31/01/2026
Well said, and explained to perfection!!!!
Many people offer us their time and assistance, but don't understand why we have to say no, when we would love to say YES PLEASE!!!!!!!🤗😍👍🥰
Unfortunately, it's not as simple as gathering a group of people/friends to help out with the bigger tasks that need doing in and around the enclosures!!
Our Westies are toey, flighty, and startled by strangers and loud noises ... they totally lose their minds over butterfly farts!!🙄🦋😏
No, we haven't personally heard them, but they must be terrifying, coz everyone just p**s bolts, all at once, for absolutely no reason!!😳😲😵🫤🤷♀️
So whilst the idea of a busybee maybe REALLY terrific, and REALLY needed, and would get EVERYTHING shmick in a few hours💗, the reality is that work happens slowly around roos, and only 2 or 3 familiar people at a time!🫤😔
It's frustrating, but that's life with roos! 🤷♀️🥰🦘🦘🦘🦘🦘😘💕
When people see damaged shelters, destroyed enclosures, or storm-affected areas at a wildlife rehabilitation centre, it’s easy to think the solution is simple:
“Just fix it.”
“Just build a new one.”
“Just run a working bee.”
If only it were that easy.
Macropod joeys - kangaroos and wallabies - are extremely sensitive to stress. Loud, sudden, unfamiliar noises like drills, hammers, star picket drivers, generators or machinery can trigger panic responses that are genuinely dangerous for them. Stress in macropods isn’t just uncomfortable - it can be life-threatening.
That means you cannot safely build, repair, or replace structures anywhere near active macropod enclosures while they are in use.
No drills.
No hammering.
No banging posts into the ground.
No “quick fixes.”
Even if the funding was there.
Even if the materials were there.
Even if the equipment was sitting ready to go.
Time is the next barrier.
Wildlife carers are already operating at capacity - feeding schedules, medical care, cleaning, monitoring, emergency call-outs, record-keeping, and constant welfare checks. Finding uninterrupted, safe windows to build or repair infrastructure is incredibly difficult.
And while people often suggest working bees, there’s another hard reality:
You cannot have large numbers of people - especially new or unfamiliar people - around macropods. Increased human presence alone can cause stress, and exposing joeys to groups of humans, noise, movement, and activity is not something we can ethically or safely do.
So realistically, we cannot build near active enclosures.
Not with tools.
Not with crowds.
Not even with the best intentions.
At a busy wildlife rehab centre, especially during peak seasons, there is almost never a time when enclosures are empty. Joeys don’t arrive on a schedule. Injuries, car strikes, dog attacks, and weather events happen every single day.
So carers are constantly balancing:
- Keeping animals calm
- Managing damaged infrastructure
- Waiting for rare windows when enclosures are empty (basically impossible right now🤪)
- And making the call to delay repairs because it is safer for the animals.
Storms don’t wait.
Weather doesn’t wait.
But neither can the joeys.
This is one of the invisible challenges of wildlife care that rarely gets seen. It’s not about neglect or lack of effort - it’s about making decisions that always put animal welfare first, even when that means living with temporary, imperfect solutions.
Wildlife care isn’t just emotionally hard.
It’s logistically hard.
And sometimes the safest choice looks like doing nothing at all.
