Six days in the life
Some are harder than others!
Friday 12/08/16
7am I noticed Spud one of the roos we raised from 1.4 kg to 21kgs not travelling well. At 7:30am while feeding 26 roos with Theresa, a man comes to the door to tell us a roo has been hit at Golden Beach. Before he has even left, the phone rings: another roo down but not at the same place. Off I go. First roo has a broken back, a large female I had to euthanize her. She has a large pouch with a leaking teat, but the joey is missing; it would be about 4kg. Too young to survive on its own. Noticed tire tracks through the grass leading to the point of impact she was deliberately run down. Looked for joey but couldn’t find it I will have to come back. I drive to the next roo reported, she had also been run down. She had a joey about 5.5 kg trying to get back in her mum’s pouch. I held out the pouch I had brought with me and she came right up to me and jumped in my bag as if she knew I would help her I named her Sandy as she is very light in colour.
Saturday 13/08/16
Roo down at Longford 60km round trip. Large male, both legs broken I had to euthanize him.
Sunday 14/08/16
Another roo down at Longford. Again, I had to euthanize, he had a broken back.
My boy Spud still not standing well.
Monday 15/08/16
Quiet morning until 9am. Phone rings: a roo down in Golden Beach. I was told it had broken legs. I get my gun and bullets. It was a beautiful large male with broken legs. I euthanized him. I walked away thinking this never ends.
Tuesday 16/0816
Roo down across the road from us. It was young and had lost its mother. It was so thin and had pneumonia, it only lasted one night. He was found too late. Call number two came through at the same time, this second call was from Lochsport so our friend John attended to this while Theresa, myself and two others captured the young across the road.
Wednesday 17/08/16
Early morning Spud dies. At 9:30am the joey from across the road dies, I now feel sick and shake every time the phone rings, I feel like giving up - it’s all to sad, too heartbreaking. Drivers need to slow down and drive to the conditions. Unfortunately, a lot don’t care about the lives of the animals.
Every time I have to euthanize one of these gorgeous creatures, I walk away with the picture of their eyes looking back at me, etched in my memory and I grieve. I keep telling myself, if I don’t who will? I am helping them by stopping their suffering.
Tony “Scruff” Matthews
At Our Haven Wildlife Shelter, we do our best to physically look after as many kangaroos as we possibly can, it’s exhausting and financially overwhelming - but this is our calling.
Thank you for your love and support!
