By JESSE GRAHAM
SPRINGTIME means new beginnings – spring cleaning, warmth returning after a freezing cold winter (literally, in the Yarra Valley) and, for Healesville Sanctuary, a display of the new Spring Babies.
The Spring Babies promotion aims to showcase the newest residents of the sanctuary, who entered the world in recent months or are just beginning to come out of their parents’ pouches.
On show at the sanctuary will be about seven wallaby joeys, of different species, including a swamp wallaby born earlier this year.
A spokesperson for the sanctuary said that keepers were hoping for potoroo joeys, and that young wombats often came through the doors of the Australian Wildlife Health Centre after being orphaned due to cars.
The wombats are then hand-raised by keepers, and will be on display for visitors to see – and possibly to have a pat.
For those who want to see feathered friends, the sanctuary is expecting baby curlews and parrots that can be visited or fed.
In an interview last year, keeper, Julie Koch, said that cars were a risk to wombats and urged drivers to keep a basic kit to help wombat joeys, who often survived car crashes when they were in their mothers’ pouches.
She said that drivers should move wombat bodies off of the road – when safe to do so – and search pouches for joeys, which can survive up to 48 hours after their mother is killed.
A warm blanket, a box and a can of red spray paint make up the basic kit – the blanket and box is to keep a joey warm, the spray paint is to mark the body with an ‘X’, to let other drivers know the body has been checked.
Plenty of young animals will be out and about at the sanctuary, including Maliki the dingo puppy and her Maremma friend, Dante, who sometimes come out for walks around the grounds.
For more information on the sanctuary and what’s on offer, visit www.zoos.org.au.
