Shocked resident saves wallaby joey after its flung from mother’s pouch in suburban Victoria

A Victorian woman has scrambled to rescue a wallaby joey that fell from her mother’s pouch.

Warrnambool local Tracy McKendry spotted a swamp wallaby bounding down a suburban street in the Victorian town and whipped out her phone to capture the sight.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Pedestrian shocked as wallaby joey flung from mother’s pouch

As the camera was rolling, the joey can be seen falling from the pouch as the mother wallaby rushes away.

“It is not uncommon to have wallabies in these sorts of areas,” Mosswood Wildlife Administration and Volunteer Coordinator, Colleen Edwards, said.

“Often it’s just one street over from a bush reserve or park where they may frequent and unlike kangaroos they don’t live in big groups or ‘mobs’.”

Realising the mother wasn’t going to come back, McKendry contacted Mosswood Wildlife to help with the infant macropod.

“In these situations, ideally we want people to give the mum and joey as much space as possibly so they don’t feel threatened and need to flee,” Edwards said.

“Once the joey is flung from the pouch, in some situations, the mum will stop, the person can back off and they will rejoin each other.

“But, unfortunately, in this case the mum just kept going without any stopping, resting or coming back.”

The joey, affectionately named Katina, meaning ‘pure’, was brought to the wildlife centre and is now in the hands of an experienced carer.

“She is fully settled in now and eating and drinking well,” Edwards said.

“The resident from that area and our volunteers have been monitoring the area since the incident, but unfortunately the mum has not been sighted.

“Lucky for this little girl she is now in very good hands.”

Edwards said it’s a common myth that kangaroos and wallabies are “bad mums” and choose to throw their babies at predators so they can get away.

“That has been verified and (is) simply not true,” she said.

“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.

“This very sad involuntary action is what left the pair separated.”

Edwards said if anyone finds a joey left on its own, they should pick it up and keep it warm and safe until it can be taken to a registered carer or vet.

“It is illegal to keep and try to raise wildlife without a permit as it’s generally not done correctly. Even if well intentioned it’s the animal who will suffer,” she said.

Katina is expected to make a full recovery and will stay with her carer until she is old enough to be relocated.