Town keeps museum supplied with koalas for the freezer – ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation

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By Amal Wehbe
Topic:Libraries, Museums and Galleries
Dr Heidi Kolkert with a preserved koala at the Armidale Natural History Museum. (Supplied)
Motorists' instincts when they spot roadkill are usually to swerve to avoid running over the animal, to stop their car and move the carcass to the side of the road, or to alert local authorities.
But in Armidale, in New South Wales's Northern Tablelands, locals know to pull over, carefully wrap up the deceased animal, and drop it off at the city's Natural History Museum.
This explains why the museum has about 40 koalas in its freezer waiting to undergo taxidermy when the ABC visits.
Frozen koalas in bags at Armidale's Natural History Museum. (ABC News: Amal Wehbe)
The museum's collections manager, Dr Heidi Kolkert, is preparing an additional 37 dead koalas for research.
Dr Kolkert, who teaches zoology at the University of New England, which owns the museum, says all of the deceased koalas have been donated by members of the public after being found dead on the road or on local properties.
These animals end up on display in the museum or are exchanged with other universities for research purposes.
Dr Heidi Kolkert oversees the collections at the Natural History Museum. (Supplied)
Dr Kolkert says she receives koala donations two to three times a week during the high season from August to February, when koalas are on the move to find mating partners.
While it's upsetting to see so many koalas killed, Dr Kolkert says she is glad their deaths are not in vain.
"It's a really sad story, but at least they're contributing to a greater research cause," she says.
"Often, people who have never seen a koala get to see one from our collection."
One of the keen volunteers at the museum is Summer Farrelly.
The zoology student began volunteering at the museum as part of the requirements to attain their degree.
Zoology student Summer Farrelly prepares a small mammal for taxidermy. (ABC News: Amal Wehbe)
However, Summer has since become a regular volunteer and now helps Dr Kolkert with the management and preservation of different specimens.
"The vast majority of the specimens are donated by the general public," Summer explains.
And while some may find it a little creepy to be working so closely with dead animals, Summer focuses on the positive side of it.
"Looking at all these specimens and what they can teach us … is something that I find truly amazing," Summer says. 
"And being able to work with them so that they can be preserved is, I think, worth it."
Summer now knows how to prepare a study skin, which involves removing the insides of animals, and is learning the art of taxidermy.
This possum specimen at the Armidale museum has been left half completed by Queensland Museum taxidermist Alison Douglas, to show the intricate details of the taxidermy process. (Supplied: Armidale Natural History Museum)
Taxidermy involves the skinning, cleaning and preserving of an animal's skin while keeping the fur, hair, scales or feathers intact, building the animal's form from stuffing and other materials, and then mounting the outer layer over this mould. 
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