Thursday, April 2, 2009

Meet Cody...



Meet Cody, a full-grown male koala and a permanent resident at the Australia Wildlife Hospital. When Cody was a young joey, his mum and he were in an accident and he injured one of his hind legs. It was amputated and he's fine now, but the staff felt it would be too difficult for him to maneuver safely in the trees so he's been at the hospital ever since.

He enjoys getting hugs, but in an effort to keep him as 'wild' as possible, his 'hug time' is restricted to when he's getting a check-up by the staff. Today was his turn for a weight check and assessment so the vet nurse asked me if I wanted to bring him in; and in the process, get a really good hug from Cody! :-) Of course, I said, Yes!

As you can see, I was drenched. It poured today with some flooding on the property and elsewhere. I work under cover for the most part, but the enclosures are open to the elements on the sides. (See pic below.) So, after lunch I completely changed my clothes... that's one advantage to having mobile accommodations.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

What a great picture of you with the bird on your head...to to tell you the truth, the top photo looks like maybe the bird just crapped there. :)

I'm not much of a bird person but my the colors are beautiful and I wish I had one. I thought your story about the cuckatoo and your attempt to make it say "hello" when it was looking at you was too funny. Don't you wonder if maybe, just maybe, there's someone in the back ground who pushes a button and a recorded "hello" goes off only when you give up and turn around? And the cuckatoo can't actually speak at all? Ha, you're on candid camera!

I just love the little koalas! Thanks for all of the pictures. We miss you here; the kids keep asking when you will be back. The pool is just about 80 degrees now so I'm thinking it's time for you to high tail it to the airport!!

Love you, stay safe (and dry!)

love, Lise xoxoxooxoxoxoxxo

Unknown said...

!HELLO
You mean that cockatoo has you trained already? Jeff ...The koala's
are just sooo cute ..and so is Lorie ..
Dad and I want to wish you a Happy
Easter and wish you were here!
Enjoy
Love you xxoo

Jeff said...

Mom and Lise...

Cockatoos are very smart... the ones in the Bird Show at the zoo have been trained to respond to voice commands as well as hand signals from across a 5,000-seat stadium. They are impressive...

I know this sulpher-crested is smart... I would have to be consistent with him over a few months. He said "hello" to my back again last night... it was late... it was raining... it was dark... I don't think it's Candid Camera, Lise. (I'm just silly enough to fall for the real thing.) He's definitely training me for something important... :-)