Photos: Supplied.
CONTRIBUTED BY ADELIA BERRIDGE
“Meet the kids,” I’m instructed – Fred, Wilma, Alistar, Timtam, Clover, Topaz, Coral, Lulu, and Wendy – and these are only the ones in the nursery.
Back in July 2020, I was invited to the Capalaba home of a local wildlife carer, Bev Grant, who looks after orphaned wallabies and kangaroos. All – except one – of her babies and infants were from the Redlands area, with seven from Capalaba, four from Mt Cotton, and others from Sheldon and Thornlands.
It was a tough discussion, with one out the back almost ready for release, which came from out of the area. His mother was a white-faced whip-tailed wallaby who had been shot for dog food. The hunters handed in the joey. This was just one of many stories from 81-year-old pensioner Bev, who has been caring for macropods for 30 years, and in the ten years prior to that, was a possum and bird carer.
On my first of what turned out to be a few visits, Bev had two baby swamp wallabies in the new incubators, requiring three-hourly feeds through the night. These two would remain in care for about 18 months before being released.
“How lucky are we?” is what I heard from the Redlands After Hours Wildlife Ambulance (RAWAR) co-ordinator, who also works tirelessly on the phones. “We’re lucky to have people like Bev and Rob who turn over their home to take orphans who have been removed from pouches, when mothers are either injured or killed,” she said.
Bev says she’s the lucky one. “It’s keeping me alive.” She said to me last week when I called her to see how she was going, “I only have six in care today as I have been in and out of hospital myself. I miss the babies, but they are with another carer. She’s wonderful. She is a lot fitter than I am, so this is a good succession plan. We must never give up,” she says. “As much as I love being their mum, they need to be raised by their mother.”
What do you give a macropod carer besides a new apron and a new washing machine? “We badly need good signage to make drivers slow down,” says Bev. “The six we’re looking after now, all their mothers were killed on the road. It’s a cruel world.”
