Bid to save zoo animals
Gold Coast keepers’ PNG appeal
FORMER Gold Coast zookeepers are desperately trying to save Papua New Guinea’s only wildlife park as the developing nation struggles with the devastating cost of the coronavirus pandemic.
PNG has recorded fewer than 1000 cases of the virus and only seven deaths, but one of the world’s poorest countries is facing an uphill battle to manage the crippling economic impact of COVID-19.
With little revenue or government funding, the future of the Port Moresby Nature Park and its 550 animals is looking bleak as owners consider the heartbreaking prospect of having to euthanise hundreds of creatures.
Michelle McGeorge and her husband Brett Smith, formerly zookeepers at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary, have run the park for the past decade, transforming it from a ramshackle facility into one of the country’s top tourist attractions.
However, speaking from
PNG, Ms McGeorge said a sharp decline in revenue and visitor numbers had left the park facing an uncertain future.
“There’s no JobKeeper, there’s no nothing. People here are just trying to survive and a lot of our sponsors are now directing their money towards hospitals and healthcare, which is completely understandable, but it makes it very hard for us,’’ she said.
“Closing the park would be devastating for wildlife conservation in this country.
“We’ve had some pretty dark discussions about what might happen.”
With no suitable zoo or refuge centres to take them in, some of the park’s animals could potentially be returned to the wild but others including rare and threatened species would have to be destroyed.
After meeting while working at Currumbin’s wildlife sanctuary, Ms McGeorge and her husband moved overseas to China and then to PNG, where they
took over the park in 2010.
They had poured their hearts and souls into the park and conservation. But with the pandemic straining resources, the park had to forgo much of its work as a sanctuary for injured wildlife.
“We’ve had to turn animals away which is just devastating,” said Ms McGeorge.
“There’s still a bush meat culture in PNG and we’re finally cutting through and seeing people saving turtles from wet markets for instance, but we’re now on such a budget that we’re forced to weigh up whether or not we can afford to save these animals.”
Many supplies had to be imported from Brisbane.
The park ordinarily cost about $2.5 million a year to run, but expenses had increased during COVID.
They have started a GoFundMe campaign to generate enough donations to keep the park running.
Visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/port-moresby-nature- park039s- wildlifeappeal