Adopt Waru

Waru had been separated from his mother and was discovered at night climbing in a fig tree. A search for the mother in the local vicinity and the next day failed to find her. Waru was too small to be apart from his mother, from whom he would still be feeding even though he was already eating eucalyptus leaves. He was not happy about being rescued and proved to be a lively and healthy boy of 1.96kg, approximately 10 months old.

Waru is an Aboriginal word meaning ‘fire’ and he certainly has plenty of that! Given his size he initially required four daily feeds of a marsupial formula that provides him as near as possible with the type of nutrition he would be getting from his mother. As Waru has gained weight, which he inevitably does as he has proved to be the most exemplary bottle feeder imaginable, his formula feeds have been gradually reduced to three, two and then one a day. Eventually, leading up to his release at about 4.8kg, he will only feed from varieties of eucalyptus leaves preparing him to be back in the wild.

Waru is a frisky, little fellow and tests his physical skills as he jumps between branches in his enclosure. He is very playful in his interactions with his carer and likes to climb down from his favourite highest point of his branches to engage in some play fighting. He’s such a confident little fellow, and a very ‘buff’ boy, that it seems he has all the makings of an alpha (dominant) male out in the wild.

You can adopt a koala like Waru today from $10/month (cancel any time). You will receive an adoption certificate, a photograph of Waru and updates of what we’ve been doing at KOALA RESCUE Inc and koala facts via a quarterly supporters’ newsletter.