Maru Koala Part 1

Maru Koala is a rescue organization named after two women, Mary and Ruth. What began as a tourist attraction has become a wildlife sanctuary that saves many animals every year. Australia has significant roadkill, and many of the animals are marsupials. If a driver hits a marsupial, the law states that the driver needs to check on the wellfare of the animal, and if it is not going to survive or is dead, they are to check the pouch for a baby. The baby can live in a pouch for up to five days even if the mom is dead, so in order to make sure the baby survives, the driver is to call the rescue organization, and those people will come remove it from the pouch and spray the carcass with a red X, indicating the baby has been saved. Many of those babies end up at Maru Koala or other sanctuaries. We had seen a number of the animals in the sanctuary, but it still held some big surprises. I wasn't particularly interested in the reptiles and snakes, but we looked at the monitors and lizards anyway. Behind the reptiles lived a big - and terrifying - bird. Kenneth used to love this bird when he was child, and he was proud to let others know that this bird could disembowel a person.

The southern cassowary, Gloria, was different from those at the Sedgwick County Zoo - and look at that casque! It is made up of keratin and is hard like fingernails, helping it defend itself. Then we slipped into the Squirrel Glider cage. Since they are nocturnal animals, the house was dark with red light, but sure enough, there they were. Look closely and you can see them.

We had been carrying around kangaroo food and feeding the kangaroos was next . . . but they were not very excited. They were all just lying down, and unless we went up to them, they just were not interested in eating. And then we saw these guys:

Albino kangaroos. That was never in our wildest dreams. No one was paying attention to them, and when I fed the big one, it was so gentle. After we fed them, we moved on to the wallabies and the grey kangaroos. They were pretty cute, but this biggest one was quite proud:

There is more to Maru Koala, but that is for the next post.