Jack

Jack came to us from Mt Garnet after some kind people found him lying near his dead mother on the road side.

He wasn't very well and was suffering from pneumonia. After frequent trips to the vet, some anti-biotic and lots of love he has done very well.

Wallaroo's are an unusual colour. They tend to be grey with golden fur on their chest. Jack was very young and weighed 750gms when we received him, but he had extremely large paws and feet. He was almost fully furred, but despite his weight, he was still a young Joey as wallaroos can get very large.

After 3 weeks Jack was growing at a steady pace. He had changed colour and became very motley! It's hard to know what colour he will eventually turn out to be. He had put on weight and had managed to get over his pneumonia. He would spend time exploring the backyard after each feed.

At 10 weeks in care, Jack weighed 1.5kg and was stacking on the weight. Although he would spend much time in his pouch, he enjoyed grazing after he has had his milk! Grass was introduced into Jack's pouch at about 7 weeks and he started to nibble on it. He was finding it much easier to eat once his teeth had developed.

He made a remarkable recovery, considering how sick he was when we first took him into care. He was as scruffy as ever, but cute in his own way, with a face only a mother Wallaroo could love!

Jack was a lovable character. I have never seen a macropod who would just "chill" like Jack! He seemed so lay back and would just cruise! After being in care for 6 months, he weighed in at 6kg. He was very fluffy and still had a mottled colour ranging from brown to grey and white.

Jack used to spend his day grazing and lying in the shade, but still had supplemental milk feeds twice a day. Like Crystal, he had his first tetanus shot in preparation for release in in another 2 months.

Although he could be rather moody and was not partial to anyone patting him or even looking at him except Tiffany and I! He certainly made a strong bond with his carers.

Jack was released on the 19th of November 2007 at the Mareeba Wetlands on the Atherton Tablelands. They have a soft release pen where the animals are given time to adjust to their new surroundings before being exposed to the wild.

After his 90 minute car trip, he hopped out of his pouch and checked out his new surroundings. There were two other macropods in the pen already, so we introduced Jack to them before saying Good-bye.

Jack was one of the most pleasurable macropods that I have ever raised.

He turned out to be a very strong young Wallaroo. We wish him the very best of luck and safe travels.