Garnet

Garnet arrived on the 2nd of December 2007. Some kind people rescued him from his dead Mum's pouch (she had been hit by a car) and brought him to us.

He looked like he hadn't had a feed for a while and was a little thin. Amazingly, joeys are able to survive in their dead mother's pouch for up to 10 days after she has died. It is a slow and painful death by starvation.

Garnet weighed in at 1kg when he arrived, but after only one week, he put 500gms! He adjusted to feeds from a bottle without any trouble.

Antilopine Wallaroos are found in North Queensland right up to the tip of Cape York. They like drier areas and feed on the grasses on open plains. They are known to grow very large and look like their Red Kangaroo cousins, hence their nickname of "Cape Red".

After 3 months of care, Garnet gained weight steadily. His fur has darkened considerably. He still liked his pouch, but he spent more time grazing.

During the first couple of weeks in March 2007, Cairns and surrounding area experienced considerable. So much so that the area was completely flooded for days. Unfortunately, there is also another sinister side effect of this. Many micro organisms that lie harmlessly dormant in the soil become very active after heavy rain.

One of these is known as coccidiosis and is potentially fatal to larger macropods like Eastern Grey Kangaroos. I had read that this micro organism only affected kangaroos, but I found out the hard way with Garnet.

One week-end, he was looking rather poorly and had severe gastric. An immediate trip to the vet diagnosed coccidiosis. He was put on a course of fluids and anti-biotics immediately, but unfortunately, when the symptoms of coccidiosis are visible, it is generally too late for the animal. Garnet died within 12 hours of the symptoms being visible.