Red-Necked wallaby joey in care

August 2007

This little Red-Necked wallaby joey was safely inside mums pouch when she was killed by a motor vehicle in Nimbin. Often when a wallaby is killed by a car, the joey is unharmed in the pouch, this is why it is so important to stop and check for a pouch with a possible live joey.

This little fellow was in shock, this can be hard to see as our native animals do not have facial expressions that we would normally recognise. He was treated for shock as soon as he was brought in to care, and has recovered well from his ordeal. Many things can show up later, such as internal injury not at first apparent, but in most cases a joey such as this will have few problems as long as the carer is well trained in how to raise native animals such as this.

They have special needs which are important for their natural development.

They must be fed special formula as all native animals can not tolerate what we would normally expect to feed a small juvenile animal, such as a kitten or a puppy.

He will spend the next few months in his pouch, venturing out for small hops at first, slowly gaining control and strength in his long legs.

He will watch older joey's in care, learn how to interact in his world, how to socialise, what to eat, how to recognise danger, even though he has lost his mother his greatest teacher, he will now learn from others of his own kind.

As trained carers we can ensure they have the right food to eat, the correct care needed to grow.

We can not teach them what they need to know to survive once released, only their own kind can do that. That is why they are raised in groups of different stages of development.

He is now in a wallaby nursery pen, with many others of his own kind. He will be brought up with a family group of wallabies, all similar age and development, and they will eventually be released together when old enough to fend for them selves, many months from now.

December 2007

 

 

 

 

 

Our little joey is growing up.

Seen here after 4 months in care, he spends most of his time out of his pouch, although the pouch is still used during the day, when he hops in for a nap.

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