GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Koalapalooza kicked off Saturday at John Ball Zoo as a way to celebrate our furry friends and raise awareness about conservation efforts, but also to say farewell.
Two male koalas, Noorundi and Iluka, came to John Ball Zoo in May as part of San Diego Zoo’s Education and Conservation program.
“San Diego Zoo hosts the biggest population of koalas outside of the wild, in their wild habitat in Australia, and they run a really great conservation and education program because koalas are endangered in the wild now due to various reasons, habitat loss, wildfires,” Darci Napolillo, a staff member at John Ball Zoo, explained to FOX 17.
The zoo decided to send off Noorundi and Iluka with a celebration.
Koalapalooza includes live music, family-fun activities, a cookout and, of course, the two stars of the show.
Obviously we’re going to have the koalas here as well. They’re going to have some specific feeding times, which might be some of the best times that people will actually be able to see them actually active since they do like to sleep so much,” Jaime Racalla, a koala keeper at John Ball Zoo, said.
Racalla has been working with the koalas during their stay in Grand Rapids.
“We knew the whole time obviously that they would have to go back, so I don’t know, it’s a mixed bag. We definitely have enjoyed our time with them so much. We’ve gotten to learn so much about just these two individuals as well as learn more about koalas in general and get to talk to excited guests about them all summer, but we’re hoping maybe when they go back, we’ll see. They’re kind of both getting on the older, more mature end for males, so maybe they’ll get to have some girlfriends when they go back, we’ll see,” she added.
Now that the koalas are saying goodbye and heading home, the zoo is working to figure out what to do with their exhibit.
“We haven’t gotten that far yet. There will definitely be something moved in here. Not exactly sure on the timing or the species, but we built this brand new beautiful habitat for the koalas, so we definitely want to make sure that there’s something in there once we say goodbye to them,” Napolillo explained.
Koalapalooza runs through Monday. It’s scheduled during regular zoo hours, which are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
For more information about the event, click here.
