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Meet
Sassy, a new edition to our macropod family. Sassy
is a Common Wallaroo, similar in appearance to an Eastern Grey Kangaroo (to the
inexperienced macropod "watcher") but with a shaggier and denser coat
and a bulkier, heavier set body. Miss
Sas came to us to ready her for release back into the wild. She had spent quite
a few months with another wildlife carer who lived in town. At first she was pretty
pee'd off because she was quite settled with her other "family" and didn't much
like me or Todd. Her
name is indicative of her nature - quite a tempestuous little thing. In the early
days she would often give us a belting and her nips were quite sharp. As she settled
in though, her boxing turned into a sport and the bites weren't nearly so aggressive
- and my bruises weren't nearly so black! Thankfully,
it didn't take too long for her to settle down. She made good friends with Maddy
and Marshall - Swamp Wallabies, Google, Floss,
Lilly and Rustle - Eastern Grey Kangaroos. Being part of a mob (albeit an assorted
mob!), helped her recognise that she was indeed not human!
You
see, when Sassy came to us she was quite humanised, after living in a house with
children and domestic animals. She
was accustomed to sleeping with the family and, so I was told, was often found
curled up on one of the beds. She was used to having the pet cat and small dog
as play companions. It's
impossible to expect a native animal that has been raised by humans not to be
touched by humanisation in some way. The orphans are not raised in a natural environment
so it's not realistic to think that they will not be effected. However, there
are different degrees of humanisation - at the good end you'd have an animal that
is not necessarily frightened of its original carer, their human "mum or
dad" but is wary of all strangers, human and animal alike. At the bad end
you'd find an animal that is frightened of no-one and nothing. Sassy craved our
attention and wouldn't accept she was a wallaroo, and she also "talked"
with any of our visitors - I'd say she was somewhere closer to the very humanised
end of the spectrum. She'd be a tough challenge, but do-able. It
took us many many months to convince Sassy she was a Wallaroo and not a "humaroo"
or "wallaruman"! At first she didn't particularly like the outdoors
and would constantly disappear in the house. On many occasion we found her curled
up in one of our pappasan chairs or on the lounge chair or lying, quite contentedly,
in the bedroom.
A
habit we found hard to break.
Turning
her back into a wild wallaroo was proving to be quite a challenge. "Dehumanizing"
a native animal that has been raised by humans varies from animal to animal. Some
take a few months, others take several months - even years. To dehumanise an animal
is to make it aware of its own species, to ensure that it can forage for its own
food without "human parent" support and that it is frightened of strangers. With
Sassy it was an incredibly slow process. Moving her from the house to the yard
was difficult and at times stressful for both her and us. However we tried to
accommodate her need to be near us and her love of the creature comforts for as
long as we could. For
the first month or so we moved Sassy outside during the day but allowed her to
come inside of a night time. Some of that time would be spent with us, giving
her the cuddles she craved, but she would be confined to the laundry - water and
grass in abundance - when we retired to bed. To
make the transition easier for her we gave her her own pillow - the red one that
she found on the pappasan chair was claimed! It had her scent on it and it gave
her comfort when we wouldn't allow her access to the rest of the house. During
her time outside, the pillow went with her. The scary big wide world wasn't nearly
so bad with her pillow close by! Slowly
but surely Sassy gained confidence in the outdoors. We removed her pillow for
longer periods and were rewarded by seeing her lying in a dirt patch that had
been created by the other macropods.
Some weeks later we opened up the back house yard increasing the size of the area
to about one acre. She, and the other macropods in care, took the change quite
well. With
her new found confidence we moved her outside permanently, but returned her pillow
to her which was left on the verandah for her when things got a little too scary,
but she was using it less and less. Her
return to the wild was finally looking promising. She started spending more and
more time in the yard with the other macropods and needed our company less often. Unfortunately
though we experienced a set back when Todd and I took a week off and went away
for a short holiday. During our absence we arranged for other wildlife carers
to come to our property to feed and check on the macropods. I'm not sure if it
was a particular event, or multiple carers having contact with the animals, but
Sassy and Maddy were quite stressed when we returned. Having
a release site puts a fair amount of burden on a volunteer wildlife carer. In
town carers usually hold animals that are quite small, usually still in pouch.
If needed, the animal can be moved to another carer for babysitting. Obviously
at a release site the animals in care can vary from tiny to juveniles ready for
release. When we go away it isn't possible to move a bigger animal elsewhere,
this would cause much stress to the animal and would certainly put a set back
in the release process. During
this getaway our wonderful babysitter, Murray,
couldn't care for the animals so I had to organise for different carers to come
on different days - not the best situation for a native animal, but I had no other
choice. I'm a volunteer but I still need a break once in a while and because I
live out of town I couldn't get one carer to make the trip every day, that simply
isn't a reasonable request. When
we returned Sassy was again craving our company and
she
literally tried running through the sliding door to get to us. Although she was
really too big to be back in the house again, we succumbed to her perseverance
and allowed her time inside. I preferred her release be put back a month or so
and have her with us where she was content than risk her damaging herself in the
effort to reach us. She had already taken a patch of fur and skin off her nose
in her stubborn attempt to be with us. On
the other extreme Maddy didn't want a bar of us when we returned. She was quite
highly strung and darted away from us when ever we tried to approach her. The
day after we returned we encouraged her over with a cashew nut (her favourite!)
and checked her over. No physical damage thankfully, just the absolute desire
to be free! A
few days after our return we opened up the back paddock which increased the size
from one acre to five. We left the house yard open for them for a while so that
they could freely come and go and be near us if they felt insecure for any reason. About
one month later we closed the gate to the house yard but continued to visit the
macropods daily in the paddock. Sassy was again non too impressed and literally
tried barging through the fence. The gate was opened again and Sassy would visit
us every other day. Eventually things started looking better again when she spent
more and more time at the bottom end of the paddock with the other macropods.
One
particular night I remember well. We were in the middle of a chaotic storm - massive
bolts of lightening followed by the immediate and loud clap of thunder. The storm
was too furious for us to venture out so it wasn't until morning when all was
quite that we went in search of the macropods to see how they had weathered the
storm. Many
animals hate storms, particularly strong wind, as they cannot hear approaching
danger and macropods are no exception. Their huge radar ears, which normally pick
up sounds humans can't hear, are rendered quiet useless in windy weather. The
storm we had endured the previous night would have put the macropods into panic
mode and as a consequence when we went to check, Sassy was no where to be seen. Todd
and
I started searching for her in the paddock. Nothing! We then went out into to
the main farm paddock and surrounding bush and called her name. Out of the bush
came a grey bolt of lightening, and headed straight for Todds open arms! She clucked
and chattered to us and I'm sure she was telling us of her ordeal! Luckily she
received no injuries from the jump over the fence (the only way we figured she
could have gotten out), but she was quite agitated so we brought her inside for
a water cracker treat! Thankfully
the storm didn't cause too much of a set back - we'd had too many of them with
Sassy already! She was returned to the paddock and the next stage of her release
process went well. Finally
the gate to the big wide world was opened and the macropods had access to all
areas of the farm. The Eastern Greys we had in care were the first to go, Sassy
took a lot longer. Although all of the macropods continued to be support fed they
gradually got further away and preferred each others company to ours. To this
day, some eight months later, we still have the immense pleasure of seeing them
out in the paddocks and occasionally they come home for a visit and for treats
and a scratch under the chin. As
time wore on they became less trustful of humans to the point where they would
even run from us if we went to close to them in the paddock. Around the house
yard is the only place where we have the opportunity for those very special reunions. And
the good news? Sassy has a small joey in her pouch! From the size of the lump
we assume it is still a pinkie, ears up and eyes open, around 3-4 months old.
We are looking forward to the day when we see Sassy streaking through the paddock
with a small joey keeping pace. Raising
orphaned native animals is never easy. There are hurdles along the path, illness
and diseases to combat and unwilling animals to "dehumanise". As shown
is Sassy's story it can sometimes take a lot longer to get some animals "back
to bush" but it is certainly worth it in the end! I've said it before and
I'll say it again - seeing a native animal that I have raised or rehabilitated
return to the wild is one of the most awesome feelings I will ever experience. The
new generation We
have recently had the immense pleasure of seeing Sassy's joey who is now at heal
- it's a boy!! We've
named him Voomp, cos that's the sound he makes as he follows closely at his mums
heals when they streak through the bush. And what a wonderful sight - what proud
grandparents we are! There
is a big old male Wallaroo that lives on our property, and we call him Sox because
of his really black paws and feet. We think Sox is Voomps daddy as Voomp also
has the black paws that really stand out from his dark grey coat. He's going to
grow into a very handsome man! And
so, we did it! What a spectacular success story. Not only has Sassy returned to
the bush, she has socialised, bred, and is an amazing mum. How proud am I!! | 
