Rare pair of cuties rescued on island
RARE twin baby wallabies have been rescued after their mother was hit by a car on Magnetic Island.
Wildlife carer Darrie Lisle received a call on Saturday night informing her that the wallabies’ mother had hopped in front of a vehicle at Horseshoe Bay.
“The people witnessed the joeys rolling out of her pouch,” Ms Lisle said. “They collected the joeys straight away, called me and brought them to me.”
The North Queensland Wildlife Carer said she was stunned when she found out there was not one, but two wallabies inside the pouch.
“Twins in macropods ( large footed marsupials) are very rare — when she called me and said ‘ joeys’ I said ‘ What did you say?’,” Ms Lisle said. “I’ve been doing this for 11 years and this is my first set of twins.”
Ms Lisle said it was important not to separate the twins.
“We’ll keep them together — that’s the biggest thing,” she said. “The bond between these two is amazing and you must maintain that bond.”
The wallaby babies will be in her care for over a year.
“They both have abrasions to their heads and back but beside that they are healthy little agile wallabies,” Ms Lisle said.
The daughter of a woman who brought the wallabies into the Magnetic Island Wallaby Refuge named them Salt and Pepper.
“The little boy is 318g and the little girl is 280g,” Ms Lisle said.
“They are approximately 120 days old from their weight, their eyes are open but their ears are still down a bit just from their age.”
Ms Lisle said the mother wallaby hopped off into the bush, escaping any significant injuries because the vehicle was going about 40km/ h.
“We keep promoting people to slow down, these are nocturnal animals,” she said.
“They are out at night and people need to be aware.”