So I live about 30 minutes out of town now and there are a lot of kangaroos that venture onto the roads and unfortunately, get hit. Danny stopped to move one away from the middle of the road last night when he was coming home at around 9pm, and i'm glad he did. When he got out of the car there was a tiny baby sitting next to the dead adult crying out. He scooped her up and brought her home.

I've got a guy from WIRES coming to collect her on Monday. I have done this a few times before and our vet clinics are quite full and busy right now so he asked if i'd be willing to look after her until Monday. Of course! I have some emergency formula on hand and I am buying some age-specific joey formula tomorrow.

This little girl is approx 5-6 months old. She can stand and move around, her ears are erect and her eyes are wide and bright. She is referred to as a "velvet" as she is covered in fine, velvet-like fur. I weighed her last night and she weighed 1.15kg. She is uninjured, in good health and is bright and alert! We don't think she was outside for very long, maybe an hour or two.

It's a lovely experience but so devastating at the same time. To think that if Danny didn't stop to move the dead adult off the road, he wouldn't have found this baby and goodness knows what might have happened to her. It's also just heartbreaking to picture her sitting there crying out not knowing why her mother isn't getting up. It actually made me cry a little lol.

Anyway, here's a picture of her wrapped in a blanket last night.



I'll try to get a nicer picture of her tomorrow so you can see what she really looks like. 

Any updates?

She's still here, he didn't get to come and it rained all day making the road here pretty unsafe to drive on. So he's making an appointment for an assessor to come out next week some time and take a look at her, assess her health and condition, and check out the environment she's being raised in and the property she'll be released onto. If the assessor is happy she'll get to stay. They are already very happy with the fact that I don't have domestic pets around her (dogs are kept entirely separate), I don't have kids and I work from home and can dedicate the time, effort and money to raising her properly. They are also thrilled with the fact that I have 300 acres to release her onto.

If you did get to raise her and release her, I can just imagine her coming back and hanging around your house forever :)

Took miss ruby outside for a little bit today. It was getting a little cold so we didn't stay out long. She had fun I think!

Looking at ths cuuuute photos, I'm thinking she's a wallaby joey. Is there much of a difference between 'roo and wallaby joeys?

yup just release her out your back door,

i swear i tried to shoo her away. i cant force her to leave hahaha

i still want her. -mad face-

roooooby has stolen my heart! i love her!

I want one D:

Poor thing. She is just absolutely precious though. Good lord. It's so good to see she's doing well. 

I didn't know you were wildlife rehabilitation certified! 

Link Tree

I feel at this point she's HP's unconventional mascot lol

This is literally my favorite thread on this entire site. Love her soooo much; Can't even handle it.

Kuwait is correct, Ruby is actually a Swamp Wallaby joey! Danny found her next to a full sized Kangaroo doe but it's likely that she had lost her real mother hours before and was looking for a substitute.

The assessor never showed up and i'm sick to death of trying to talk to them about her because they keep blowing me off, and I am actually licenced to have her so i'm like screw'em now. She has settled into a feed routine and we're starting potty training and doing quite well. I take her outside a lot as well and let her do stuff that joeys her age would do. She loves the long dry grass that danny has been meaning to prune since we got here lmao.

YAY!

I'm so glad you're keeping her!

Oh my GOD how did I not find this thread before now?!

She is seriously precious!

I vote you just keep raising her...you did your duty, reported it. They know where she is, and if they're stupid and don't show up, that's on them!

I agree with blitz. All the appropriate avenues have been taken. You are rehabilitation licensed. I say just keep her until she's grown and release her back into the wild.

... But I mean if she just hangs around the property that's her decision. I mean. *cough*

Link Tree

She is so pretty!! Glad she's safe with you.

It may have been asked already and I missed it, but in situations like this.. where she has now had human contact.. How does that work for her? Will she eventually be set free again or will she live her life in a zoo etc? 

Paints since 6-8-14

OMGOMG OMG give me more pictures! either on facebook or here!

Since she'll be so used to us i'll release her onto our 300 acres and she can come and go as she pleases. Hopefully she'll find some wallaby friends!

I'll try to get some more pictures when I take her outside later today but here's one for now.



She has thicker fur now instead of the velvet coat!

omg, so cute!!!