Fort Worth Zoo G'bye mate: Zoo's last koala is leaving soon

Simon Hampel · 7 Feb 2005

From: Star-Telegram.com G'bye mate: Zoo's last koala is leaving soon

FORT WORTH - She sleeps 20 hours a day in a climate-controlled treehouse and racks up a grocery bill that would bust most budgets.

On top of that, she's indifferent to visitors who would like to see her do something. Open her eyes, for instance.

So that Yoda-looking, slumber-happy koala at the Fort Worth Zoo has been asked to leave the premises and make her way back to San Diego.

"The public interest was there early on, but it has waned since then," said zoo director Michael Fouraker. "It's not always that interesting when you see a furry ball sleeping in a tree."

The zoo has been winding down the Koala Outback exhibit for months, returning the animals to their home at the San Diego Zoo.

Sunday marks the official end of the exhibit, which opened in 1998 with three koalas.

It's got to be a relief for the zoo's bookkeepers. Feeding one 10-pound koala costs $20,000 a year, thanks to weekly flights of fresh eucalyptus from Florida -- the only thing that will satisfy the creature.

An 8,000-pound elephant, by contrast, gets by on $2,500 worth of food a year.

Mere peanuts.
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Fort Worth Zoo G'bye mate: Zoo's last koala is leaving soon

Simon Hampel Administrator Staff Member 20+ year member

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Fort Worth Zoo G'bye mate: Zoo's last koala is leaving soon

Simon Hampel Administrator Staff Member 20+ year member

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