Otway Ranges Deer & Wildlife Park on Australia's Great Ocean Road

While playing tourist on the Great Ocean Road through the south of Australia, we happened upon one of our favorite things: A wildlife park. Of all these parks we have visited in Victoria, Otway Ranges Deer & Wildlife Park is at the bottom of the list. They flat made me mad.

Part of the Great Ocean Drive takes you through the Otway National Park; Otway Ranges is near the end of that bit coming south, just before you get to the Twelve Apostles. From the outside it looks like any other wildlife park, but stepping into the darkened office sets the mood for what is about to come. When Otway Ranges opened in 1987, it was meant to be an educational center. Today it is a small tourist trap where folks can come to pet and feed a variety of Australian wildlife such as deer, wallabies, emus, etc... you can buy a bag of pellets at the office when you pay a small amount to get in.

The park itself is not a bad place to stop and stretch your legs. It is quite a pleasant stroll, and I always enjoy letting the animals eat from my hand. The problem comes in with the whole guided tour part.

Wombats are normally fairly nocturnal and so are sleeping the day away in a dark area during the usual tourist hours. The owner of Otway Ranges is more than happy to come out and roust James, the resident wombat, out of his peaceful slumber. The roof of James' little hut is unceremoniously lifted off and tossed to the side while the owner shoos him out into the open so tourists can oooh and ahhh and snap pictures of the poor thing. It did not end there though. No. This guy had to take the whole thing still further and prove his dominance over poor James by chasing him and jumping at him and just generally making a spectacle of harassing the poor wombat. This made me angry. Very angry.

The little show did not end there.

At the koala enclosure, Otway Ranges owner decided that the two koalas were not in good position for snapshots, so he grabbed a broom...(a broom!) and proceeded to push and shove one of the koalas out of its perch and down into Kodak range. The poor thing ambled over the log and up into another tree to get away from this lunatic. The second koala then made haste to go defend his tree. A fight ensued. It was not pretty, but the owner thought it was quite amusing and was happy his captives had put on this show for us. Smoke was coming out of my ears at that point. I only wish I had grabbed a picture of the broom action, but I was in too much shock to think of doing so at the time.

This behaviour is flat abusive. Had I the funds available to do so, I would have bought him out on the spot to save these beautiful creatures from this crap. The owner obviously cares not a wit about the animals here. They are for his amusement, and to bring in a few bucks entertaining tourists. We had been wondering why the animals seemed a bit skittish and frightened by our presence, these two little shows answered that quite well.

Do stop in to Otway Ranges if you are in the area, and do be sure to catch this crap on film. Something needs to be done about this guy.