Red Ned's Parole.

RED Ned is a big male red kangeroo who has spent most of his life in Prison. However he has just been let out on parole.

Red Ned's mother was killed in a collision with a car over a year ago and he was picked up by a caring truck driver just north of Tennant Creek. He was found standing next to his dead mother. The truck driver drove with him north delivering him to us when he was very little. Unfortunately the accident had left significant injuries to Red Ned and he needed several operations. He has been cared for and rehabilitated at Berrimah Prison. Prisoners at the jail cared and fed him and he has become a firm favorite. He has recovered really well from all his operations and has used his jail time well to grow into a big healthy young man. Unfortunately he could not be released earlier due to all his injuries and Red kangeroos are not actually found anywhere near darwin. So by the time he was ready to be returned it was a monumental effort to get him back into the wild. He was flown back to Alice Springs where he will be soft released into the wild. Flying is expensive but thanks to several generous donors and berrimah prison who built a special travel cage.

Fire victims

It is pretty standard to have a lot of fires in the top end during the dry season. Usually these are of low intensity and cause little direct impact on wildlife, although flying around any fire are usually numerous birds of preys (mostly kites and crows) snapping up insects or any small animal trying to flee the fire. Black kites have even been observed picking up burning twigs and flying off with them to help spread the fire.

This dry season how ever we have seen several much higher intensity fires close to town which have resulted in wildlife casualties. (Still nothing like the scale recently seen in victoria).

This mother possum was brought to us by fire fighters. She was unfortunately unsavable since she had such severe burns. The only way we could help her was by putting her down. However shielded in her pouch was her baby. His mothers body had protected him from the flames and smoke and he escaped with only minor burns to his fingers. He is now being cared for and should be releasable in a few months time.