commitment to them was inspiring.
Daisy Hill is having an Open Day on January 19th if you want to meet Kristen, or Elsa, or even me, as I will be attending. It’s a great opportunity to learn more about koalas or about becoming a ranger, or just to see koalas up close, for free. For details, see here. For information about what you can do to help koalas, see my website.
Tallowwood Tales 