Excellent Baby kangaroo we rescued. Little Survivor by Aussie This Sentence Starts The Story contest entry

"I'm glad you made it. " I whispered to the little joey, alive in his dead mother's pouch. We had been following a truck on the highway and I saw the kangaroo hop onto the road. She was hit and sent flying by that truck roaring up the highway; he didn't bother to stop. kangaroos are dangerous to car drivers. Generally they hop over the car and smash the windscreen. Truck drivers couldn't give a damn, they look upon our wildlife as a nuisance - road kill. We pulled over and knew the mother was dead, no way she could have survived being hit like that. Many kangaroos lose their lives on roads. Blinded by headlights, they just sit in the middle of the road. Caring road users always check the pouch to see if the joey is alive. We do care about our native animals. We took the little boy home after cutting his umbilical cord. Our Wildlife Rangers have the right milk formula to raise these orphans and so we handed him over. So much carnage on the roads e.g. koala crossing plus turtles, kangaroo, wallaby, wombat and so on. Thank goodness for the rangers. When we had bad fires the rangers set up a triage to treat the burnt animals. A baby joey is one inch long when born, he is also totally blind. His mother licks a path in her fur for the baby to follow; so he can find the teat and latch on to feed. He spends a long time in the pouch, peeking out from time to time. She carries him everywhere and when he is ready to eat grass, around six months old, she releases him. Our largest kangaroo is the Red, standing on his long legs and using his tail for support, he can reach nine feet tall. Most Reds live in the outback. In the suburbs the small grey kangaroos are in their hundreds. They love living on the golf courses! Because they are good breeders we have to cull them. Their meat is a delicacy in restaurants because it is lean and has little fat. The rest of the meat is minced for animal feed. At present, our Roo's are in plague proportion and living in the suburbs; they have been known to viciously attack home owners. They stand on their thick tails and will rip you to pieces with their long toenails. Six months on we contacted the wildlife carer and asked if the joey we rescued had survived. He had. And he was a grey. Thriving on lush grass with all his rescued mates. If you thought they were cute and cuddly, beware; they are very territorial and will attack humans. Author Notes Contest: This sentence starts the story: "I'm glad you made it." One night we stopped and rescued a Joey in his dead mother's pouch.

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