By Mitchell Clarke
The Gumbuya World community is mourning the loss of a much-loved member of the koala collective.
Karri the koala, 3, recently passed away after a short battle with severe kidney failure, just months after the park welcomed a new joey.
Her serious health concerns only came to light after rangers noticed her rapid weight loss. Her condition continued to deteriorate, despite the best efforts of her devastated keepers.
Ranger Benny Bradley said keepers worked around the clock for weeks to care for the sick marsupial.
“The girls were mashing up eucalyptus leaves and syringe feeding her for weeks. She had probably been battling it (the illness) for a month,” he explained.
“We were optimistic that we might get the result we wanted, but there was some limit of inevitability about it.”
The wildlife team have taken comfort in the fact they were able to be with Karri on the day she passed away.
“We had quite a special moment with her in back of house moment. She crawled over to one of our keepers and just sat in their lap. In many ways, that was a nice poetic finish to her life,” Ranger Benny said.
Karri arrived at Gumbuya World from Kangaroo Island and quickly became a favourite among the wildlife team.
“She was brilliant. She was one of the animals that we could actually handle. She was fantastic, especially in the koala close up encounters,” Ranger Benny added.
“Our keepers put their heart and soul in her. She was very much loved by all of us and she’ll be sorely missed.”
