24 Jun Hoppy
Hoppy came into care as an unfurred Redneck Wallaby. He was originally with another carer until he was about 4kg when I got an urgent heart wrenching call from her late one night, to say he had broken his leg. Her husband was quick to offer to get his gun as he didn’t believe that you could fix broken legs in macropods. So after calming down the carer, I suggested she keep him quiet, put a support on his leg to stabilize it and bring him to me immediately so I could contact my vet.
Once Hoppy arrived my vet immediately assessed his injury and treated him to keep him calm overnight until he could operate the following morning. And so we started the healing process.
Hoppy was always a character and when he realized that he now had the room to himself for his own safety, he felt very pleased with himself that he was getting so much extra one on one attention at this stage in his rehabilitation instead of being outside with the other joeys his size.
The vet had to fit an external fixator to his leg which needed to be adjusted weekly. He was kept comfortable through any of these treatments and he was such a good little man while he recovered.
When it came time to remove the apparatus, he was very quick to want to get back out to his life with his new friends and show them how clever he was using his newly mended leg.
He continued to thrive and stayed around here for sometime, living between here and the creek, frequently coming home to visit us.
He went missing where I hadn’t seen him for a week or so and I was at the post office one day and a farmer asked me if I’d lost a wallaby.
I said that a little male had not been home for about a week and he said that’s because he is too busy waiting for me and the dog to leave our table where we have smoko, because he comes in a steals biscuits that my wife puts out for me. All he left me was crumbs when I went to have my smoko the other day.
We both had a laugh at this and it was about 4 months later that Hoppy appeared one day in the paddock with a lady friend at his side.
We still see him from time to time and he is doing well. He’s grown into a lovely strong boy and will no longer come near us but will still find his way in to visit any of my other rehab babies that have moved outside to grow up that bit more before release themselves.
The moral to this story is that macropods bones heal just as well as any persons bones if given the chance, all you need is the time to allow them to recover and a vet who is prepared to do the work for you.
Hoppy has since become a father himself and he visited recently with his girlfriend who had a bub in the pouch. Both stayed at a distance but it was terribly rewarding to see how well he has done. Never give up on them.