On the road with Narrabri’s resident roo rescue carer

It was about 3.30 pm during Friday afternoon tea with friends when Narrabri’s resident roo mum Kath Hamilton’s xMatters app pinged to inform her of a joey from Moree in need of rescue.

xMatters is the app that WIRES, the largest wildlife rescue and rehabilitation organisation, use to communicate with emergency responders operating across Australia, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year – a full-time role for Kath.

This call out detailed that a joey had hopped into a man’s jumper while he had been walking along the riverbank in Moree.

Since he had work at 4am the fellow entrusted the baby roo into the custody of Moree Police Station, and the officers on duty soon named him Brandon.

The roo encounter was a first for the station, and WIRES soon reached out to Kath and asked: “What can you do for him?”

“I got a call from the new constable on duty saying, ‘We have a joey here who we’ve named Brandon, how can we get him to you?’ – so that’s where we’re going.”

At this point, Kath Hamilton is driving along the Newell Highway after confirming a 10am pick up with the highwayman on patrol, Constable Kobe Russell.

Cons Russell is travelling to Edgeroi to escort the precious cargo.

In synchronous timing, the roo rescuer and the roo escort’s paths diverge at the agreed meet point of the old Edgeroi store.

“When I was speaking with the policewoman on duty she said: ‘I’ve never had anything to do with joeys – what do I do?’

“So, I said when we start off, we just keep them warm and quiet,” said Kath.

“And that’s what she’s done.”

Before her trip to Edgeroi, Kath Hamilton had five joeys in her care.

Little did she know that by 3pm that very Saturday afternoon, she would have a mob of seven.

Sweetie the Wallaroo is ready for her breakfast.

Orphans – Stephanie from Gravesend, Sweetie from Warialda, Matt from Maules Creek, Dot from Newell Highway and Susie from Bingara, all lost their mothers to car collisions and have come to Kath for their roo-recouperation.

After a quick briefing from Cons Russell, Kath’s eyes are only on the joey, whom she finds snugly wrapped in makeshift blue pillowcase pouch and blankets.

When a new rescue is picked up, they must be kept warm and quiet because, at this point, stress will be their biggest killer after a traumatic separation.

Brandon looks peaceful and curious despite his ordeal, a good sign that he will have a chance.

“At that stage, they need to be kept at 28-30 degrees which they’ve managed to do well –that scores them major joey points,” said Kath.

“We can see that the police have done a beautiful job.”

Cons Russell wasn’t expecting this kind of assignment for his day but welcomed the responsibility.

“I got to work this morning, and someone asked if I was available to take little Brandon out towards Narrabri, and I thought ‘Oh I didn’t realise we were getting a new staff member?’ and they said, ‘No he’s our little mascot at the moment’.

“We get a lot of roos getting hit by cars, but not often that we find them with little joeys, so I’m happy to get him to where he needs to go,” he said.

“He was a bit of a crowd favourite at the station I hear.”

Cons Russell relays to Kath that the station will require regular updates on Brandon’s progress, and his name is to remain.

Identifying Brandon’s age is now the next crucial step for his survival.

Cons Russell is keen to help with the investigation, but it is Kath’s own WIRES training that will help decipher his age, pouch life and feeding habits.

By measuring his head, tail, and big foot, it is established that Brandon is 160 days old, a pinky Eastern Grey at 60 per cent of his pouch life, and just emerging because of the softness of his paws.

“Now I’ll pop him into a pouch in the warmth, I’ve got a hot water bottle in there ready to go, and that’s how you rescue.”

Before making her way back to her Narrabri home base, Kath inquires as to whether there would be anyone in Moree willing to undertake WIRES rescue training.

“We are desperately short of people on the ground, especially around Moree, is there no one there who will do rescue or respite?” said Kath.

“Last week we lost a little blue flyer kangaroo at Moree because there was no one on the ground.”

The first part of soft rescue is facilitating a good pick up, identifying the joey, and giving them the right set up such as proper milk for their development stage.

“I won’t introduce him to the rest of the mob for a for a week until he settles in and knows he’s safe,” Kath said.

Kath also offers to drop off proper joey pouches at the Moree Police Station so that they will be ready to go for the next rescue situation.

“Things can change so quickly, but that’s just my life.

“I could never say no to a joey in need, because if though I have my hands full, if I don’t say yes then what if no one else does?” said Kath.

Joey is safely tucked in and Kath is off home.

By 3pm that afternoon, she is on her way to the new designated Edgeroi joey drop-off point.

Cons Russell stayed on duty so he could bring Chris, another pinky, whose mum was hit by a car between Walgett and Brisbane.

This time he knows exactly what to do, and Kath has come equipped with the joey pouches that she promised.