A wallaby joey has fallen out of her mother’s pouch in front of a shocked Australian woman who immediately called wildlife rescue and saved the baby marsupial’s life.
Tracy McHendry said she was on her morning walk when she saw the wallaby bounding towards her in the town of Warrnambool, Victoria, earlier this week.
“Knowing that no one would believe me, l started to film as evidence as l stepped aside off the footpath and up someone’s drive to get out of its way, l was in complete shock at what happened next,” she said.
Ms McHendry’s video shows the wallaby being jolted out of the punch and landing right at her feet as she said “oh Jesus, oh my God, you forgot your baby, oh no, what I am to do?”
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She then called Mosswood Wildlife and volunteers managed to find the joey, but said they were unable to track down the mother.
The rescue service later shared a photo of the joey wrapped in a blanket, and said she had been sent to a different shelter where she will be able to get long-term care along with joeys of a similar size.
Mosswood also responded to some comments claiming that wallabies throw their babies at predators to save themselves, calling it a myth.
“There is an old wives’ tale getting around that macropods are bad mums, in theory choosing to throw their babies at predators so they can get away however that has been verified and confirmed as simply not true,” they wrote.
“When something originally scared this mum wallaby she went into flight mode, this is where the pouch muscles will involuntarily contract which can result in their joey falling out of the pouch when they are bounding away at speed fleeing. This very sad involuntary action is what left the pair separated.”
Header image: Left, the joey falling out of the pouch. Right, after being saved (Mosswood Wildlife).
