OAKVALE Wildlife Park is looking to the future with plans for a veterinary and education facility in addition to improvements to the site, a project worth $2.3 million.

The wildlife park has lodged a development application with Port Stephens Council that, if approved, will allow it to alter the entry to the main building, demolish its existing operations shed, construct a new children’s playpen and build a new “farm support building and feed shed”.

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The “shed” is an architecturally designed, state of the art building that will serve as a hub for the treatment and care of the park’s current and future species, provide a more functional space for staff to work, and greater education opportunities.

Park owner Kent Sansom said Oakvale is continually growing and therefore, animal care facilities need to be upgraded.

“The facility is designed to assist in medical and breeding requirements for all our animals and provide an educational facility for schools, TAFE and university students to have hands-on training with wildlife and other species,” Mr Sansom said.

“The facility we have now has done the job for 44 years but as we go forward, there’s a need for a brand new, state of the art animal care facility.”

The current facilities will be upgraded to allow for Oakvale’s veterinarian to complete checks and perform general procedures on site.

There will also be a viewing area where students can watch veterinary procedures.

Mr Sansom said the facility is hoped to be built by mid to late 2023 and will include greater quarantine facilities and recovery areas for animals.

“We breed our koalas really well here at Oakvale.

“We have four joeys in the pouch at the moment.

“As part of that, we need to be doing regular examinations and with this new facility, we can take joeys into the clinic, weigh them, take bloods if we need to, do vaccinations,” he said.

The wildlife park has partnered with the Louis Koala Foundation to fund the project and will be hosting numerous fundraisers to undertake the upgrade, the first of which being at Tattersalls Club in Sydney from 6pm-10pm on Thursday 13 October.

By Tara CAMPBELL