NUGGET: THE SWAMP WALLABY

Early one August morning 2004, I received the call to rescue a black wallaby whose mother had died in a chicken coop near Adaminaby. I just happened to have the day off work and drove the hour to pick it up. At the time I was not caring for any orphans nor intended to until I saw the little face and ears at the bottom of the bag. My heart melted and I knew I would find a way to take care of this little guy.

I inspected him for injuries and took him home, thanking the people for rescuing him. He only weighed 430gms, was dehydrated and all skin and bones. My theory is that his mother was desperate for food and thus was willing to go into a chicken coup where she freaked and broke her neck trying to get out.

'Nugget' soon took to his new home and bottle and developed into a real character full of inquisitiveness, energy and love.

My job does not allow me to bring the joeys to work but I was able to organize 'day care' with another L.A.O.K.O. Carer, which worked out great. Feedings were about every 3 hours in the beginning and then 4 hours. For the first month it was a little irregular which is fairly normal with the readjustment to a 'new' mum. There were several nights where he would call out for me and I would need to hold my hand in his pouch to calm him down.

Raising nocturnal animals is quite a challenge as they are most active when we want to sleep, so for carers there are numerous sleepless nights until the animal is able to be secure enough to be left alone. I made up a room for him within my house that he could roam and feed at night while we slept. Then as he got older he was allowed to stay in an enclosure outside while I was at work and roam the garden while I was at home. It was amazing how fast this little guy was and fascinating to learn the differences first hand between a kangaroo and a wallaby with how they hop, groom and feed.

One of his favorite games was to dive straight into his pouch head first at full speed do a somersault and poke his head out as happy as could be and then jump out and do it all again. This of course was great exercise for his muscles and agilty.

He loved going for bush walks in his 'mums' pouch. I also loved doing this with him, learning from him what plants he was interested in. We would sit outside just 'grazing', collecting food for later and exploring his true home.

Nugget went to his pre release site in December at 3 kg. Not a happy day for either of us but he has adjusted well and has a Red Neck female Wallaby as his companion as there were no other Swamp Wallabies to pair him up with.

As of this writing they are being released outside the enclosure during the day, exploring the 'outside' environment and becoming more 'wild' till the day when they will decide to leave.
Anna Stowe, May 2005