Gemma's mum was burnt and she came into care last night..she is about 5 months old, very feisty and full of personality. She is a real gem to look after hence the name. She'll stay with me a while before heading off to a tree. While she is still being manually rehydrated and will be for a few days to come, she is already lapping at milk from her bowl and eating some solids and loves honey bread! She is also quite the gymnast already and in what I call a stage 3 cage..enough room to climb, with the security of a large sleeping area.
My son has adopted her as 'his' for the duration of her stay so he will look after her primary needs under my supervision until she is released and on release day, he will get to let her go. I cant stress enough to people how important it is to get our children involved in working with animals and the environment.
Caring for wildlife, coming to help transport and rescue animals and being a part of BADGAR even as a junior, has been a great teacher of empathy, community responsibility and commitment for my son. After nearly 12 months as foster carers, and at just 13yrs old he knows the feeding routines 7/1//7/11 down pat, not to mention the three R's of 'rescue recovery and rehabilitation', and he handles even the smallest animals far better than most adults I know!
He's fearless in chasing ducks and comes out with us on early morning swamp walks..its really bonding...so I wanted to say thanks to him too and encourage any other parents reading this site to get their kids involved as well.
They looked so comfortable together yesterday I had to get some snap shots..
Gemma settles in....
check my blog for updates on Gemma
