Abschied von Koala Mullaya

Animal news | 9 January 2026

It was with a heavy heart that we decided yesterday to put our ageing male koala Mullaya to sleep.

Over the past year, he has slowly but steadily lost weight, which could not be stopped even with intensive supplementary feeding with special replacement food and eucalyptus porridge. However, as Mullaya was doing well apart from this and regular blood and general examinations showed no abnormalities, this was primarily attributed to his now advanced age of 14 years.

In recent weeks, however, he was losing body mass considerably faster, becoming visibly weaker and eventually eating almost nothing. So we took a collective decision to spare him any further suffering. To take X-rays, Mullaya first had to be put under anaesthetic. The images showed an externally barely recognisable change in the skull, which was probably a tumour in his jaw. This further reinforced our decision to have him put down. These and other possible causes of the disease are now being determined in a pathological examination.

Born in 2012, Mullaya came to Dresden from Zoo Duisburg in November 2013 as one of the first two koalas to move into the then still new enclosure in Prof. Brandes House. With partner Eerin, who also came to us from Duisburg in 2022, he bred for the first time in 2023, much to our delight. The female koala Janali was followed in 2024 by Kiri, the second female cub born in Dresden.