Christeen and Paul McLeod are the co-founders of KOALAS IN CARE INC, a 24/7 Koala Rescue and Rehabilitation group. They dedicate their time to rescuing, caring for and rearing injured, sick and orphaned koalas.
'We started in wildlife care in 1993 after we heard a call on local radio for people to undergo training in koala rescue and rehabilitation.
Since then we have cared for hundreds of koalas at our purpose-built facility in Taree.
Koalas in Care Inc was established in 2005 to care for koalas in the Manning, Great Lakes and Gloucester areas. We are a small team of about 20 volunteers who work in various roles within the group.
I devote all my time to caring for the sick, injured and orphaned koalas we rehabilitate while Paul juggles his full-time job with our passion for wildlife care. After finishing work, Paul then spends his evenings collecting leaf for the koalas that we are helping to rehabilitate.
Caring for sick or injured koalas really is a 24-hour job and we often get called out to a rescue during the night. We always have koalas in our care and may be rearing a number of koala joeys at any one time.
Our koala facility is run from our property and we have recently built a new treatment room, new intensive care units and refurbished the outside enclosure. We also have a number of general holding units plus a critical care section.
Our koala work gives us a lot of satisfaction. There is no better feeling than seeing a koala be released back into the wild after going through treatment. However, there are also the ones that don’t make it despite our efforts.
We hope people realise that Australia’s wildlife, koalas in particular, need our help.
A call to a local wildlife rescue service in a time of need might be the difference between life and death for that animal.'