WALLABY IMAGES

8th October 2005

 

The first Swamp wallaby came in as a result of a dog chase, the landowner thought no harm would be done, the dog had a good run, the wallaby got away. As we already know this is rarely the case, the mother will often die due to Myopathy, and as in this case the joey is dropped in mums haste to out run the dog.

The landowner saw the joey drop from Mums pouch, he left it in the paddock thinking mum would return for her joey. This rarely happens when a wallaby has been chased, it will not return for fear of being caught. The joey was eventually retrieved by the landowner, and it was consequently brought in to care, shocked, but unharmed.

The second and third joey arrived 6 weeks later one day apart, both being found by members of the public on their morning walk. Both were found in dead mothers pouches on the side of the road.Both wallabies had been dragged off the road, unfortunately the driver forgot to check the pouch in both instances, lucky for these little joey's, someone else did not.

As you can see these joey's have made great friends, and all are doing well in care, currently being fed 5 times a day and night, they come out of the pouch for a very short time after each feed,then back in the pouch. They all have separate pouches, but chose to share pouches, loving each others company. Animals such as these have a very close bond with their mother, in care we can not afford for the joey's to bond too strongly to us, so having a few joey's same age, allows them to create this bond with each other. I find that this bond lasts all the way through till release, and in most cases after release they will often stay together.

 

UPDATE 19/11/05

''Sammy'' our dog chase swampy, is seen here 8 weeks after coming in to care, he now spends quite a bit of time out of his pouch.

The Swamp wallaby male seen in this image is now out of pouch permanently as is Sammy and the female. They have all left their pouch early, I imagine due to not being able to fit in one pouch any longer, they choose not to use separate pouches, so stay out all together.

It will be some time yet before they will be ready for the next step, the Pre-release pen.

 

 

 

The time has come for Sammy and his 2 friends to go to the final stage of their time in care. They will be transferred to the pre-release pen this week, and from there they will be soft released in about 5 weeks time. Soft release means they will be able to come and go from the pre release pen at their leisure. The gate is opened, and left open until such time as they no longer feel the need to come back. This time can vary from one joey to the next, all depending on the personality on each individual. We let them choose when they are ready to face the world and life as a wild animal.