A Koala Called Kent - A Robert Irwin Story

Hello Kent

School had always been my main focus in life. Sadly, it was the only thing I was every really good at. It was my safe space, the place where I knew I was the smartest, the most respected, and the most valued. It was therefore worrying to my study abroad advisor when he saw my latest Australian History grade... D. Now I'm not going to sit here and pretend like history is my thing. I'm a social worker candidate. I worry about child care, sociology, social sciences, all that stuff. History, while important, was not my biggest worry. However, my scholarships all rested on me making Deans List and D's do not make the Deans List.

"So what has been going on with you recently?" Professor Gadkar asked. "I know your schedule is pretty full. You're in work placement three days a week, school five days a week and you volunteer at the zoo four times a week. Is that it? Is the schedule too much? Do you need to cut down on your volunteer hours?"

His questions were all valid and were correct. My schedule was over packed and it was too much but cutting down my volunteer hours at the zoo wasn't going to help. The zoo had very strict rules on how many hours' students could work and I was well below their threshold. No, the problem was where I went once my working hours at the zoo were over, and how many hours I spent there.

"Well Professor," I admitted slowly. "I need to tell you about Kent."

The double doors opened behind me and the scent of coffee hit the back of my nose. My head snapped around and sure enough there was Robert walking into the hospital with two cups of coffee.

"Thank you," I called out as I held my hand out and he place the cup of coffee firmly in it.

It had been three weeks since Robert had driven me home from the zoo and since then not one day had passed since I had seen him or Bindi or her husband Chandler. Every spare second any of us had was spent in the Wildlife hospital watching over as the joey continued to grow stronger and stronger. We came before our shifts, on breaks during our shifts, and even at the end of our days. I came before and after my work placement and before and after classes. The half an hour drive from Mooloolaba had been intimidating at first but now I knew it like the back of my hand. We were all tired, more than tired, we were exhausted, but it was all beginning to pay off because the joey was making great progress. He was still smaller than he should have been but he was finally big enough for us to be able to hold him and feed him with a proper sized baby bottle instead of the small syringe like apparatus we had to use when he first came in.

He wasn't the only animal making great progress. Gemma the pregnant zebra had given birth to the most adorable foal. Holyrood was Gemma's first foal and it had been quite a long and uncomfortable birth for her. Doctor Brett and I had first arrived in her birthing stall at around seven o'clock in the evening and Holyrood was born around four o'clock in the morning. Thankfully though I used this time to not only learn more about Zebra births but also to study for my Australian history re-take test. Bindi, Chandler, Robert and Terri all came to watch the birth so I had plenty of help. We made it into a fun quiz night with snacks and candy as prizes. When I retook the test a few short days later my grade went from a D to an A!

It had been the greatest three weeks of my life and as with everything at Australia Zoo things could only get better. The joey had made such good progress that it was time to find him some home care. This happened a lot at the animal hospital. The animals who were well enough to come off the machines but not well enough to join the other animals in the enclosures were sent to live with volunteers who could care for their needs in their own home. Eventually the animal would come back to the zoo to live in the exhibits or to be released into the wild.

"So how has it been finding him a care home?" Robert asked as he held the joey in his arms and fed the bottle tip into the small mouth opening. I watched on as he endearingly caressed the small Koala's fur, gently rubbings its head and whispering to it, comforting it.