Young wallaby rescued by Devon’s Crealy

A young wallaby is being hand reared at Devon’s Crealy Great Adventure Park after falling out of its mothers pouch during bad weather two weeks ago.

The young female Joey, who was born within the wallaby enclosure at Devon’s Crealy Great Adventure Park, was only twenty two weeks old when she was separated from her mother.

The young wallaby, which is yet to be named, was found in the enclosure shelter by Animal Kingdom Manager Kate Lewis. Kate has been bottle feeding the infant every three hours since finding her and is taking her home each night to ensure she survives the upcoming months away from her family until she can be reunited.

Usually a baby wallaby would not leave their mothers pouch until they are twenty eight weeks and would still come and go from the pouch for the next few months, so Kate is nurturing and interacting with the young Joey, feeding her special formula milk and wrapping her in blankets at night to imitate a pouch.

Kate Lewis said: “I have been working hard to imitate a surrogate wallaby mother as sadly the Joey cannot return to her mother’s pouch. Fortunately my efforts are working and the young Joey is making great progress, she is a real fighter and full of character.”

Once the wallaby is twelve months old, Kate will start to reintroduce her to the wallaby family, until she is fully weaned at eighteen months.

Guests can visit the wallaby families at Devon’s Crealy Great Adventure Park this Easter. The Park will have a show stopping line up of events and activities over the Easter holidays. Guests will have the chance to swing, swoop and soar through the air and experience the Park’s exciting new ride, The Flying Machine. The Easter weekend will be packed full of fun and adventure with plenty to seek and explore. Visit www.crealy.co.uk for more details.