Introducing Gilan, whose name means sunrise in the Dunghatti language of the area she comes from.

This now chubby little swamp wallaby came into care after her mother was killed by a car near Kempsey.  Her fur was just starting to come through and she weighed just over 400 grams.   For the first week what we fed her at the top end came out well at the bottom end, but her little heart just didn't seem to be in it.   A week after she came into care she began to scour badly.   I fed her an electrolyte replacer (Lectade®) in between her formula feeds but the following day she showed no improvement.  The weight had fallen off her and she was massively dehydrated.  Her skin hung from her bones in multiple folds.  The vet shook his head, told us "we were pushing it" and to bring her back to be euthanased if she hadn't improved by the next day.  He injected her with a broad spectrum antibiotic and recommended a dose of Scourban® twice a day.  All formula was ceased and lectade was given every two hours.  She spent 90% of the time in a pouch attached to my body and miraculously she picked up.  The scouring stopped after the vet visit and after spending the night on my chest and in the crook of my body the morning showed a different beastie.  She licked my hand when I checked her (this became her indication that she was ok) and she guzzled her Lectade®.  I kept up the two hourly feeds and fortunately she seemed to like the taste of the Scourban®.  By the following day I had a very hungry little swampy who I reintroduced to formula before heading off to the vet to get a second antibiotic injection.

After that she never looked back and from then until release she only gave us one other scare.  She did sleep with us every night for three weeks, seeming to need the reassurance of closeness, but as you can see from the photo taken not long before release, she developed into a healthy, independent little animal.

She was released at around 6 ½ kilos and since we are fortunate enough to have a suitable release site for swamp wallabies she was released here.  Although she spends her days in the bush doing what wallabies should, we see her enough to know that she and her little buddy (a swampy of similar age) are still out there surviving some seven months later.

Story recounted by Liesl Pollak