Adelaide Zoo Hospital: In the Adelaide City region of South Australia

Most of us come to the Adelaide Zoo for a peaceful family day out. Occasionally there's a hint of drama especially when the lioness think you're getting a little too close to her cubs.

But for the most part, her roar and baring of teeth is as dramatic as it gets. Unless of course you keep a close eye on the goings-on at the Zoo's Animal Health Centre - there anything is possible.

The day the Postcards team visited, the drama of one species fight for survival was being played out in public. The Brush-tailed Rock Wallabies in the Snowy Mountains National Park are under threat of extinction so the Adelaide Zoo team is playing its part to save them.

We watched through the big glass viewing windows at the Animal Health Centre, as vet Dr David Schultz anaesthetised the wallabies. Dr Schulz and the other vets are playing a trick on nature for the benefit of the endangered Brush-tails. Their numbers are at critically low levels so the zoo is a vital part of a much-needed surrogacy program.

“The female Brush-tail gives birth and after ten days we take the pouch young out and we put it into the pouch of a surrogate which is either a Tamar Wallaby or often a Yellow Footed Rock Wallaby,” Dr Schultz explained.

“That means it stops lactation. In one month there's another kid from the Brush-tail. So instead of that female spending a whole six months or so lactating and letting this little beastie grow up in its pouch, she can give birth again. That way we've been able to accelerate the population three or four times.”

That means more endangered Brush-tails can be sent to other institutions in other States to foster the breeding program. It's just one of the many procedures performed in the Animal Centre - most of which can be seen at the Centre’s viewing area.

For the drama and comedy of the ER Unit at the Zoo head to the public viewing area at the Animal Health Centre. It's between the Apes enclosure and the Children's Zoo. If you have any further questions please email info@postcards-sa.com.au

Adelaide Zoo
Frome Road
Open daily 9.30 to 5pm

Animal Health Centre
Between Ape enclosure and Childrens' Zoo