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Baby Koala Breaks Arm And Gets The Tiniest Cast
Awwww - poor baby!!
Heidi Kennedy
10.10.19

You are never too small to receive loving care at the Werribee Open Range Zoo. A mother koala and her baby were both severely injured and brought to the zoo after falling from a tree. The baby had a broken arm but thanks to the caring staff, she received the tiniest arm cast and is on her way to recovery.

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The baby and its mother had fallen out of a tree.

The baby koala and her mother were rescued and brought in to the Werribee Open Range Zoo in Victoria, Australia after the pair had fallen out of a tree near a logging area in Melbourne, Australia. But while the two were rescued, sadly, the mother’s injuries were so severe that she was not going to make it. She had to be euthanized, leaving the baby alone and without a mother.

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The baby, now left an orphan, had injuries as well, her right arm was broken and had to be treated. So she received the tiniest arm cast and round-the-clock care to get her back on track and into the wild again.

The baby koala had a broken arm that needed treatment.

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The cast had to be made extremely small as the five-month-old baby koala only weighs about 500 grams or about one pound. Her caretaker, Jess Rice, says that baby koalas are very susceptible and some do not make it after going through these kinds of hardships at such a young age.

Jess Rice, a caretaker at the zoo explains, “At that stage, it’s really touch-and-go whether they’re going to make it or not.”

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She is slowly starting to gain weight due to the careful attention of the staff at the Werribee Open Range Zoo. The road has been tough, however, for the little one. After losing her mother and having limited mobility and restriction due to her casted and broken arm, things haven’t been easy for her.

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But the little baby, who still doesn’t have a name, is making great strides in her recovery thanks to the caring team of staff at the zoo. They give her 24-hour-day care and feed her daily with a syringe.

As soon as she is strong enough, she will be released back into the wild.

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The team has given her a substitute mother, a stuffed animal koala, to learn how to ride on the back of another in order to be released one day.

“When they get older, they become back riders, so we sort of give them that to hold onto,” explains Jess Rice.

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If all goes according to plan, the little baby koala will be released back into the wild when she is just over a year old and able to fend for herself.

Simply put, the zoo’s goal is simple, “Being able to save them and see them go back into the wild is essentially why we do what we do.”

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Check out the little cutie below!

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Source: Nine News Australia

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