The kangaroo is perhaps the most often-associated animal with Australia. In our country, the kangaroo is a national symbol–appearing on the Australian coat of arms as well as some of our currency. The kangaroo is a part of the country’s cultural history and protecting them is near and dear to the hearts of many here. 

@CokieTheCat calls my Mum “The Kangaroo Wrestler!” BOL! Mum became a kangaroo rescuer in Australia over 30 years ago. Late one Sunday evening little “Katie” was delivered into Mum’s hands. The mommy had been accidently killed and Katie could not survive by herself. For one entire year Mum bottle fed Katie every four hours, around the clock. Katie lived inside the house so this helped with the 2 am and 6 am feeds.

Kangaroos can only have marsupial milk from special marsupial teats because other teats cause mouth ulcers. Eighty percent of all hand-reared Joeys die within the first year of care, due to their fragile “flora” system. Mommy kangaroos carry their young Joeys in the pouch for 12 months, but the Joey continues to drink milk from the mother for up to another year = 2 years! Roos are family orientated, so when something happens to one roo, the whole “mob” is affected.

When kangaroos are put under a lot of stress (example: fleeing from bush-fires or fleeing from being chased by dogs) they are susceptible to myopathy, also known as “stress disease.” Myopathy is when the body pumps huge amounts of lactic acid which is trapped in the body and causes the kangaroo’s muscles to get stuck in whatever position they were in at that moment, like an ice sculpture. (Meaning a frozen pose that is unable to move.)  Myopathy is considered to be extremely painful. Instead of recovering, the kangaroo begins a slow path that eventually kills him. A crippled kangaroo cannot function. Scientists recently discovered roos have a window of less than one hour for a particular vitamin to be injected into them in the hope of fighting myopathy. Of course, being injected within the first hour is often not possible. This is where the “Roo Rescuers” come in!

My Mum is the “go to” person for injured wildlife in her area and is often first on the scene to free injured roos or to scoop them up and drive them to The Animal Welfare League Veterinarians (@AWLQ). When the roo arrives @AWLQ, vets examine it and administer whatever drugs are needed to relieve pain and help keep it calm. Sometimes Mum is called in to collect baby Joeys that have been separated from their mommy. On arrival  @AWLQ, these babies are placed in incubators while awaiting transport to Wildcare Australia.

Wildcare is a volunteer group of people who specialize in long-term care for all types of Australian wildlife. Kangaroo cares are called “Macropod Carers.” In very bad situations, Wildcare volunteers respond to Mum’s distress call and arrive to help with badly injured kangaroos. Adult roos are very big and extremely strong! Males can stand up to seven feet tall! By nature they are extremely shy, peaceful and very quiet animals.  However, when injured they are fighting for their life and remember: they are unhandled wild animals. Sometimes several people are needed to work with one kangaroo.

Wildcare carers are dedicated, wonderful people who donate their time and resources to help wild animals survive, and then be rehabilitated to be released back into the wild, once again reunited with their waiting families. Wildcare does amazing work that is often overlooked, or not even thought of at all. Without Wildcare, Mum would be in a real mess! But even worse, wildlife would suffer and many would die!

When working with injured wild animals we do not always get the outcome we want, but the times when we do makes everything worthwhile!  Look at “Blinky”, the baby Joey with no fur at all; he was sure to die. Today he rides around in his dedicated carer’s homemade pouch and he has a real chance at going on to live a normal, happy and healthy kangaroo life. His carer has him by her side, one to one, 24 hours a day;  getting up every four hours to feed and clean him. She will do this for an entire 12 months. Then she will continue bottle feeding him for another 12 months on top of that. She is his “Mommy.” It is a labor of love.

Wildcare Austrailia cares for ALL wild creatures: birds, wombats, koalas, possums, reptiles, bats, etc. For overseas readers: Australia does NOT have rabies so creatures like bats are not harmful. Wildcare receives no government assistance and operates purely from small donations. The carers often buy the needed medicines with their own money. Most of their hospitalizations are done at carers houses! Please consider donating to Wildcare. Any help at all is greatly appreciated. No donation is ever too small. All proceeds go directly toward the animals.

Tagged as: @AWLQ, @cokiethecat, Joeys, kangaroos, myopathy, rescue