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Marshall,
my little tin soldier.
As
rough as guts. As delicate as a dried flower. As feisty as a raging
bull. And as lovable as a puppy!
Marshall
was my first male Swamp Wallaby and he stole my heart! I know,
you're saying "they all steal her heart" and I couldn't agree
more! Each of the critters I have cared for over the years holds
a very special place in my heart..... Marshall holds a chunk!
When
Marshall was transferred to me from an in-town carer he weighed
three and a half kilos. That sounds so small, doesn't it. However,
Swamp Wallabies are much more advanced at a much smaller size
than say, an Eastern Grey Kangaroo. At three and a half kilograms
Marshall was aged approximately 11 months old. In comparison,
an Eastern Grey Kangaroo at 11 months of age would weigh closer
to 7 or 8kg.
In
the wild a Swamp Wallaby would stay at its mothers heel and continue
to suckle at foot, until about fifteen months of age, so Marshall
had a few more months in care before being soft released at Fourth
Crossing.
Marshall
was welcomed by the other macropods in care. We had several at
the time and you can read all about them in The
Mob. In particular he made good friends with Sassy,
a female Wallaroo (shown in the photo at the left) and they would
regularly be seen together in the garden. Marsh took to his new
environment very well. He set about making lots of hidey holes
in our garden, as Swamp Wallabies prefer to be hidden in dense
undergrowth most of the time.
During
the day he rested under his favourite grevillea bush and come
dusk he was out grazing with the rest of the mob. Marshall particularly
liked our back yard as there was a small orchard and he regularly
stole the apples!
Another of Marshall's favourite foods was Todds prized orchids
and ferns! Swamp Wallabies are browsers and will eat pretty much
anything that tastes good - unlike Eastern Greys who really prefer
grasses over anything else. Our attempts to chase him away were
futile as we'd see him sneakily return ten minutes later for another
go! We ended up having to move all our pot plants onto our outside
dining table for protection - any idea of eating an al fresco
evening meal were then terminated, thanks to mischievous Marshall!
After
a while Marshall started to slowly withdraw from us like every
other hand raised animals we've cared for. However he rarely skipped
a bottle so one morning we became quite agitated as Marshall had
not appeared for his milk for the second day in a row.
He had been sniffing around the previous morning waiting for his
bottle, but as we were a little tardy getting out of bed, he got
a wee bit narky and disappeared before we had a chance to feed
him. That afternoon he came for a tickle under the chin as I hung
the washing on the cloths line, but that evening when we called
him to give him his missed morning bottle he no where to be seen.
The
next morning we called for Marshall again and after no response
we set about searching the 1 acre garden. We looked under every
nook and cranny, in all his favourite hiding spots and some new
ones that we found, made evident from the flat grass indicating
a rest spot.
No
luck.
By this time we were beside ourselves with worry, we just couldn't
work out where he had gone. We wondered if something had startled
him during the night and he had jumped the fence and bounded away.
We
decided that we would open up even more paddock so that if the
macropods were frightened they would have more space to run away
from any perceived danger. So during the sweltering heat of the
day, when it was better being inside, we started opening gates
and pulling down old fences to make a pre-release paddock of just
over 5 acres. As we worked we continued to call Marshall so that
if he was close by he would hear us and come home.
Some
hours later in the early evening Todd returned to the house to
get us a drink and stopped dead in his tracks. Under one of the
apple trees stood Marshall eating an apple. Todd called me and
I raced to Marshalls side, relieved that he had come home.
My
relief didn't last long however. As I approached him I realised
that he was a very sick little boy.
To
this day we have no idea what happened to Marshall, but his breathing
was laboured, his chest rattly and he had an incessant cough.
He was also very lethargic and weak. We rushed him inside and
gave him some electrolyte solution to re-hydrate him and give
him some much needed energy. Then for the next few hours I performed
physiotherapy on his back, gently massaging and tapping to try
and release the phlegm that had built up on his chest.
Early
the next morning I rang the vet and some oral antibiotics were
prescribed. We were told that we should see improvements within
forty eight hours. There was some improvement by the end of the
following day but only slight, so off we went to the vets for
a consultation.
After the vet had listened to his chest I was told that his lungs
weren't too congested. Different antibiotics were prescribed for
what seemed to be an upper respiratory tract infection. Marshall
was to have the medication for about a week along with Protexin,
a probiotic given to re-establish the good gut flora that the
antibiotics may also kill off.
On the sixth day we decided that
Marshall was much better. His cough had gone after a couple of
days of medication and the rattle and wheeze in his chest went
too. I
consulted the vet and Marshall was taken off the antibiotics.
Unfortunately,
ten days after the last dose of antibiotics the rattle in his
chest returned. I anxiously rang the vet and was told to put him
back onto the antibiotics for a few days and to then check with
the vet again.
Two
days later Todd and I had to go away overnight so our friend Karen
was recruited to help out. We gave Marshall a dose of antibiotics
before we left, but when Karen came down that afternoon he was
nowhere to be found.
The following morning he still didn't appear so he had missed
two doses of his medication. When we got home that afternoon he
turned up and his condition had again deteriorated.
We
rushed him back to the vet and Marshall was prescribed more antibiotics
- both oral and via injection. He was also given a cough mixture
to dislodge the phlegm in his chest and upper respiratory tract.
Four
days passed, and there was some improvement. He could breath easily
through his nose again, whereas in his worst state he was breathing
through his mouth. My
heart truly felt for him when his little cheeks ballooned out
in an effort to breath. A
slight cough persisted for a few days but it wasn't nearly as
aggressive as the day we returned home and found him sick for
the second time.
His
illness will forever remain a mystery. His symptoms were so rapidly
developed and the vets never found the reason for his illness.
Quite
often, when a small critter gets as ill as Marshall was, there
is little hope for their recovery. Marshall, my little tin soldier
(as rough as guts) made it though and after several bouts of antibiotics
he made a complete recovery.
During
Marshalls illness he showed such trust in me and Todd. Before
he became ill he had already started to slowly turn wild and was
spending less and less time with us. But when he did get sick
he seemed to know that we were helping him and whenever it was
time for a needle Marshall would appear at the back door and stand
patiently while we injected the antibiotics into his body.
Marshall
was soft released some months after his illness. He was a strapping
bundle of bravado and he finally left home without a backward
glance.
We
still see him occasionally, right down the back of our property
where the undergrowth is thick. There
was one time I was down there, enjoying the peacefulness of Fourth
Crossing, when I felt somebody watching me.
Looking around, my eyes finally rested on Marshall who was peering
at me from behind a tree only a few metres away. We silently conversed
in what seemed like forever in an instant, and then he turned
and hopped away.
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