Longleat’s new home for lonely Hong Kong Koala

She was transported in a joint initiative with Turkish Airlines’ Cargo Division, who agreed to sponsor her flight and arrived in the UK via Heathrow Animal Reception Centre, which is managed by the City of London Corporation, as part of its Animal Health Service.

Having completed a period of quarantine and isolation to ensure her safety and the other animals that call Longleat home, she is now part of the seven-strong colony living at the Wiltshire wildlife attraction’s Koala Creek.

Longleat is home to the only group of southern koalas in Europe and is renowned for its successful captive breeding programme for the increasingly endangered Australian marsupials.

The announcement of Yani’s arrival at Longleat coincides with Save the Koala Day – an international event to raise awareness of the dangers koalas face on a daily basis and highlight the importance of conserving their natural habitat.

“Yani’s koala companion Dougie died in 2018 from kidney disease that affects a third of southern koalas. She has been alone ever since,” said Longleat keeper James Dennis.

“Her keepers have done an amazing job looking after Yani but they felt it would be in her best interest for her to live with others of her own kind.

“Here at Longleat she can live a happy and fulfilling life alongside other koalas and play an extremely important role in the conservation of this iconic species.

“We would like to thank Turkish Cargo for sponsoring Yani’s flight and helping her become part of our koala family here, along with her keepers at Ocean Park who played a huge role in ensuring her move to England was as easy and comfortable as possible,” he added.

Originally from Kangaroo Island off the coast of South Australia, she was rescued as an orphan and taken to Cleland Wildlife Park in Queensland before travelling to Hong Kong as part of a captive breeding programme.

Ocean Park and the Australian Government began searching for a suitable new home for Yani after Dougie died and decided Longleat would be the best place to look after her.

“Yani is an amazing koala. I’d definitely describe her as quite a stubborn character but she loves her food and has already formed close bonds with both her keepers and the other koalas,” said James.

“Her arrival means she is now the seventh southern koala in Europe, joining Dennis, Burke, Maizie, Violet, Hazel and Monty here at Longleat,” he added.

Longleat’s southern koala captive breeding programme is world renowned. They were the first place in Europe to successfully rear a baby southern koala and in 2022 they welcomed a second joey when Monty was born.

Longleat has also carried out ground-breaking research on the kidney disease that plagues her species, and believes introducing Yani to their conservation project gives a better chance of breeding a disease-free bloodline of southern koalas that just doesn’t exist in the wild.

Koala Creek is part of a ground-breaking joint initiative with the Government of South Australia, Cleland Wildlife Park, Koala Life and Longleat to support research and raise funds for koala management and conservation.