Manager of Taronga Wildlife Hospital Sydney 

Libby has been a keeper and vet nurse at Taronga for over 20 years, during which time she has worked with a wide variety of animals across the Zoo from enormous hippos to tiny sugar gliders.

As Manager of the Taronga Wildlife Hospital in Sydney, Libby assists with the health care of animals from the Zoo’s population, as well as many species of Australian native fauna that are brought to the hospital by members of the community. These animals, including marine turtles, birds of prey and seals, are found sick, injured or orphaned and are rehabilitated and returned to the wild.

One of Libby’s favourite parts of her role is returning rehabilitated wildlife back to the wild. Some animals arrive at the hospital with severe injuries and require weeks of intensive care and months of physiotherapy and rehabilitation. Seeing them survive and released into the wild is a highlight for the entire team.

Libby also specialises in marine wildlife and rehabilitation techniques and is a member of the International Response Team for Oiled Wildlife. She has travelled to Malaysia, South Africa, New Zealand and Spain to help in emergency oil spills, treating and rehabilitating affected wildlife and training in Oiled Wildlife Care. During the Cape Town oil spill in South Africa, Libby and her team had 18,000 penguins in their care at any one time. A total of 33,000 African penguins were washed, rehabilitated and returned to the wild during that oil spill event.  

In 2016 Libby travelled to Congo in Africa on a fellowship to work at the Jane Goodall Institute Tchimpounga Chimpanzee sanctuary and to assist with rehabilitation techniques for African Wildlife.  

Libby currently runs a Marine Turtle Satellite Tracking program to monitor the survival of marine turtles released from Taronga Wildlife Hospital and to research critical habitat for marine turtles in New South Wales.

"Working in the Wildlife Hospital is fantastic because we work with so many different species. I love the fact that every day is different and that we do not know what animals will be arriving for treatment or requiring assistance in the zoo grounds on any given day. The fact that we can be feeding a tiny rainforest frog one minute and treating a huge Tiger the next makes me realise that I am very privileged."

- Libby Hall