Meet two best buddies, Max and Benji.
Max and Benji are eastern grey kangaroos who are in care with one of our volunteer wildlife rehabilitators, and they have fallen in love with each other.
Max came in to care after his mother was entangled in a fence. A member of the public saw the mother and called our Emergency Response Service. We dispatched a trained macropod volunteer to attend. Unfortunately, her injuries were too serious, and the kindest option was to end her suffering by humane euthanasia. Little Max was found lying next to mum as he had fallen out of the pouch. The rescuer scooped him up into a warm pouch and delivered him to the shelter.
Around the same time, Benji's mum was hit and killed by a car. Thankfully, the driver called Wildlife Victoria and little Benji was saved.
Raising joeys so they have the best chance for survival in the wild means providing them with an in-care environment that is as close to what they would experience in the wild as possible. They need to learn all the skills necessary to live a long life in the wild. Kangaroos live in groups (called mobs), so our wildlife rehabilitators raise them in small groups that will eventually be released together. Joeys do much better in care when they have a little buddy to grow up with.
Max and Benji hit it off immediately. Max likes to hop out of his pouch and snuggle up with Benji every chance he gets and gives him lots of kisses. They are on four hourly feeds of specialised kangaroo milk formula and are both very enthusiastic drinkers.
They will remain in care until they are big enough to be released back into the wild to join a mob together.