For the past 6 weeks it has been my privilege to be responsible for 3 kangaroos. These 3 Kangaroos are orphans that have been raised by an animal welfare person - Shirley - who lives in Benalla. They are all survivors of traffic accidents. They are all approximately 14 months old. They had the run of Shirley's house until recently when she moved them outside in order to get them used to being released into the wild. She has brought them to me to allow them to integrate slowly into the landscape at our place. We have both open and treed country.
Of the 3 one has more or less moved into the landscape and has only been home twice. Of the other two - one I call little Skip - has stayed close to home and comes home most nights. The other one comes home every 3 or 4 nights. Skip likes to go with him but seems to lose him after a day or so. All three were still being bottle fed when they arrived and all three still like a feed when they come home. The first thing they demand when they arrive is a bottle. For a few days we could sometimes see them moving around in the open country exploring the place. Since then they have moved into the overgrown areas and keep themselves under cover. When they arrived we had a small section at the back door enclosed because Shirley wasn't sure how they would react if they were just set free. After 2 days we took down the shade cloth barriers and allowed them to go free. They coped remarkably well. They didnt panic or run off. They slowly had a look around. They saw the trees and gravitated towards them. They seemed to blend into the landscape very easily. They looked very much at home very quickly. One night early on some local Kangaroos came into the yard and had a good look at them. It is possible seeing that we have only seen one kangaroo since then that she immediately integrated with them. I believe that this kangaroo is a female. The two that still keep in touch are males. This makes sense as females would be accepted much more readily than males into the wider mob. I would love nothing else rather than have a pet Kangaroo that lives inside the house and lies on the sofa next to me keeping me company and talking to me occasionally as we watch TV. But this was not the intention when Shirley raised them by hand. The object was always to re introduce them into the wild. So we have a balance to aim at. They may always be aware of our presence and always see us as a benign force in their lives. But hopefully they will live most of their lives in the bush. The only worry I have is the road. We live on a gravel road with not much traffic but there are a heartbreaking number of kangaroos killed on this road. The human beings who live around here are immoral creatures who have little concern for the native wildlife. This is a sore point with me. Some farmers believe it or not have licences to kill 100 kangaroos a year. No one cares if they kill kangaroos with their cars. We shall see. Little Skip indicates that he would like to come inside but so far I haven't let him. He puts his head through the door and jumps inside but I quickly usher him out. In my short time with these little Kangas I have come to some conclusions. 1. I don't think they readily distinguish one human from another. All humans look alike to them. 2. I'm fairly sure they recognise each other. They are pack animals. But we humans can be in their pack also. I'm fairly sure of this. 3. They live in the moment. They don't think about the next 20 minutes or the last 20 seconds. They live in a constant bubble. 4. They are without guile. They are innocent creatures who trust everything until they panic and then they panic completely. Afterword. All 3 kangaroos have departed from our immediate area. We have a neighbor with a large dog - a cross between great dane and greyhound. This dog is very large. It is a friendly dog and likes chasing animals. It has several times wandered here and discovered we have Kangaroos. On one occasion it came it saw them and chased them but they managed to get away. The next time it came it saw a mob about 2 kilometres away and immediately went into a wild flap and ran until it caught the mob. It then chased them until it separated a young kangaroo from the mob and then chased it until it caught the kangaroo and killed it. He didnt so much attack the young kangaroo meaning to kill it - only to catch it. But of course it broke the kangaroos neck. The dog is so big and so strong it is impossible to get it to stop. It can jump a fence a metre high without any problem. Even 2 metres would not cause it any problem. It can run flat out for 5 or 6 kilometres. The little Kangaroo that was killed was not one of my kangaroos. But my little kangaroos having been chased away are not likely to come back. Why would they trust me enough to come back? Now what are we to make of this? I once visited a neighbor when Jess was alive and I asked her where her dogs were because Jess always liked to say hello. She just said 'Oh they are away in the bush bashing roos". No further explanation was necessary. Farmers do not give any importance to the deaths or otherwise of native animals. If the dog had killed a sheep instead of a kangaroo it would have been a big thing. Much more concern would have been shown The dog would most probably be dead by now. As it is the dog is looked on with sympathy. Some people would even call it heroic. I think this sums up all conservative voting australians. I grew up embedded in a society where these values were prevalent.
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February 2024
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