The cultural differences between STATES
Sharing Information between State Governments
If the Victorian government really wanted to avoid the cull (in 2014), they could have simply asked for support and guidance from Queensland's koala captivity sector, who are leaders in the koala industry. Of course, this may have already been done, though it is difficult to know for sure because the entire event is shrouded in mystery. One thing is for sure though, the Australian Koala Foundation certainly did not speak up, or place enough pressure on the Victorian government years leading up to the cull. Nor did they – or anybody else - show enough passion or anger following the horrific cull.
Queensland as the Dominant State
Queensland has, time after time, revealed itself as the best performer in koala management in the captivity sector, over any other state in Australia as they have the largest number of koalas in their care. Australian Zoo Hospital, Lone Pine and Dreamworld have hundreds of koalas in their care daily, and no other states come close to those figures.
Why? Mainly because of the way they feed their koalas. In Victoria, there was a manual written by Colin. K called "Koala Browse Plantation Guild", from Melbourne Zoo in 2004 which showcased the way to feed large numbers of koalas in captivity. The entire manual was surrounding plantation-skill based guidelines. While this is great, it never mentions (or identifies) the importance of stepping out from plantation-based food supplies. Relying solely on one or two plantation locations is inadequate for the koala - who is instinctively nomadic. There is nothing more crushing than eating several tree species from only two or three locations throughout their life. When I rang Colin soon after he published his guidelines, congratulating his work, I asked him why he failed to mention field browsing- and the importance of combining both field browsing and plantation collection over the year. I explained to him that field-browsing techniques and collection methods should have been included in the manual. What the manual should have been title was "Koala Food Plantation Set-Up for Overseas Zoo's".
This is particularly as in Australia the winter introduces eucalyptus trees to increase their toxin levels and this risk cannot be reduced if you're only sourcing from one, two or three locations. As plantation design set-up restricts any free movement for staff, who need from time to time to judge their koalas eating performance and have the skills to maintain their own tree species identification skills and maintain their local knowledge in their local environment. Plantation trees are notorious for going out of form (losing their moisture level) as the tree ages. The type of form I am referring to has a certain amount of softness and brightness to the leaves: the older the tree gets, the less opportunity there is for the tree to come into great form. This is what experienced koala cutters/dietitian, look for. This helps in the reduction of bad chemical (and having a higher moisture content), as well as the koala only having one set -of teeth through-out their life.
To my astonishment, Colin had never heard of field-browsing, or the fact there was a world of information out there and a whole different type of industry that existed outside of Victoria. I think Colin was a victim of his own zoological culture, and this is part of the disconnect that's happening right across Australia, particularly with old school and new school information. The reason this is important is because there needs to be a balance of information which is necessary for the koalas in our care.
I see disconnect everywhere and in different forms. Government-based zoos have a completely different culture from local Australian wildlife parks. In each state, large government zoos act as the backbone to each state. But even they need to reach out to the local wildlife parks for support if they are struggling with animal breeding and/or behaviour issues. Sometimes the local wildlife parks are more successful in breeding or managing behaviour issues simply because of the different perspective that they bring.
In fact, there is no large government-based zoo in Queensland to influence the majority of Queensland wildlife parks. In fact, in Queensland, it's the opposite. Fleays Wildlife Park is a government based small zoo, but you wouldn't know it from the name and design of this establishment, which is set up more like a conservation/sanctuary. They are small and humble yet, as natural as can be for the landscape. They keep it simple - which says a lot. They certainly fit the motto, "less is more".
Colin had no idea that you can source or feed koalas outside the perimeters of a plantation. Sourcing koala food out into the community never came into Colin's imagination, nor did he understand plantation was an evolutionary step from field browsing. He didn't know how or why plantation food sourcing came about in the first place. Back 25-30 years ago there was an increased cost associated with field-browsing as field browsers (cutters) increased their time sourcing koala food. Overtime was not permitted in those days - and still isn't! This is because of the ever-increasing Australian population growth. As land clearing increased, so did our need to search further and further away from the koala park. This was the result of a knee jerk reaction from a range of government-based entities and zoological industries who came up with the idea of creating plantations. They had the land in which to start which was OK for LARGER INSTITUTIONS who had land to begin with, but not for the smaller wildlife parks around AUSTRALIA, who still had to rely on the natural vegetation around their environment. This type of pressure didn't sit well for everyone.
But today, it's totally changed. Plantations are the higher cost and field browsing isn't. But it's much harder to find good food at a consistent high level, and some wildlife parks are suffering from unskilled workers. Unless your knowledge is extremely good, and your identification skill matches your local knowledge, then there will be no problem. But your still rely on mother nature, who in recent years, has given us a window of the future, with extreme weather conditions. Currently Sydney in drought-and source koala food in winter in a dry conditions, only the very experience koala cutters/dietitian can get their koala population set-up for the spring, and again that's depends on the size of your population.
This was a shame for higher management who couldn't see the benefits of investing more in staff and staff knowledge because of the victimization culture that exist today. The staff of today are doing a basic job, as many of the skills have been lost and koalas are simply being maintained. The industry is not evolving enough, and directors and owners haven't found a way to cover the cost and reinvent the koala story through marketing and increased efforts to sell a much-loved product. So, because of this the staff of today suffer the consequences, and lower numbers of koalas are in captivity, since the changeover to plantation operations have taken over.
The cheaper alternative back in the day, (when land itself was cheaper to purchase) was plantation design set-up. This is fine in moderation back then, at it is today, but today the type of land purchased - which is little use to society, like low lying level-to flooding plains and land with low to no soil nutrients – this type of land just adds to the incremental step towards, an ever-increasing culture of disconnect. At certain times of the year different Eucalyptus tree species have different types of currency, meaning that eucalyptus trees have different levels of value for koalas throughout the year. This also changes depending of the type of weather, the amount of rainfall and sunlight that's available at any given time. You lose so much more when you turn away from field browsing, this traditional way of sourcing koala food, then changing over, towards costing cutting mentally-turning not only your staff but the koala itself into a robotic form of behaviour and its changing our overall knowledge of the koala.
The general public believe that zoos in Australia are at the cutting edge of animal husbandry, and I can tell you right now, they aren't in the terms of koala dietary concerns. For me, talking to Colin was like talking to someone from a foreign country. Colin obviously came into the zoological industry while plantation already existed for some time. Coming from a horticultural background is a start, but a lack of communication right across Australia, and it seems it still exist today.
The food sourcing and delivery system is usually under one set team of two, who take full-responsibility of their actions on daily bases, but in the government system, the food goes from the horticultural team to the koala team, this is another form of disconnect. Information that keepers rely on is changing and there is different understandings and education levels across koala keepers and the horticulture team (who are the ones sourcing the food for the koalas not the koala team). This type of work environment does a disservice towards koalas and other animals relying on browsing for other teams involved. All this process does is increase the level of accountability, everyone pointing the finger on some other department when something goes wrong.
Such differences in koala feeding presents a major problem between states and there a widening gap of knowledge and experiences right across the Australian landscape.
Zoos around Australia have forgotten this very important element in the koala's mental enrichment, and a certain amount of skill-set are all but lost!
New South Wales
In New South Wales, especially the western, southern and far-northern parts, the thing that struck me when I first arrived in 2001 was the cultural differences between the two states of New South Wales and Queensland. I had started working at Sydney Wonderland Eastern Creek, where we had just over 30 koalas to manage, and was surprised by the lack of passion and motivation within the industry, as well as the lack of adequate training and educational offerings. Overall, Sydney did not seem to hold the same prestige and status as other high-profile tourist destinations such as Sea World, Dreamworld, Movie World, Lone Pine and Australia Zoo, nor did it boast the upbeat atmosphere and liveliness that those attractions brought to the Gold Coast, Brisbane and Sunshine Coast.
In New South Wales, the keepers were not taking innovative steps forward. This could be attributed to the lack of training and support from upper-management, as well as budget cuts. However, the fact remained that the culture was full of friction and creativity had completely disappeared from the institutions. Unlike Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales took a more restrictive and formal approach towards koala husbandry which created tension among staff and management and did not allow for any free-thought, independence or autonomy to thrive in the workplace. My focus was to maintain the old--school principals - and balance out the differences between field browsing and plantation work. Sourcing koala food, through field work in terms of field browsing as this reduces the health risk for the koala and overall operations and saving money in the longer period, while at the same time, increases enrichment of the koala. I continue to source a small percentage of koala food using plantation-food as only as a back-up in extreme weather conditions.
By maintaining the necessary skills, my small business has become a backup to local wildlife parks and zoos when their resources are down or stretched. By continuing my field knowledge on daily basis especially during the winter periods, I can identify what I need to do differently, in terms of how I design my food collection, which has the bonus of drawing out enhanced koala behavioural traits and to bring creativity to them each day.
However, this working style seemed to cause friction when I promote the traditional way of sourcing my koala food, both in NSW and Victoria, and when I think about it, any institution that dominates their koala food from only a plantation-based diet. Compared to the way we all worked as little as 25-30 years ago. Therefore, koala numbers have been reduced in major zoos and right around Australia, and why some smaller wildlife parks have closed or in some cases, thrive as they held onto their experience staff, who know when to change their food supply. As Our Natural resources are hard to come by and in the case of koalas, if they aren't managed in the long-term, they are an expensive animal to maintain at a high work standard.
Back when I started in the 1990's the average wildlife park and zoos along the eastern coast of Australia would have be around 30 to 35 koalas plus. In Queensland they had the highest numbers then and still maintain some levels, but not like it used too, even they are finding it hard to retain staff. This is because urban sprawl has increased dramatically across all states, so the required vegetation which zoos and wildlife parks used to enjoy, is no longer there.
Adding to this pressure of maintaining koalas in captivity, the zoological industry has become too formal and kept wages low to their general staff, with an ever increase living expenses, the two don't match, so instead you attract younger and younger staff. Creativity and innovation has gone out the window as staff are robotic now-working in a box, with that in mind, their own ideas suppressed. When management are confronted with changes that they don't approve of, they pull staff back in, saying it's for insurance and OHS issues. Over time, this wears down the general staff and they either leave the industry or find another department, as this is conflicting with an ever-changing world. For some staff, it's too painful as senior management just look at costs alone and not on maintaining behaviour standards. As a result, there has been an increase in health issues, including secondary sickness.
For the koala, this includes koala stress syndrome, combined with high turnover of staff, koala stress syndrome, is hard to detect and extremely common, but poorly understood. As the koala rests for long periods of the day, too long in most cases, even a koala can be lethargic and depressed. This Syndrome is widespread mainly because of the overuse and sole use of plantation food.
The koala industry has slowly shut down - and maintaining smaller numbers then they use too, with basic window dressing to the general public who aren't aware of the small and slow changes in this industry. The industry has gone backwards if anything, I would have said stalled -but now it's clear in today's world it has definitely gone backwards.
If I was to rank states of Australia and the different cultures and experiences of koala food collection and general knowledge and koala Husbandry standards.
It would look something like this;
1. Queensland
2. Gap
3. Gap
4. New South Wales & South Australian
5. Western Australia
6. Northern Territory & Tasmania
7. Victoria
Unfortunate at late the gap spaces between Queensland and the next State of NSW and SA, in recent time has close the gap as Queensland increasing population has sky rocket since the 2000's.
The next article: Article 23 is the cultural differences between koala parks build on koala income and other zoological institutions.
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