This Aussie Couple Has Turned Their Home Into A Kangaroo Sanctuary

Inside this ordinary suburban home there lives a host of hopping surprises - a troop of baby kangaroos.

When a stranger pulled up at their home with an orphaned kangaroo in 2010, this couple’s lives changed forever and Our Haven Wildlife Shelter was born. Theresa and Tony Matthews had always loved wildlife, but after being told that the healthy orphaned joey would have to be euthanized, they realised that they had to do something for the helpless animal.

“That was our first kangaroo and his name was Bobby. We mainly take on eastern grey kangaroos, they’re the only ones down here and also swamp wallabies,” says the couple.

Their home might be far from ordinary, what with the constant stream of animals coming in, but it also comes with a lot of heartache. Namely, baby kangaroos are delicate because they get stressed so easily. It can be very dangerous for them. But the Matthews’s have a very high success rate and have been able to rehabilitate a lot of the youngsters that have come their way.

They realized that these joeys were euthanized for one reason alone - not because there was something wrong with them, but because they had nowhere to go. Eight years later, the couple had just had their first vacation, as they have to take care of the baby animals 24 hours a day, every day.

The couple raise the joeys at their home until they are ready for release and then they are transported to be released back into the wild. “It’s hard to say goodbye and I always cry all the way home but, you know, it’s about them not us. We’ve done our job, so we’ve gotta let them go," Theresa says.

To find out more about Our Haven Wildlife Shelter and to donate visit: http://ourhavenwildlifeshelter.org.au/campaigns/help-us-help-wildlife/donate/