Joeys recover at Steve Garlick and Rosemary Austen's home, that they have converted into Kangaroo recovery facility. (Photograph by Jen Osborne)
Joeys hang out in handmade pouches at Steve Garlick and Rosemary Austen’s home, that they have converted into a kangaroo recovery facility. (Photograph by Jen Osborne) Photograph by Jen Osborne
Environment

A kangaroo rescue offers sanctuary in the wake of the Australian wildfires

Possumwood Wildlife Recovery and Research Centre has handmade pouches to hold joeys and second-hand lounge chairs for kangaroos with limited mobility
By Aaron Hutchins

After all this time, Kavany still knows his way around.

Two years ago, when the kangaroo first arrived at the Possumwood Wildlife Recovery and Research Centre, he was struggling with burns from a local fire. At the recovery centre in Bungendore—just outside the Australian capital of Canberra—Kavany had acres of space to roam and treatment for his burns and infections. When he recovered, he was released to a nearby wildlife sanctuary to live the rest of his days free from the dangers of hunters, vehicles and dogs.

But what Kavany wouldn’t be safe from were the massive bushfires that raged across much of Australia this summer, blazing through 12 million hectares of land. “The wildlife sanctuary was totally burned,” says Steve Garlick, founder of Possumwood. “We’ve had to go into the fire zone to rescue affected animals.”

READ: Canadians are on the front lines of Australia’s ‘mega-mega’ wildfires

Kavany is one of nearly two dozen arrivals affected by this year’s bushfires, adding to the 100 animals already under Possumwood’s care. The centre has handmade pouches to hold joeys and second-hand lounge chairs for kangaroos with limited mobility.

For more than two decades, Garlick and his wife, Rosemary Austen, have worked on rescuing and rehabilitating injured wildlife. He’s a professor in animal ethics and founder and president of the Animal Justice Party. She’s a general practitioner by trade—“a human doctor,” as Garlick puts it.

Together with the help of volunteers, they care for—and release back to the wild—hundreds of animals each year. But it’s not only physical wounds they treat. “These animals have been in a traumatic situation, so we also treat them for their psychological trauma,” Garlick says. That could involve keeping them indoors—away from the noises of the outside world—and surrounded by their own kin in various-sized enclosures, until the animal grows accustomed to the sounds and smells of the environment around them.

“We try to rebuild their confidence and engage with them,” Garlick adds. “It’s not just fixing their burned feet.”

A kangaroo recovers from burns at Steve Garlick and Rosemary Austen's house. They have converted both their home and garage area into Kangaroo recovery facilities. They take care of burn victims from the fires, and they also host animals with a slew of other health issues. (Photograph by Jen Osborne)
An adult kangaroo with burned feet rests in a recliner. (Photograph by Jen Osborne)
Rosemary Austen cares for an animal in her home that she and her husband converted into into a kangaroo recovery facilities. They take care of burn victims from the fires, and they also host animals with a slew of other health issues. They also have 2 wombats on their property, one is recovering from Mange.
Austen (pictured) and Garlick have converted their home into a recovery centre so the animals have a chance to heal indoors before being released back into the wild. (Photograph by Jen Osborne)

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