As her baby looks on, last loving embrace for a dying kangaroo
CRADLING her head in his front paws, a kangaroo huddles over his dying mate, trying time and again to help her back to her feet.
All the while, their young joey looks on, helpless and bewildered, as the scene unfolds under the shade of an Australian mango tree.
These extraordinary photographs were taken by retired soldier Evan Switzer.
He was walking his dog in River Heads, Queensland, when he realised something was badly wrong with the trio of eastern grey kangaroos.
‘Kangaroos usually hang out in bigger mobs, but this sad little group was just the buck, the joey and the female lying on the ground, limp and motionless,’ said Mr Switzer, 46. ‘The buck was clearly deeply upset and doing his utmost to help her.’
While buck kangaroos often stamp and make a barking sound when fighting other bucks, this one was making ‘a weird, strangled, quite desperate sound that I’ve never heard before’.
He was also deeply protective of his small family. So when other bucks hopped over to investigate, he thumped his feet, stood up to his full 5ft height and shooed them off.
As he tried to revive his mate, their joey stood close by, seemingly confused, occasionally hopping off to and chew some grass but soon hopping back again. ‘The buck kept picking up her head, gently cradling it, and trying to get her to stand up,’ said Mr Switzer, adding: ‘He was surprisingly gentle.’
Throughout, the kangaroo kept looking up to catch the photographer’s eye, as if pleading for help. At one stage he hopped off a few yards, meaning Mr Switzer could get closer to the female. ‘I checked her pouch for baby roos, but it was all clear,’ he said. ‘The odd thing is, there were no visible signs of injury. No blood, no broken legs. Nothing. We were a fair distance from the road so it’s unlikely she was hit by a car.’
According to Peter Dillingham, animal manager at Blackpool Zoo, the animals’ behaviour was unusual.
‘ While kangaroos are generally quite touchy-feely with each other, I’ve never seen anything like that,’ he said.
Mr Dillingham said that the bond between the mother and her joey will be strong, but that between bucks and females is usually less obvious, with males moving between mates over time. ‘With their joeys, they’re very feeling and loving, but with their partner?’ he said.
He does not believe the buck would have fully understood what was going on. ‘He’s probably confused, but for some reason he’s clearly very interested in her,’ he says. ‘He might be trying to move her. He might be trying to protect her from the other bucks – kangaroos can be very possessive.’
Whatever the explanation, back in the shade of the mango tree, the buck gave up trying and wearily lay down beside his mate. And, according to Mr Switzer, he did look genuinely sad.