What does a wrangler do?

Answer 1

Someone adept at handling wild koalas for purposes such as medical treatment or research. Wild koalas will generally put up with humans coming quite close (compared with other wild animals), but if they need to be transported, they must be held in a particular way or transferred to a canvas bag to protect both the koala and handler from injury. Koala have very sharp non-contractable claws and strong front incisors for clipping off leaf; so scratches and bites are very likely if koalas are not handled properly. The kind of koalas they let you hold/pat at wildlife sancturies/parks are humanised, ie used to human contact (probably due to being orphaned as joeys and/or raised by humans for a number of years), so require less specialised handling. See "Diary of a Koalawrangler" at www.koalawrangler.com.