A sanctuary is by definition a place of safety, and protection, for native animals.
How ironic that one of Australia’s oldest animal parks, Koala Park Sanctuary in the north-western Sydney suburb of west Pennant Hills which is home to koalas, emus, kangaroos, wombats, echidnas, penguins, dingoes and native birds; has long since become a nightmare for their animals and for anyone who loves our iconic Australian wildlife.
Far from providing refuge, it is the animal equivalent of an internment camp with living condition at the Sanctuary being abysmal. Throughout the zoo, there are scenes of sick and distressed animals living in poor conditions; emaciated, depressed, dehydrated and not moving in their dusty and smelly stretch of dirt which is their home.
The sanctuary has pleaded guilty to several charges from the RSPCA of neglect and ill treatment of the Park’s animals at Parramatta Local Court on 5 November 2015. This is on top of receiving numerous other defects over the years from Department of Primary Industries which placed defect notices to the park for ageing and dirty animal exhibits, drainage problems and out of date records.
All to no avail; the Park’s owner have done nothing to rectify these issues. According to news reports, money that had been donated to the sanctuary by the public community is currently sitting in a high interest-yielding savings account years later — while the park has grown decrepit and the animals have gone neglected. (See photo of a koala with ulcers due to Chlamydia.)
Despite ongoing prosecution, with the case set to return to court on 2 February 2016 at Parramatta Local Court for sentencing — the Authorities are inexplicably allowing this place to continue operation with blatant disregard for the care and welfare of the animals.
So whilst the talking and politics continue, time is quickly running out for the animals at this place of neglect and torment. We cannot sit back and await three months for the outcome of February’s court hearing — the wildlife of Koala Park Sanctuary need us to act NOW if they are to be saved.
The support not only from local and national, but also international has been extremely encouraging and we now ask for help in joining our fight to help save the wildlife and close Koala Park Sanctuary for good and help get these animals to safety, without further ado.
Please sign our petition asking The Hon. Niall Mark Blair, MLC to cancel the parks licence and relocate the parks wildlife to suitable sanctuaries and care providers before it’s too late! Copy and paste to your web browser:
http://awpc.org.au/help-close-koala-park-sanctuary-in-sydney-australia
Have you lobbied the cruise ship companies eg Holland America and tour groups who continue to include Koala Park in their programs. Reagards, Julie