Grower Of Eucalyptus Feeds Fuzzy `Children'

BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. - If koalas could say grace, they probably would direct their prayers to Bob Frueh.

The critters from Down Under, you see, are picky eaters, refusing to nosh on anything but the tender leaves at the ends of eucalyptus branches. That's no problem for most koalas, marsupials who usually live in the wilds of eastern Australia. But it can be tough for the two dozen or so living in U.S. zoos, where eucalyptus leaves are hard to come by.

That's where Frueh, 57, comes in. About two-thirds of his 10-acre grove west of Boynton Beach, in Palm Beach County's Agricultural Reserve, is planted in eucalyptus. He is the only commercial grower for koalas in the United States.

"He has a lot of mouths to feed, a lot of `children' depending on him," said Mark Rosenthal, curator of mammals for the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, home of two koalas.

Each morning, workers at Frueh's nursery snip new branches from the sweet-smelling trees. They wrap them in bundles and pack them in wax-lined boxes for overnight shipment to seven U.S. zoos (Albuquerque, N.M.; Chicago; Columbus, Ohio; Miami; Milwaukee; Tampa, Fla.; and Toledo, Ohio) and one European zoo (Dusseldorf, Germany).

Two other zoos, San Diego and Los Angeles, grow their own eucalyptus.

Miami's Metrozoo just reopened its koala exhibit in December for the first time since Hurricane Andrew struck in August 1992. The zoo had grown its own eucalyptus, but the storm destroyed the grove. Now its koala chow comes from Frueh.

"He's able because of a cooler, drier climate to grow a few more varieties than we can," explained Al Fontana, the zoo's director.

Frueh said it is a tricky task getting koalas to eat in captivity. No self-respecting koala would eat eucalyptus branches just tossed into his pen. Zookeepers must place them in special holders that simulate real trees, so the animals can browse through the branches themselves. They eat nothing else.

"You have to have fresh eucalyptus every day of the year, every year of that animal's life," Frueh said.

He is almost uniquely qualified to grow that food. Frueh grew up in St. Louis and graduated from the University of Missouri with a degree in wildlife management. After turning down a job in the wilds of Alaska, he landed at the St. Louis Zoo, where he was a protege of famed zoologist Marlin Perkins. He was a curator there from 1961 to 1982, when he moved to Boynton Beach to open a tropical nursery.

Little did he know his two professions would end up meshing so nicely.

It didn't happen until 1987, when Rosenthal, an old friend, called one day from Chicago. He told Frueh the San Diego Zoo - which controls the distribution of koalas in the United States - would offer Lincoln Park a pair on long-term loan under one condition.

"They said, `If you can find some idiot out there to grow eucalyptus, you can have koalas,' " Frueh joked. "They found me."

At first, growing eucalyptus involved a little trial and a lot of error. About 500 types grow in Australia, of which koalas will eat about 50.

Not all of those, though, will grow well in South Florida's wet climate. Frueh has grown about 30 varieties from seed, but only a few have thrived in his grove.

Eight years later, his eucalyptus business - Koala Browse Inc. - has crowded out most of Frueh's nursery stock. Each zoo pays him $1,000 a month per animal (currently he feeds 19), and they must arrange their own shipping.

After expenses, Frueh said, the business makes him a "decent living" - enough money that he has considered scrapping the nursery altogether. But he is reluctant to become so dependent on one animal for his livelihood.

"If some major disease or some calamity happened to the koalas, I don't know what I'd do," Frueh said.