KYE

KYE

In the Rangelands where the wide, flat plains are red coloured from the iron oxides and the trees and shrubs are low growing and dusty blue grey in colour there is a battle raging.

The land is owned by the Crown and leased to graziers who pay for a lease and an annual land rent.  Years of mismanagement, overstocking in time of good rain and periods of drought have cause land degradation and desertification.  The land can no longer support families with traditional stockmen to assist in property management.  Holdings are run by one couple with the wife helping if there are no children to teach during the day.

Water is important.  Settlement encouraged the establishment of artificial watering points for stock.  Bores were sunk tapping into the Great Artesian Basin supply.  Wildlife populations grew in response to additional waters and compete with domestic animals for pasture.  Domestic animals escaped into the bush and became feral.  Foxes introduced to reduce the rabbit numbers devastated the native ground dwelling birds and small marsupials.  In 150 years the face of the Rangelands has changed.

In order to encourage landholders to remain in the Rangelands the State Government offers initiatives to assist land management practice.  One of the grants available to Rangeland pastoralists was the Total Grazing Pressure Grant that aimed at reducing the total number of animals living on the land. Included in total grazing are the kangaroos, emus, sheep, cattle, goats, pigs, foxes, rabbits and native small mammals.

A stock proof fence built around watering points with self-mustering gates has been one of the projects approved for government funding.

Not far from the Queensland border TPG fences were constructed around all the artificial watering points on a Rangeland property.  My job was to inspect the work so the grazier could be paid.  This is usual practice for government funded projects.

The fence had been finished by mid-day on Monday in late January.  The weather had been very hot with a thunderstorm predicted for Monday evening. One of the ground tanks had been built over one hundred years ago.  Coolabah trees had grown adjacent to the ground tank and gave deep shade to animals drinking from the tank.

The following Wednesday I inspected the new fence line.  An old Blue Flier kangaroo had been caught on the fence and was near death.  I couldn’t cut her free as her powerful hind leg had twisted the new wire tightly.  It was kindest to kill her after her long agony.  I noticed that her pouch was extended and suspected that a joey was nearby.

My inspection finished I travelled back along the access track.  A small joey limped from the vehicle path.  I stoped my vehicle and took a hessian bag from the tray and after catching the joey, I put him into the bag so he would feel secure.  He was very weak and I feared he would not survive the four-hour journey to my home.  I called him Kye.  He had survived over 48 hours on his own and a thunderstorm since his mother had been trapped on the fence.

Dr. Jarman has said older female kangaroo’ birth male joeys as a security for their old age.  Certainly Kye’s mother was an old roo and one accustomed to drinking at the ground tank that had been enclosed.  Grey kangaroos drink more frequently than red kangaroos and they tend to be more territorial and travel less than the reds.

Kangaroos are graceful creatures, inquisitive and gentle but strong and defensive in attack.  They live in mobs with a strong hierarchy that sustains their gene pool and characteristics.

I had no lactose free milk at home and tried to rehydrate Kye by quirting a steady stream of cooled boiled water into his mouth.  After several hours he began to lick at the moisture and seemed a little stronger.  I thought his back right leg might have been injured by the impact of his mother’s fall against the fence. The next morning I travelled into town with the intention of taking Kye to the veterinary surgery.  I telephoned first describing his condition.  The vet intended euthanasia as she believed he would never recover to survive in the wild.  This is part of our wildlife legislation. I asked for time to adjust to this decision.

Later, I disregarded her advice and purchased mammal teats, lactose free milk powder and electrolyte compounds in order to ensure Kye’s survival.  These are readily available at chemists in country towns in the Far West.

My next weeks were busy and joyful.  Kye took to the fluids offered and lived in an old leather backpack worn out in my student adventures.  He had a supply of clean pillowcases so that he was always dry.  Slowly he accepted me and learned to tumble into my skirt if he was near and afraid.  Other times he did the same tumble into his bag. He became accustomed to driving to work each day slung from the passenger headrest in my truck and sleeping hung from the doorknob of my office.  At lunch times he would enjoy time on the lawn after his bottle.

As he grew stronger and more adventuresome we travelled doing field work far from towns and settlements.  He learned to escape from his bag hung on a tree branch but he never strayed far from my truck.  He ate sliced apple and guinea pig food as a supplement to his milk.  At night he hung from the head post of my bed and woke me by scratching on the leather of his bag.  He still required regular feeding at intervals during the night.  And he grew.  His legs became strong again, his fur became thicker and he was trained to keep his pouch clean.  He looked forward to feeding on grass and herbage in the dawn hours and again at dusk.  He called when in distress because he couldn’t see me, and he came when I called.

Kye became my companion and friend.

My life in the Rangelands involves long distance travel.  My family live in Canberra, about tens hours drive from Bourke, the nearest town to my home.  When I decided Kye was well enough to travel that long distance we set out on an over due visit.  It was punctuated by frequent feed and toilet stops.  As it grew dark Kye panicked and I drove with him snuggled into my lap for many kilometres.  We arrived just before midnight.

The Canberra climate is very different to the hot, dry desert from whence we came that day.  It was still a summer night but cooler and more humid than we are accustomed.  Nevertheless, we were tired and slept well that night.

In the long hazing piccaninny dawning Kye and I woke to play and eat in an unfamiliar surrounding.  Sunlight poured over the little balcony cluttered with pots of herbs and flowers.  Kye developed a taste for parsley and nibbled many shoots from a plant within his reach.  He learned to navigate unfamiliar furniture and breath city smells.

Despite my care Kye became ill on our holiday.  My first signal was his reluctance to take his early afternoon feed and a general restlessness.  By late afternoon I was greatly concerned and made an appointment with a local veterinary hospital.  Unfortunately Kye was the first joey they had treated and much negotiation ensued.  I returned with his medicated that I administered hopeful of a speedy recovery.

Kye died three hours later.  In my grief and remorse I remembered the legislation I had flaunted in order to continue his life those extra precious weeks.  I considered our travels and weighed the consequences of my life style with the natural rhythm of a kangaroo’s existence.  I endured a long and miserable night.

Before dawn I carried Kye’s body into the pine forests that circle Canberra.  I searched for a natural hollow in which to lay him far from the red earth of his homeland. Gently I said goodbye to my best friend.

In the long days that followed and the silent, lonely journey back to the Far West I thought on many issues.  The ethics of nurturing injured wildlife and the consequences of domestication of captured species.  The role of productivity in the fragile Rangeland and the impact of total grazing pressure management.  In doing one seemingly small activity much else is impacted upon.  Conservation groups are calling for the closure of artificial waters.  The immediate impact of this measure would be the death of wild creatures that rely solely on those watering points.  Some species would relocate to neighbouring properties creating additional pressure on limited resources. Many see the creation of ground tanks and bores as landscape improvements, and perceive their closure as detrimental to progress and land husbandry.  Frequently, there is little science in making decisions and the Rangelands are forgotten places for many useful projects that might protect its inhabitants.