There is a pure, unequivocal depth and beauty in each kangaroo. There is deep wisdom in their presence, if only we would take the time and patience to learn from them, we would understand so much more about their species, their habitat and their environment.
While that sounds so very obvious to some of us, why is it that kangaroos are treated with so little respect and with such cruelty? Humans do not understand kangaroos very well. We are not aware of, do not appreciate, the uniqueness of kangaroos.
What an honour it is to be a voice for kangaroos.
Founder and Director, Sponsoroo
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The people involved in Sponsoroo are merely voices for the kangaroos! Background history On February 9th 1990, a man found a baby kangaroo scratching at her mother's pouch wanting so badly to climb back in. It was cold out there and all she knew was the inside of her mother's warm and snug pouch. But her mother was lying lifeless by the side of a road. She had been killed by a car. So the man picked up the joey and took her back to town with him. He then rang Susie and asked her if she could look after this joey. That was how Susie was introduced to these superb beings. Soon after that, word had spread that she was looking after joeys and someone else asked her to look after another joey, then another came into care and another..... One day she and her husband came home to find a jumper hanging on the doorknob of the back door in which there was another little joey. Since then, Susie has raised countless joeys whose mothers have been killed, she has studied the behaviour of kangaroos, working with kangaroos has become a passion. There is an obvious connection between Susie and kangaroos. In 1997, Mark and Susie decided that they needed to buy a farm where the kangaroos could have a safe home. As you can read on the page "Trouble for kangaroos", the country is not a safe place for kangaroos which is a very sad situation. So they found a perfect home which is suitable habitat for Red and Grey kangaroos. Please see the "Narimba" page to read more about the property and what they are doing there. Formation of Sponsoroo In September 2000, the organisation Viva! in UK contacted Susie and asked her if she knew of an organisation through whom someone in England could "adopt" a kangaroo as a gift for her husband. At the time, Susie was just wondering how she could create awareness of kangaroos and share stories about her kangaroo friends. And so it was the perfect opportunity for Sponsoroo to be founded. There have been many wonderful people sponsoring the kangaroos in the program since then, people have loved getting to know their kangaroos. Many friendships have been formed over the time and people have visited "Narimba" to meet the kangaroo(s), to see them out in the wild with their mates or to cuddle a joey in care. Susie has had lots of emails and letters from people about Sponsoroo, about the website and of course about the kangaroos. She loves to hear from like-minded people who also appreciate the depth of beauty within these amazing treasures. She is extremely appreciative of those who are working to protect kangaroos from people who don't care about them, who just want to see them dead. Susie has also been very appreciative of the generosity of people giving donations to help look after the kangaroos. Joeys need special milk formula which is expensive to buy and during the drought for the last 10 years Mark and Susie have been buying extra food for the kangaroos.
Where are 3 main species of kangaroos found in this area of New South Wales, - Reds, Eastern Greys and Western Greys. Please see the page KangaGallery where you can see photos which show the varying characteristics of the different species. Each species has its own features, different colours, language, hopping action, fur, mating/reproduction system... so many differences (and no the daddy does not have a pouch only the mummy!) Please see the Links and Resources page for Rootourism for lots more details about the species throughout Australia. The kangaroos who live on "Narimba" and are involved in the Sponsoroo program belong to this area in NSW, their mobs belong to this area. These kangaroos have been either hand raised by Susie, released on "Narimba" by other carers, or are offspring of those kangaroos. All the kangaroos are free to roam. Usually the Greys stay within about 2 - 3kms of the house and often come in to visit. Adult Reds tend to wander unfortunately, sometimes that can be catastrophic as you can read if you scroll down on the page Trouble for Kangaroos. As you will see on the Join Sponsoroo page, there are Reds, Eastern Greys and Western Greys in the program. Please read the page Meet our Sponsoroo kangaroos to see who of the Narimba kangaroos are involved in the Sponsoroo program. Voiceless Award
In December 2009, Sponsoroo received a generous grant of $1000 from Voiceless - the animal protection institute
www.voiceless.org.au |
