Roo Gully Diary - 2010 |
January 2010 |
2010 was a new beginning for Roo Gully. And we began by celebrating Sadie's 14th birthday. |
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Sadie is the 'old lady' of Roo Gully, being the first joey we cared for in 1996, and who became the matriarch of our mob. |
Although getting a few grey hairs she was still a healthy and very happy kangaroo. |
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Goliath, the old wild buck who was now living with our mob, became a regular visitor to the house, where he joined the others for dry feed and water. He was gaining weight and looking much healthier. |
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Some of our females were also 'gaining weight' too. |
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But this had nothing to do with their good living. And one of the first to proudly share her latest offspring |
Another addition to the Roo Gully family in January was Errol a young Tawny Frogmouth. |
He had been hit by a vehicle but thankfully didn't suffer any major injuries. He just needed a home until he was old enough to fly. |
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And he settled in very well with our other resident Tawnies. |
One of the best jobs we ever do is release a creature back into its natural environment. Sarah, the Bobtail lizard, had been in care for many months recovering from serious injuries she sustained after being run over by a Ride-On mower. |
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Laura had been her main carer. |
And we know she was very happy to see Sarah amble off into the bush. |
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Laura's university placement was coming to an end. 3 months had passed very quickly, but she was returning home with many fond memories of her time here. |
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At the bus stop in town we farewelled Laura and welcomed Lucy, another Plymouth student. |
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Laura also had company for part of her journey to Perth because Lauren and Claire were going to spend a few days at Peel Zoo, where they met quite a few 'interesting' characters. |
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Including the mischievous ostrich.
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And the menacing wombat!! |
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Meanwhile, back at Roo Gully, Katie, a newly arrived volunteer, was trying to look very studious!! |
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But our Canadian graduate was really a very bubbly young woman who, like everyone else, soon fell in love with Ned and Kelly. |
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It was proving to be a VERY hot summer in the South West of Australia, which was draining for the joeys. |
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Draining for Emily, Timmy and Jessica. |
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And totally draining for the humans too! |
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Luckily our water supply was holding out. |
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Which meant we could still water the veggie garden. |
And more importantly, now the creek had dried up, |
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Ned and Kelly was still sleeping inside at night, and enjoyed their evening cuddles as much as the students. |
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But they were getting older and it was time to introduce them to the mob. |
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They were not too sure about going down beyond the creek. |
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It was a big scary world! |
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As everyone looked on... |
They timidly met the bigger roos. |
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Of course there is always one that is not so friendly. |
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And this time it was Bindi who could not resist showing the joeys, and us, that she was no longer at the bottom of the pecking order ladder! |
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Thankfully the joeys always had someone to hop back to. |
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Lauren had been a great asset at Roo Gully. |
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But it was time for her to continue her world travels. |
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We sped down to the Roo Gully sign, beating the bus, to give her a good send off. |
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One of this summer's projects was to start changing the Bush Cemetery First task was to remove all the grave markers, |
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Despite the heat and the sheer physical effort, everyone worked as a team, and everyone had a smile on their face - even if it was a dirty face! |
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Emily was still as mischievous as ever. Everything was a toy, and she chewed everything, including the office chairs! |
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But it was to be a stick that was going to cause her problems. |
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The first indication anything was wrong was when we noticed Emily's neck swelling. At the time we thought it was another allergic reaction to possibly a bee sting. |
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Sadly for the other passengers Emily is not a good traveller and it wasn't too long before she was vomiting all the way to the Vet Hospital!! |
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The vet discovered that Emily was not suffering an allergic reaction, |
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A few days later it was time for Heidi to journey back to Guernsey in the Channel Islands. This was her 5th time as a volunteer and we don't think it will be her last! |
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It was also time for another little guy to move on to a new home. |
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Aussie was doing well but we felt he needed the company |
It had been an 'interesting' few months caring for our latest Western Brush wallaby. He was inquisitive, and loved to explore. |
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Aussie went to another carer and is now living happily with a young female wallaby. |
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Towards the end of January we were still busy with student projects. This time it was Leanne who had to construct a devise to keep dung beetles away from her control animal faecal samples. |
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Unfortunately she never got to try it out As we have said before, science is never easy. |
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There may have been a lack of some species - but we certainly were not short of snakes! This summer was proving to our worst for snakes around the house and enclosures. |
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Although we were coming to the end of usual joey season there were still other animals to care for. |
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This young bird had a broken wing, which sadly could not be mended. |
But it was not all doom and gloom. |
Because we finally released this beautiful Bronze-Winged pigeon that had been with us for a few weeks. |
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The students never needed an excuse to party. |
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And so of course they all thoroughly enjoyed celebrating Australia Day! |
They donned their hats, waved their flags and wore their temporary Aussie flag tattoos with pride. |
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January was coming to and end, and it had been a good month for most of us at Roo Gully, but sadly it was not ending well for poor Emily. |
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The swelling in her neck returned. |
And so it was back to the Vet Hospital for more surgery. |
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Which rather pleased Timmy who enjoyed the peace and quiet without his younger 'sister'!! |
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Timmy's 'peace and quiet' didn't last as long as he hoped! Emily was home a few days later. |
But Emily's problem didn't go away. The swelling came back and within a week she was back at the Vet Hospital for a LONG stay! |
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Timmy was MUCH happier!!! |
Over the years we have had many volunteers and students stay at Roo Gully, In February we heard that Sue, a former Plymouth student, had successfully graduated |
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And Sandra, a Dutch volunteer in 2003, returned to Roo Gully for a short stay and introduced her husband Stephan. |
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Carol also received some very special visitors this month. Her youngest son, Ben, and her granddaughter, Charli, who live in South Hedland, nearly 2,000ks north of Roo Gully came on an unexpected visit.. |
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Despite the distance this wasn't Charli's first visit so off she went to feed Ned and Kelly, giving them both a loving scratch behind the ears as they ate. |
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Roly had been a young joey when he first met Charli. |
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Now he was bigger than her! |
Of course Sadie, our old lady, wasn't going to be left out. |
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And she made sure Charli delivered her 'silver service', which seemed to please them both! |
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It is always sad to see family leave. And the students were about to say farewell to their special Australian family too because it was time for joeys Ned and Kelly to move to their next home.. |
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Although Roo Gully has 22 acres fenced for the resident mob of kangaroos, |
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Which was to be Ned and Kelly's next home. |
Before their final release
into an adjoining environmentally protected Jarrah forest. |
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It was ideal, but still sad for the girls who had cared for them. However there are always our resident animals to keep everyone occupied at Roo Gully. |
In the Western Ringtail possum enclosure Dennis was still keeping close to his Maggie! |
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And in the Tawny Frogmouth aviary young Errol was sticking close to his new friend Blink. |
There were also the new casualties coming in. This Australian magpie suffered a fractured leg, |
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And this young Brushtail possum came to stay while his carer cared for her sick husband. |
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Every year, on the 3rd weekend in February, is the Boyup Brook Country Music Festival.
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It was a very busy time for everyone at Roo Gully, especially as Roo Gully Productions records the Festival on video. |
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Not an easy task when Pixie Jenkins is on stage! |
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The students were also involved, as Festival volunteers. |
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Lucy was the 'runner' for the film crew so got an 'Access All Areas' pass. |
And the others got to meet some of the stars too. All smiles with Ernie Dingo. |
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As usual the 4 day Festival was a HUGE success, and lots of fun - especially with Pixie around. |
And everyone enjoyed the Wind Up party afterwards. |
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But maybe the students enjoyed it too much! |
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However, as usual, the local police made sure they got home safely! |
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Festival time is also when some of the Country Music stars We think Sadie was a bit put out that Pixie was taking a photo of Roopert. |
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And Bindi looked a little aloof when asked to do a photo shoot with Merelyn and David Carter of Carter & Carter fame. |
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The long dry summer was continuing. |
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The constant heat was becoming a drain on humans and animals. |
There wasn't a blade of grass anywhere. |
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So we were supplementing the kangaroos with more dry food than usual. |
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The month ended with Emily still at the Vet Hospital. And although it is sad to say, like Timmy, Jessie was enjoying the peace and quiet too! |
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March 2010 |
Emily's chews literally everything! And it turned out a splinter of wood had pierced through her mouth into her neck and ruptured her carotid salivary gland, so every time she salivated it drained into her neck. |
Thankfully, after many surgical operations, and weeks in the Vet Hospital, she finally returned home. |
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Jess was not too pleased! |
Neither, in the beginning, was Timmy! |
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But they are good friends, and do love each other. Well, Emily certainly loves Timmy, and most of time Timmy tolerates Emily! |
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After being away from Roo Gully for such a long time Emily had to remember who was allowed inside the house. |
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She also had to undergo some intensive obedience classes! |
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Which Jess soon enjoyed too - when she knew there were treats on offer! |
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The Tawny Frogmouths at Roo Gully
are fed a combination of various meats, strips of beef, chicken and, when we can obtain them, dead day old chicks. |
This means they can get quite messy, and young Errol was not in the least impressed when Claire decided he needed his beak washed. |
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But it was worth it in the end. |
There is a common belief among zoos and wildlife parks Of course, being a student, Claire decided to test this theory |
So she started work on expanding the Tawny aviary to include the neighbouring enclosure where Turkey, the magpie, lives with Wilma, the Brushtail bettong. |
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Pam, a friend of Carol's from the UK, watched as Claire cut the wire and screwed the new platform in place, which would close the gap if this experiment didn't work out as planned. |
And the Tawnies watched too! |
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Later that evening there was a sense of bewilderment in the Tawny aviary. |
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But it wasn't long before they ventured into the larger enclosure. |
Turkey seemed a bit surprised to have company. |
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But Wilma loved it. |
Pam's visit to Roo Gully was coming to an end,
During her last few days Carol took Pam |
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And then on to Peel Zoo. |
Where Pam got up close and friendly with a python. |
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But the best adventure was saved for Pam's last day in WA. Good friends, who are also involved in Save Equus, kindly invited Pam and Carol to go horse riding in the Indian Ocean at Naval Base beach south of Perth. |
Carol had ridden as a child and a young adult, |
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Pam had NEVER ridden a horse before! |
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But she took it like a duck to water. |
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And the broad smile told how much she loved being astride Whisky. |
Bachelor Boy and Whisky were the perfect horses, It was a fitting end to Pam's visit to Roo Gully and Western Australia. |
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Although Roo Gully does not have the facilities to care for large raptors we do hold them in transit before moving them on to the Vet Hospital or to specialist carers in the south west. |
This magnificent Wedgetail eagle However he was not the victim of an accident. |
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He had consumed poison and died within hours. |
Thankfully, 2 other birds in temporary care from another wildlife facility were doing much better. |
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We had helped fix this young magpie's fractured leg and so were delighted when it healed successfully. |
And her companion was only in care because she was found without her parents. Being a young bird she was always hungry, and loved to play with everything. |
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In mid March the final Plymouth student of the 2009/2010 year arrived. |
Chloe would be with us until mid June. |
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Like all the students and volunteers, she soon got to know some of our resident roos outside. |
And inside
when Sadie came into the kitchen for her evening treats. |
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We were a little worried when Goliath, the old wild buck, started spending more time close to the house. Then we noticed there was something wrong with his left eye. |
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Thankfully our vet was visiting the next day, which meant Goliath could be darted with the tranqiliser rifle, properly examined and hopefully treated. |
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Everything went like clockwork. |
And Goliath was quickly 'out for the count'. |
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The initial examination did not look good. |
And closer examination revealed that his eye had imploded through injury or disease. |
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Although Dr. Jules Vandenbergh was prepared to surgically remove what was left of the eye and seal the eyelids, Goliath would have to undergo surgery at least another 2 or 3 times. This could have been too much for the old kangaroo. |
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Making the decision whether an animal lives or dies is never easy. |
But when Jules told everyone
that Goliath was also suffering from severe arthritis, and had fluid around his heart and lungs, which made him a huge anaesthetic risk, we knew it was the end of the road for this magnificent old roo. |
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Goliath was humanely euthanased and carried away to his final resting place at Roo Gully. Weighing over 120 kilos it took 7 people to do this. |
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Every student falls in love with one particular species or animal. Hannah adored the possums, especially her favourite Maggie. |
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So we all know how hard it was for her to end her placement with us. |
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It had been a long, hot and very dry summer in south western Australia, and the dry spell ended with a huge and frightening storm. |
But the welcome rains helped germinate the grass. |
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And within days there was green feed The roos loved it. |
Including Tommy, Jake and Roopert. |
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The break in the weather also meant we had to get back to working in the vegetable garden. Seedings needed to be planted for the forthcoming Autumn. |
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But we were reaping the rewards of all our hard work. We were eating fresh vegetables and had harvested the pickled onions. |
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Claire was another Plymouth student coming to the end of her 6 month placement. She had worked hard in the garden, |
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But she had also enjoyed her time with us, made new friends and got to know some very special animals. |
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And like most of the students had got to know many other members of our small bush community who joined us at the bus stop for the final 'farewell photo'. |
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On
behalf of everyone at Roo Gully we thank you for caring |
Photos courtesy of Roo Gully,
Katie Leigh, Leanne Bartlett, Laura Middleton,
Hannah, Brown, Claire Selby, Lauren Mumby, |
April 2010 - Coming soon!! |