{"id":2343,"date":"2009-08-18T10:54:00","date_gmt":"2009-08-18T10:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/?p=2343"},"modified":"2009-08-18T10:54:00","modified_gmt":"2009-08-18T10:54:00","slug":"is-birthday-girl-australias-oldest-koala","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/2009\/08\/is-birthday-girl-australias-oldest-koala\/","title":{"rendered":"Is \u2018Birthday Girl\u2019 Australia\u2019s Oldest Koala?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.travmedia.com\/images\/db\/222965.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 225px;\" src=\"http:\/\/www.travmedia.com\/images\/db\/222965.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Believed to be Australia\u2019s oldest koala, aptly name \u2018Birthday Girl\u2019, will celebrate her 22nd year at <br \/>the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital on Saturday 19 September. The \u2018Family Fun Day\u2019 will be <br \/>dedicated to the grand old lady with a birthday atmosphere, kid\u2019s games, a birthday card <br \/>colouring competition, cake and educational tours of her home at the Hospital.<\/p>\n<p>Now in its second year the Family Fun Day has free entry for locals and visitors from 9am to <br \/>3pm. The Hospital is the only hospital in the world that is dedicated to the care of koalas &#8211; it <br \/>treats and rehabilitates around 300 of our furry friends every year. <\/p>\n<p>\u2018Birthday Girl\u2019 is one of the Hospital\u2019s earliest patients, turning 22 this year, but she has defied <br \/>her age with mischievous escapes thanks to wonder drugs. Volunteers believe she could be <br \/>Australia\u2019s oldest koala by measurements and teeth wear. They normally live to be 15 for females <br \/>and 13 for males. <\/p>\n<p>\u2018Birthday Girl\u2019 first came into the Hospital in 1990 for a check and relocation and returned 4 <br \/>years ago in 2005 with chronic arthritis. Anti-inflammatory drugs gave her extra willpower when <br \/>she \u201cself-released\u201d from a deemed \u2018escape proof, fenced yard\u2019, and needed a special operations <br \/>\u2018abseil\u2019 rescue from a nearby tree.<\/p>\n<p>The Hospital is run by volunteers and the Family Fun Day is designed to raise funds for the <br \/>$180,000 costs to annually run the Hospital. This includes treatment rooms, eight intensive care <br \/>units, a 24 hour rescue and treatment operation and 33 recovery yards. Visitors can meet <br \/>\u2018Birthday Girl\u2019 and other koalas 7 days a week, 365 days a year from 8am to 4.30pm. Entry is <br \/>free, donations accepted, and there is a daily \u2018Feed, Walk and Talk\u2019 tour at 3pm. <\/p>\n<p>The Koala Hospital is located in Port Macquarie on the Mid North Coast of NSW, 4.5 hours drive <br \/>from Sydney. Tourists from all over the world visit Port Macquarie\u2019s Koala Hospital, which attracts <br \/>more than 24,000 visitors a year. The \u2018Adopt A Koala\u2019 package costs AU$40 per year and <br \/>includes a certificate of adoption with a photo, the name of the koala and a short story about its <br \/>life. Overseas adoptions cost AU$50, a true Aussie gift for international family and friends.<\/p>\n<p>The Koala Hospital, Lord St, Port Macquarie &#8211; go to www.koalahospital.org.au or call (02) 6584 <br \/>1522. <\/p>\n<p>For more information on animal attractions and travel contact the Greater Port Macquarie Visitor <br \/>Information Centre on 1300 303 155 or book on-line at www.portmacquarieinfo.com.au<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Believed to be Australia\u2019s oldest koala, aptly name \u2018Birthday Girl\u2019, will celebrate her 22nd year at the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital on Saturday 19 September. The \u2018Family Fun Day\u2019 will be dedicated to the grand old lady with a birthday atmosphere, kid\u2019s games, a birthday card colouring competition, cake and educational tours of her home [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2343\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}