Roo Gully Diary - August 2008

It's Joey Season!
On 2nd August we received a call that a new orphan was arriving.
Her mother had been killed the night before in a road accident.

We named her Sally.

Sadly we discovered she had suffered
2 fractured feet and a fractured toe.

Sally was a very happy little joey.
She enjoyed looking around, and adored her bottles.

She also loved being outside in the sunshine with her mate Bec.

Everyone thought Sally was doing well
until we discovered one foot was literally dying.
The blood and nerve supply had been seriously damaged by the fracture.
Amputation was not an option. So our vet put Sally to sleep.

Our only consolation was that she had lived
a happy and comfortable few weeks with us.

The day Sally died another very young joey was orphaned.

We named her Lucy.

Everyone quickly fell in love with Sophie,
especially Montse and Xavier from Spain.

At the beginning of the month Carol fell while filming and fractured her elbow,
so Sophie was the perfect bed mate.

However, as everyone who stays here will tell you, you don't get much sleep at Roo Gully.
Not with our family of hand raised possums living in the roof!

We had all heard Basil chasing after Poppy.

So it wasn't a surprise when we noticed
that she had a joey in her pouch.

And it was a wonderful night when Poppy turned up
with her little one on her back for a photo shoot.

Roo Gully is proud to be involved with young people
and we welcome school visits.

The young roos had no objections
being stroked and fed by the students of St. Bernard's from Kojonup.

With the weather being warmer than normal, and spring only a few weeks away,
we decided it was a good idea to give our snake talk.

The students learned how to identify the venomous snakes in our area,
and they learned how to behave if they come across a snake.
Carol was bitten by a venomous Western Tiger snake in 2007,
and probably owes her life because she knew how to apply a pressure bandage.

So all the students and the teacher learned how to treat someone for snake bite - should the worst happen.

Jessie was the perfect 'patient' when we demonstrated
how to treat the family pet for snake bite before rushing to the vet.

And a game of poker later that night!

Towards the end of August we were delighted to see a Long Necked turtle
coming out of the pond gardens and heading for the creek.

It was Louise, who we had treated at the end of 2007
when her shell was cracked in a road accident.

9th August was another sad day. Our beautiful Pipit died
following a severe eye and face infection that did not respond to treatment.

We thank everyone who cared for
and loved our young wallaby over the years.
She was very special to many.

After a few 'hiccups' we finally got to grips again
with our Kangaroo Auditory Deterrent research.

We spent hours walking several kilometres in the bush tracking down wild roos
in the hope we could record their 'alarm' foot stomp.
But to no avail. So we decided to see if our resident mob would oblige.

Of course roos like Roopert thought the TV crew
had returned to film another series, and being a star
he was very keen to tell his own story!

But not all our roos were here during that hectic time
of cameras and microphones.

So it wasn't long before the new kids on the block
obliged us with the warning sounds we needed.

Our hope is to deter roos from sensitive land using their natural senses.
If we can achieve this then roos can be humanely deterred back to their natural bush
and the perceived 'need' to shoot thousands every night of the year will no longer be a valid argument.

This month we said a very tearful farewell to 3 volunteer students,
Yuval from Israel who became very affectionately known as 'Egbert' (don't even ask!)
Carolyn from the USA who was known as 'Lil Kin',
and young Bec - 'Titch' - from Sydney.

All 3 girls gave their all to Roo Gully, and we thank them sincerely.

This is a great photo of 'Egbert'
because it really shows her beautiful smile.

Good luck Yuval with your future studies in Marine Biology.

Bec had an emotional time at Roo Gully
She became Sally's main carer and loved her dearly
so coping with her death only days before leaving was difficult.

However Bec showed a maturity way beyond her age,
and she will do well as a student at the Taronga Institute in 2009.

This month we also welcomed back 2 other Roo Gully mates - Susanne and Ian.

Susanne, from Holland, first came to Roo Gully in January 2006,
and has been back several times.

Ian was a Wildlife Conservation student from Plymouth University in 2006/07.

Susanne and Ian met and fell in love at Roo Gully,
something we are not taking the blame for!!

And we also welcomed Xavier and Montse.

During August life was changing for the main mob too.
The day after little Sally arrived
Grace let us know she didn't want to sleep inside the house any more.

She had made a steady recovery
from her serious leg fracture.

And although she was still smaller than her friend Luna
it was time for us to start letting her live her life as she wanted.
After all you cannot make turn a wild animal into a domestic pet.
And we never want to do that.

Grace could get around OK, but she was slower than the other roos.
So we did worry about foxes, however summer was usually their time!

Throughout the month the mob enjoyed the unusual winter temperatures.

Being a more serious roo,
Alfie had more important things on his mind
- global warming.

Inside the house Jessie was succeeding in being adorable
but also a pain to humans and canines.

And so, as wise old Chloe's eyes say....that was August 2008 at Roo Gully!

Photos courtesy of Roo Gully, James Dunbar, Susanne Kessens, Rebecca Smith,
Xavier Guzman, Tine Beidenweg,Carolyn Kinney, Yuval Baar.