Wallabies
Swamp Wallaby
We recently received a few calls about wallabies needing assistance. With lots of different outcomes, Its become a topic i thought might be worth covering, and with my little family considering purchasing a wallaby to raise up. It adds a bit more interest in to the topic! Over the course of the purchase and learning more about the animal, We are so excited to share that story with other people! Its so exciting to be able to own some pretty interesting and cute animals, and Teach our children all about them! I can not wait to see where my kids go in their future with experiences they have from growing up around such a variety of animals. Anyway here is some information I have learnt over the last few weeks!
Wallabies are a smaller cousin to a kangaroo, still belonging in the macropod family. Whilst there are some wallaby species that are on the conservation status, Swamp wallabies can be found just about anywhere along the eastern side of Australia.
Wallabies feed on most vegetation, usually shrubs, bushes and grass. They are usually most active at dusk but can be found out on the look out for food at any point in the day otherwise.
Most wallabies breed once a year, but some species of wallaby breed year round and a lot of the time will have a baby waiting for the older one to leave the pouch before continuing to develop and moving into the pouch! I find Macropods so interesting for the crazy way they grow and raise young!
Did you know Macropods throw their young when running away from a predator? They can breed and create another life so easily that they generally are not worried about loosing a baby. Macropods don’t grow accustomed to their offspring like humans or some other mammal species do. They happily leave their young and keep running in hope to escape the predator. More often then not in these situations us wildlife rescue organizations receive calls either for the young that is now orphaned, possibly even injured, Or sometimes its for mum, In built up areas its very common for wallabies ( and kangaroo’s ) to get hit by a car or harmed by humans in someway and need to be either “darted” and taken to the vet for treatment or Euthanized. Sadly euthanasia is extremely common and the most likely option when they have been injured and withstood so much stress. Out further away from civilisation wallabies are at risk of predators still but reduced human contact gives them more of a chance to survive and gives them better instincts and ability to know their surroundings. How many times have you drove around a built up area and gotten lost? Wallabies don’t have google maps to help them find a directions to avoid contact or additional risks such as human pets!
Wallabies can catch diseases from eating contaminated foods, They do not know what is or isn’t contaminated. They also can get severely sick from coming into contact with pets such as dogs and cats, Cats mainly are the cause for infections in wildlife, dogs can but are less flighty and easier to manage responses from. Cats are very prey driven and even one that has lived inside its whole life can cause significant damage to wildlife. Additionally cats release the bacteria and other diseases/ illnesses via their fecal matter.