Our Grandson Sebastian went Roo shooting with one of the local kangaroo cullers and one of the roos that was shot had a joey in her pouch. Usually these are too young to survive or they are disposed of.
Well Sebastian asked if he could have this one as it was old enough to survive. So 'Rocky' came to live in the big city. Sebastian cared for Rocky and fed him with a syringe and a special milk formula. Rocky got to travel around in a pillow case which he quite happily hopped in and out of as the mood took him.
Because he was very young he spent a lot of time sleeping and growing and it wasn't too long before he was eating grass and bounding around the yard.
Rocky didn't mind travelling in the car so he and Seb went everywhere together and commuted out to Tara on a regular basis where Rocky had 64 acres to bound around in. He became friendly with the pigs.
Unfortunately, Rocky was becoming too much of a handful in the city. He could no longer go to work with Seb since he started with the Scaffolding firm, and there was no one who wanted the responsibility of looking after Rocky at home. So a new home was found for Rocky, not too far from where we live in Brisbane, with some people who have other kangaroos for Rocky to socialise with.
Seb had spoken to a WIRES representative who had told him that a domesticated roo will not survive in the wild if it is let go on its own and that they need to be set free in a mob of 5 or 6 for them to have a chance of survival.
It was a great experience to have such a gentle animal around but in the end city life was just too confining for such a magnificent animal and although it was with much sadness that Seb's little friend had to go I am sure Rocky will be happier with room to move.
It looks like we may have come out of the drought, I certainly hope so. The recent rains have filled the tanks and the dams, so it looks as if we will soon be able to restock the dams with fish. It certainly makes a difference seeing the dams full of water instead of looking at mud holes.
