Love is in the air! Perhaps the cutest (and most famous) koala joey on the planet, “Elsa” celebrated her first ever Valentine’s Day this morning. The koala joey was showered in love and received kisses and cuddles from staff all day. In a cute video released by the Australian Reptile Park, Elsa is seen being showered in love and gifted with bunches of flowers, including roses of course, by Mammal Keeper Erica Johnstone.
Sadly, Elsa had a rough start to life as her mother was unable to produce milk for the joey, and keepers were forced to intervene as she would not have survived otherwise. During Elsa’s infancy, koala whisperer Hayley Shute took on the role of becoming Elsa’s surrogate Mum. Since then, Elsa has thrived and grown into the perfect little joey.
She is now living full-time at the Australian Reptile Park in the wildlife sanctuary’s Koala Pre-School where visitors can see the adorable little koala. Elsa will eventually become a crucial part of the Australian Reptile Park’s breeding program with hopes that she will be raising her own koala joeys when she is old enough to breed in the future.
Elsa rose to fame October 2019 when she was first introduced to the world and has since amassed over fifty MILLION views across various social media platforms. People all over the world have had their hearts melted by the koala named after the popular Disney ice queen and the Australian Reptile Park thought it was only fitting to show the world Elsa celebrating a day all about love!
Mammal Keeper Erica Johnstone says, “Happy Valentine’s Day! We had so much fun showering Elsa in love this morning. She is the most affectionate koala we have had the pleasure of working with, she just loves cuddles! I loved giving her some flowers this morning and showering her with love on Valentine’s Day!”
Miss Johnstone continues, “It’s more important than ever to show the world just how special our koalas are and our crucial breeding program. If this video just encourages one person to make a donation towards koalas, then we can say we have spread the love this Valentine’s Day!”
Prior to the fires that have ravaged Australia over the last few months, over 90% of Koala habitat had already been lost with the remaining 10% being fragmented and vulnerable to intense bushfire. It is estimated at the current rate of decline, that koalas could be extent as soon as 2050.
The Australian Reptile Park alongside their charity organisation Aussie Ark started “Koala Ark” in January 2020. This project has already secured 7,000 hectares of land to create a safe haven for koalas preventing extinction should the pattern of decline continue. To find out more about the project and to donate, head to www.aussieark.org.au/koala-ark/
