Greensborough surprise.

Got a call yesterday from Wildlife Rescuers for a 'wallaby relocation' in Greensborough, one of Melbourne's leafy northeast suburbs. Arrived at the home of a man named Joel, who'd made the call. His back porch overlooked a recently replenished Plenty River and the wallaby pictured above. The animal had been laying on the steep riverbank for the past week, disappearing for short periods of time but always returning to that spot. Was it injured? Suffering from an internal disease? Disoriented?

This was a tricky call. As shown in this photo, the riverbank was between a rain-engorged waterway and a barbed wire-topped fence surrounding the rear of a business. Hardly an idealic spot for a wild animal, and the riverbank's steepness made it difficult to reach in case it was injured and required a trip to an animal hospital.

Another volunteer had arrived before me, an older gentleman named Dennis, but he was inexperienced on situations like this and, like me, lacked a 'roo bag' for capturing the wallaby if it needed medical attention. I called Narelle, Wildlife Victoria's large animal expert (whom I've praised in previous posts), for advice. Despite being home with her kids -- it's school holidays time here in Victoria -- Narelle said she'd join us shortly. In the meantime, I kept watch of the wallaby from a walking track on the other side of the river. Joel said one of his kids thought he'd seen the wallaby hopping on one leg. This was soon proved untrue as the wallaby rose from its spot and moved slowly down the riverbank. Everything about its movement seemed true. It stopped after 100 metres as Dennis and I followed along the walking track on the opposite riverbank.

An over-riding concern of mine on wildlife rescue calls is to minimize stress to the animals. My cohort didn't share this concern, however, as he trudged his way through high grass and brush to the river's edge. This drove the wallaby from its spot in the open to a cluster of dense brush higher up the riverbank. I did my best to keep it in sight. Dennis eventually joined me and sheepishly admitted his foray had been misguided. He left to wait for Narelle in front of Joel's home while I kept watch. Thirty minutes passed before I saw any movement -- the wallaby was grooming itself, a good sign. Walkers, joggers & bikers passed me on the walkway, no doubt wondering why a man was standing perfectly still & staring across the river.

Narelle arrived with a fellow volunteer 30 minutes later. After filling her in on all that had transpired, the two of them walked to a bridge downriver and then toward the wallaby's hiding spot. Suddenly, TWO magnificent, healthy-looking wallabies came into view, bounding their way back upriver. I followed their progress, reporting back to Narelle on a cell phone that we had two healthy wallabies (below).
I asked Narelle what she thought about their situation. She said this reasonably isolated spot along a riverbank was as good as any in suburban Melbourne, and supposed these wallabies had become inured to the human activity along the other side. In other words, they were fine, and needed nothing more from us. I went back to Joel's home and reported that he had 2 marsupial neighbors, thanked him for contacting Wildlife Rescuers and asked that he call Narelle or me directly if he noticed either of them in distress in the future.