On stepping out of his car however he did not think anything could possibly be alive as the smell was rather overpowering, as he was about to step back into his car, he noticed movement in the pouch. What he found was little "Millie", very frightened, hungry and thirsty. He did all the right things, so important in those vital first moments, wrapped her snugly to feel secure, gaver her warmth and rang for help.

 

Millie was a mighty 1145 grams when she arrived, the smell told the story of her misfortune. Her fur was just covering her thin body, thin and dehydrated. The fact that it was early spring and not too hot yet, probably saved her life. At the same time it was not so cold that she had lost her core temperature, indeed a lucky little joey.

The road to recover was not as long as I had expected, it did take Millie a bit of extra time to feel secure, and to gain the extra weight. But before too long she was out in the nursery pen with the others, and is now happily interacting with the other joeys in care, hopping into her pouch at the slightest disturbance. The importance of having more than one joey in care at a time guarantees the bonding of the animals to each other, rather than bonding to their human carers, our final outcome is always to release them back into the wild.

A lot of people have asked me 'is it not heartbreaking to let them go?' the answer is definately 'No'. The most wonderful feeling of all is to see them go into the wild, as long as you know you have done everything you possibly can to ensure they are ready for release.

Little "Millie" will be in care for some months yet, she will be released with a group of other Red-necked Wallabies of similar ages.

 

UPDATE: Millie was released at about 15 month of age, and has done well since her release. We are lucky in the fact that we are able to monitor the animals for some time after release, they can come and go as they please, thus making the adjustment a lot less stressful for them.