Taronga Western Plains Zoo is now home to a state-of-the-art wildlife hospital

The $14.6 million wildlife hospital officially opened its doors on Wednesday morning in front of several special guests from the state government and Taronga Conversation Society.

The new hospital will give guests the chance to witness first-hand how the zoo cares for and treats sick animals.

Taronga Western Plains Zoo Director Steve Hinks believes allowing guests a closer-than-ever look at the treatment of animals is the biggest impact of the new hospital.

"A large part of this project is bringing our back of the house to front of house and that is around making the work our veterinary team do front and centre," he said.

"Because this really is the physical embodiment, as a not-for-profit or a profit-for-purpose business, this is where every dollar from every visit goes.

"It's to support the conservation efforts here at our two beautiful zoos."

Senior veterinarian at the zoo, Dr Alisa Wallace admitted the prior facilities for her peers were becoming a bit outdated.

"The facility that we have been working in until now is about 40 years old, while it was progressive in its time, we have well and truly outgrown the capacity of the building in terms of what it can do," she said.

"We have a very diverse array of work we do both here and out in the field, this building has been designed to allow us to do best-practice veterinary medicine on different species."

Guests will be given the chance to treat several different species like birds, koalas and other reptiles, with a flying section to help raptors and other flying animals return to health or full fitness.

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Dr Wallace believes people won't be able to take their eyes off the screen or windows when watching how animals are taken care of.

"We've got increased capacity to care for koalas, we've got some new raptor rehabilitation facilities so we can provide optimal care for them which we do see quite commonly," she said.

"We've actually got some animals in the hospital right now who have been impacted by floods just to demonstrate what this hospital can deliver.

"I think the exciting part of this is that for the last 40 years all of this work has been done behind the scenes, we have limited opportunities to share that with our guests."

Taronga Conservation CEO Cameron Kerr AO hopes after several natural disasters have affected animals around the state, proper care can now take place to save as many species as possible.

"At Taronga, we've made a commitment to really identify our strengths and where we can make the greatest impact for wildlife," he said.

"That is creating was it is right now what is the most modern veterinary wildlife specialist teaching hospital in the world.

"I know that with the skillsets of this community, the team, our volunteers and all our supporters that we can make an impact.

"There is hope for our wildlife because with our intellect and commitment we can turn things around."

The hospital would not have been possible without funding from the state government and Member for Dubbo Dugald Saunders also wished to thank a local business for their work on the project.

"I want to pay tribute to the team from David Payne Constructions and some of those boys are here today," he said.

"They ran the project and across the road is the next step in the whole vision with the Platypus refuge (centre) which we will hope to have done by mid-2023.

"Following that in this facility we will have the most significant conservation and wildlife zone I think anywhere in the country.

"This is the first wildlife hospital of its kind west of the Blue Mountains, I'm really proud as the local member that we have been able to get this over the line."

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