Devil Encounter
In the winter edition of HLV’s newsletter, we introduced you to John and Robyn Weigel, directors of the Australian Reptile Park. HLV was so impressed with the work they do we decided to become ‘Devil Ark Angels’ and sponsor the Devil Ark foundation which operates to create an insurance population for the limited Tasmanian devil species.
As part of our sponsorship, HLV was fortunate enough to be given a ‘Devilish Encounter’ where Sue, Ashlee, Robyn & Ash travelled to the Australian Reptile Park for a truly memorable day!
Firstly we met up with Hayley who was our tour guide and keeper of the Australian Reptile Park. She kindly informed us that we were going into the snake enclosure to watch a short presentation about the Tassie Devils. Robyn was very nervous and was not very happy about the idea of being in the venom room with Australia's most venomous snakes! But they were all very securely locked up! Meanwhile Sue was struggling to behave herself wanting to scream ‘Snake!’ during the presentation. The Reptile Park milks the venom of the snakes and sends it away in order to create anti-venom. Hayley talked us through some history of the Tassie Devils and the deadly facial tumor disease causing their rapid decline. The population is estimated to be around 20% of the pre-disease population, with no end in sight. Biting transfers the disease and as this is common nature for Tassie Devils, the disease transfers so easily. After our presentation Hayley came in holding two baby devils Stanley and Sass! Our hearts sank as the tiny babies, stacked on top of each other sunk into the soft pillows they were carried on. We each got a cuddle with them and a personal photo; we even had one try to escape! We left the snake enclosure starry eyed and headed for the main park.
Hayley had played 'mum' to a baby koala and nursed it from birth as its mum had died from lymphoma very early. Hayley had nursed it from birth at her home and now the koala lives at the reptile park. We all got our photo with Hayley’s koala Archie and also met his small friend Teddy. We then headed over to the 'staff only' section to take a peak at some of the private devil enclosures. Hayley tried to entice feisty Clint to come out from his home to play tug-o-war with a piece of kangaroo tail, but he wasn't in the mood for his party trick and was no where to be seen! We decided to try some young sisters and won little Lara and Lexi over with some chicken and raw eggs! Hayley threw whole raw eggs into the enclosure and the devils instantly ran to the eggs. Amazingly, even with their super strong mouths, the devils gently pierce the egg and lick the egg white and yolk out without spilling any egg!
Our last stop was at the public devil enclosure to visit two brothers that were soon going to be released at Devil Ark in the Barrington Tops. The boys had been hand raised by a keeper 'Odie' and his wife. The two Tassie Devils treated Odie like dad, but Odie warned that if anyone else went in the Devils wouldn’t been so friendly. They are very selective to who is in their territory.
We noticed a crowd gathering behind when we realised Bondi Vet, Dr. Chris Brown, was filming his show with a huge turtle! We all went to watch Chris with Hugo, the massive Galapagos turtle. Dr Chris Brown, with the help of several keepers was testing the fertility of the male turtle. We were very lucky for him to spare a few minutes from filming to say hello to us and get a group photo! All the girls were very pleased with having his arms around us!
We had a fantastic day at the reptile park and no one really realized how much fun the park can be even for a group of adults! We had a fantastic day and cannot wait to take our families back. It is certainly a memory we will never forget and would once again like to thank John & Robyn Weigel, as well as all of the staff at the Australian Reptile Park for their hospitality and the fantastic job they do.
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