Zoo Unveils Refurbished Koala Exhibit

Animal lovers and 60 kindergartners on Thursday got the first peek at the Los Angeles Zoo’s refurbished koala house and its two residents, Karen and Janie, who have spent the last three months in an outdoor exhibit.

Zoo officials say they believe the $55,000 project will be a strong drawing card. Its public debut, scheduled for Saturday, comes as the zoo emerges from problems that delayed its reaccreditation by a year.

Last month, in the wake of strong corrective measures, the American Zoo and Aquarium Assn. finally reaccredited the zoo.

The zoo’s Ahmanson Koala House “had gotten sterile,” said zoo Director Manuel Mollinedo. “Over the years, it has become worn and it became tired.” Zoo officials solicited funds from the koala house’s original donors to refurbish it, he said.

Those on hand for a media preview Thursday had their hearts set on seeing Karen and Janie, who are on long-term loan from the San Francisco Zoo.

The most active koala was not really an animal at all, but a person appearing in the costume of Sydney, the mascot for Qantas Airlines. He was the only one willing to pose for pictures.

To the frustration of spectators, Karen and Janie were asleep, as befits animals who are most active at dawn and dusk, curled up in the branches of a eucalyptus.

Children from Linda Vista Elementary School in Ontario craned their necks and squealed, “Where’s the koala?”

After scanning eucalyptus branches, some managed to spot Karen curled up in a fuzzy ball. Her paws grasped a branch. Her posterior faced the audience.

“Karen can be kind of grumpy,” said Paul Jewell, one of the koala keepers. “When we have to get her down, she gets kind of irritated. Janie, she’s more like a kid.”

Janie, in a similar position, sat several feet above Karen in a different tree, virtually out of sight.

Koalas sleep most of the day. Their prime activities during their six waking hours are eating and mating.

“You’d be surprised, though,” said Lois Johannes, lead animal keeper. “They can run, but only to get to another tree, and they can leap from branch to branch.”

When the koala house opened in 1982, it was one of the first koala exhibits featuring a reverse light cycle--dark during the day--so visitors could view the creatures during their active time.

The two females will eventually be joined by three male koalas--Tabboo, Cobar and Puranga--who arrived Sunday on loan from the San Diego Zoo. The males will be quarantined about three more weeks.

Zoo officials hope the adults will produce offspring, giving the Los Angeles exhibit koalas of its own.

Echidnas (spiny egg-laying mammals) and battongs (which resemble pint-sized kangaroos), both also native to Australia, were placed in the koala house. Their role is to provide more action in a normally subdued atmosphere.

“Although the koalas are popular, people do get kind of tired of watching koalas sleeping on a branch,” Mollinedo said.

But on this day, even the echidnas and battongs hid. Zookeepers said they needed to become acclimated to their new environment.

The renovated koala house features a background mural depicting the Australian bush and animal sounds recorded Down Under.

“Koalas are very sensitive animals,” Johannes said. “We have the noises playing to keep people from having loud conversations around here.”

Guests, many of them donors and members of the Los Angeles Zoo Assn., watched Karen and Janie diligently for any movement.

“The other one, she rolled over a bit. You kind of got a good profile of her,” said Phil Wenger of Granada Hills. “She’s just there on the skinniest little branch,” he said. “Maybe when the boys show up, they’ll be up a little.”