Chlamydial disease and other environmental pressures affecting an opportunistically sampled wild koala population in the Port Stephens region

Every year hundreds of Koalas are treated throughout Australia through a network of wildlife centres, Veterinarians and volunteer wildlife carers. This thesis is the work of a practicing veterinarian who has treated wild koalas of the Port Stephens region of coastal NSW for several years in a clinical environment, and is an attempt to investigate and learn from these koalas in order to try and reduce the numbers of koalas injured and killed each year, and to better understand the disease caused by chlamydia in wild koala populations, both in it’s epidemiology and treatment. Chapter one is general introduction and a review of the literature associated with koalas and chlamydial disease. Chapter two is a study of data gathered opportunistically form all koalas presented over a four-year period and involves over 500 koalas. It examines the make-up of the population presented, and also examines the reasons for their injury and disease, as well as examining the result of their treatment and time in care. Chapter three looks at chlamydial disease in more detail and involves the sampling of 45 koalas. This was done by swabbing ocular and conjunctival sites and performing PCR on the samples obtained. The final chapter presents the findings of this thesis in general terms, makes recommendations on treatment and management options and looks at possible avenues of future study.