- NARRATOR: Jack does crazy things with wild animals to help protect and study them. Really crazy. And maybe dangerous. But Jack is a trained expert. Do not do what Jack does. Seriously. Approaching and handling wild animals can be dangerous. Really. Just don’t do it!
- JACK: I’m in Australia. No! Trying to get close to its most famous animal, Hey. The Kangaroo.Aww, look at this, so precious. This is a little baby joey Agile Wallaby. Australia has lots of hopping animals. The smaller ones are called wallabies, and the big ones are kangaroos. But generally, if you look like this, people call you a kangaroo. They hop around, and that allows them to escape from predators, including the dingoes and snakes. Wallabies are marsupials, meaning the babies feed and grow in their mother’s pouch. Adult wallabies can swim if they need to escape predators, and they have very strong tails that they can use as a third leg for support. At this age, four and a half months, usually he would be in a pouch of the mother. The carrying of a joey this size is 24 hours round the clock work. That would include frequent feeding. In the pouch of his mother he would be getting that all the time. But in this case, I rescued the little guy from the side of the road. Without the protection of his mother’s pouch, he needs immediate care. So I’m on my way to a kangaroo rescue center called “Nina’s Ark.” Is it Nina?
- NINA: Yeah, good morning!
- JACK: Hi, I’m Jack!
- NINA: How can I help ya?
- JACK: Yeah, I found a little joey on the side of the road. A little baby.
- NINA: Oh thank you. Yeah, it’s a little Agile.
- JACK: So I was a bit worried that actually he was a bit hot and thirsty, maybe been there the whole night. Does he look okay?
- NINA: Probably been there a while, because he’s really hungry, see, he’s chewing on the pouch. Really, really hungry so we’ll go over and get him warm.
- JACK: So you’ve got a hospital here.
- NINA: Yeah, and it comes in handy, I can tell you. I’m gonna take him out of your snake bag. I’m gonna put him in this little blankie here, this little bunny rug. I’m gonna wrap him up, he can’t generate heat until he gets hair. Okay, if you’ll just hold him until I make some milk for him.
- JACK: Aw. I can’t wait to feed him.
- NINA: And this should be fine! Hey. Let’s try to drink, shall we? Sometimes it takes them three days to take the nipple.
- JACK: Aw, there you go. NINA: There he goes.
- JACK: I’ve never fed a baby human, but now this is my first time feeding a kangaroo, I think it’s kind of fitting. I think that’s it.
- NINA: That’s great.Little man. You did a wonderful thing.
- JACK: I feel very attached to this joey now.
- NINA: Well, we may have to call him Jack.
- JACK: Yeah, oh, I’d love it if you did call him Jack. Nina has successfully rehabbed countless joeys over the years and it’s amazing that my little joey has a chance of survival. In a year’s time, my joey will be in the same position these joeys are. It’ll be a year old, and ready for release back into the wild. Now, there’s another young joey that is ready to take that step. First we have to catch it. Hopping around. So this is the best way of actually handling a kangaroo, their tails are extremely strong. Their legs would break if I was holding their legs, so that’s actually how you catch a kangaroo. By the tail. Okay, off you go. Woo-hoo!Wow, that’s amazing feeling, just releasing an animal into the wild that actually has been saved. This is just incredible. She’s in no rush to leave the safety of Nina’s Ark. I guess I understand that. But she’ll eventually make her way into the bush. We’re gonna be monitoring that kangaroo over the next eight days. Seeing how this joey comes back here into the safe haven, and goes back into the wild. These really are her first hops of freedom her her her. And I can’t wait for my joey to end up in the same position as her. Aw, look at him there. Okay, I think that’s it. He’s just waving goodbye. Goodbye! Join me again to see more of Australia’s most incredible animals.
Captioned by Cotter Captioning Services.
