Four southern koalas from Cleland Wildlife Park flown to England in 2018 to become star attractions at Longleat

Four southern koalas from Cleland Wildlife Park in the Adelaide hills being loaded (top left) onto a Singapore Airlines cargo plane at Adelaide Airport in 2018 and checked on board by South Australian government parks and wildlife officers (middle left) before they settled into their new home (bottom left) at Longleat Safari and Wildlife Park in Wiltshire, England. Violet (at right), one of the four koalas from Cleland, had the first southern koala born in Europe in 2021.

Four southern koalas from Cleland Wildlife Park in the Adelaide hills became star attractions at Longleat Safari and Wildlife Park in Wiltshire, England, after their arrival from South Australia in 2018.  Violet, who arrived with Dennis, Maizi and Coorong at Longleat from Cleland Wildlife Park, become mother in 2021 to the first southern koala born in Europe. The joey was named Hazel after a public vote in 2022.

The birth was a major milestone for the conservation programme coordinated by survival science not-for-profit Koala Life, founded in South Australia, in partnership with Cleland Wildlife Park, with the support of South Australia’s National Parks and Wildlife Service.

Longleat Safari and Wildlife Park in southwest England was the only animal collection in England exhibiting koalas and the only animal collection in Europe showing southern koalas in space called Koala Creek. It was owned by Ceawlin Thynn, marquess of Bath and chairman of Longleat Enterprises. Thynn, instrumental in bringing koalas to Longleat, also was a patron of the Koala Life foundation based in South Australia where it conducted its survival science strategy around a koala breeding programme.

The Koala Life breeding programme aimed to produce disease-free and genetically diverse koalas. The birth of Violet’s joey at Longleat added to that diversity with its father being Burke who was brought from Osaka Zoo in Japan in 2019.

Ceawlin Thynn’s support for koala conservation extended to sending out two of his dedicated Koala Creek keepers at Longleat out to South Australia to assist its Koala Life partners where possible during the 2019-20 bushfires in Australia, including Kangaroo Island and the Adelaide hills. The keepers took with them an emergency Longleat relief fund of $25,000 to support ongoing koala rescue and relief work.

A team effort involving the South Australian government and Cleland Wildlife Park, with Singapore Airlines, enabled the four koalas to be flown to England in 2018 and act as a European hub at Longleat for Koala Life’s species-survival work.