ENCHANTING TALE

OUR COVER STARS HAD A ROUGH START IN LIFE BUT, THANKS TO ONE COUPLE, THEY ARE IMPROVING IN LEAPS AND BOUNDS.

Our cover stars had a rough start to life, but thanks to one couple, they’re improving in leaps and bounds.

LITTLE WALDO AND REDA are the adorable and very lucky stars of our cover shoot for this issue. Both eastern greys, the joeys have been in the care of Helen Round of East Trentham Wildlife Shelter in Central Victoria since they were retrieved by her partner Manfred Zabinskas of Five Freedoms Animal Rescue last summer. Together, the couple run the voluntary shelter, where Helen cares for a range of native animals that have either been orphaned or injured, while Manfred operates the rescue arm, as well as a commercial animal rescue service for all species. “I do anything to do with animal welfare, from climbing-tree rescues where a bird might be caught in a tree or after bushfires I might climb up and get a koala. I abseil into mine shafts to get animals that have fallen in and I tranquilliser dart animals in different situations — there’s no end to the things I do,” he says.

Eight-month-old joey Reda was found when Manfred was called out to a property at Redesdale on a 40-degree day. “The lovely people there came across a kangaroo with a horribly broken leg,” Manfred says. “She had to be put down. In her pouch was an unfurred joey, what we call a pinkie, and she was shrivelled up like a sultana.” Reda was put on an IV drip and received intensive care from Helen. “She was very close to dying, but she gradually got stronger and is a beautiful little joey now.”

Meanwhile, Waldo was a rare case, a twin joey that was turfed out of the pouch by his mother. “It’s not often that eastern greys have twins and when they do only one survives, as they don’t fit in the pouch. Mum had to do the horrible thing of getting rid of one for the benefit of the other. She was trying to look after this joey on the ground, but there was no way she could do it.” Luckily for Waldo, now seven months old, the property owners rang Manfred. “He has done really well.”

Between them, Manfred and Helen get “hundreds and hundreds” of calls to rescue and rehabilitate wildlife each year at their self-funded shelter. “Raising orphaned animals is all part of the work we do,” says Manfred.

For more information, telephone 0438 681 501 or visit fivefreedoms.com.au

CLOCKWISE, FROM LEFT Helen Round of East Trentham Wildlife Shelter with Reda, the eastern grey joey; photographer Marnie Hawson snapped our beautiful cover shot in a serendipitous moment after Helen briefly put joeys Waldo (left) and Reda down on the chair; the maple cake with chai buttercream frosting from Those We Fancy was suitably decadent for a 30th birthday celebration.