24 Aug A Sign of Determination
On a warm Sunday afternoon I was called to a kangaroo in a paddock who had been down for a couple of days.
On hearing this, I expected to arrive to a large roo who had been either hit by a car or caught in a fence and probably quite badly injured. Although he didn’t try to move when I approached him, I couldn’t find any evidence of what may have caused his troubles. I brought him back to my shelter to have a better look at him before I decided his fate.
I don’t know what it was, but there was a look in his eyes, a sign of determination maybe, that influenced me to set him up in a warm space and give him a go. With daily physio, Bill, as I named him, started to show small signs of improvement, eventually able to stand on his own. He was still not very mobile but i decided to move him out with my other roos. He kept to himself, just eating and sunning himself. I would walk near him and he showed no signs of concern until one day I walked near him with a little pouch joey and Bill growled and very slowly hopped a couple of metres away. I went near him again and he looked at the joey and hopped away again! It was like he was saying “bloody kids”!!!!
His exercise regime after that consisted of me walking near him with a joey in arms. Bill continued to improve and was finally released three months after he came into care, a very healthy, strong and cranky big boy.