Anyone who has a beloved family pet will more than likely have to visit a veterinarian at some point or another in the life of their animal. The hope is that these visits are nothing more than regular check-ups and scheduled shots, but there may be times when the services of an emergency vet are required. Residents in areas such as Burnside, Woombye, and Rosemount need to know that their pet can receive treatment at any given time, as a speedy treatment may be the difference between life and death for the animal. That is certainly how things went for a young koala who was involved in a scary incident in NSW.
A couple of months back, the koala was hit by a car in the northern part of NSW. When she was found, she was transported to the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital in the Sunshine Coast region. Peta, as she was named, had to undergo emergency surgery, with pins placed in her left leg to try and help heal the many fractures that she suffered during the incident. The life-saving surgery went very well, but that was just the beginning of the story for Peta.
The nest step for the 18-month old koala was a rigorous physiotherapy course that was designed to help Peta get her full range of motion back. The crazy thing about all of this is that the physio sessions given to the koala were a lot like those that a human would undergo after receiving the same type of surgery. As Peta progressed, the pins were removed one by one, and they are now all completely gone. The treatment she received was performed by skilled and caring animal professionals who cared for her around the clock, helping nurse Peta back to perfect health.
By all accounts, Peta has been the perfect patient, and has responded wonderfully to all the care and attention she has received from the staff at the animal hospital. She is now getting very close to resuming her life back in the wild, but there is still some work to be done before that move is greenlit by her doctors. While the staff will all be sad to see her go, they will also be delighted to see that she will have passed her physiotherapy with flying colors.
Peta will still have to undergo some physiotherapy and massage sessions, during which time doctors will monitor her eating habits, as well as her ability to climb. As part of the transition back to the wild, Peta will be moved into a custom-built gum plantation where she can start to adapt back to life in the wild. During her time there, she will be with other koalas who have undergone a number of different treatments at the hospital. As she progresses, Peta will be introduced to different levels of plantation, and once she has fully recovered, and is ready to move on, she will be returned to the region where she was first found after the accident.
