Adelaide Hills Kangaroo Rescue

12/06/2026

🌹🌹Juliette's Story 🌹🌹
A couple of years ago a lovely man (and bird rescuer!) was driving near Kuitpo Forest when he came across a western grey kangaroo that had been hit by a car. He pulled over and checked her pouch, and that is how he found Juliette.

Her mum didn't make it, but Juju, as she came to be known, did. She came into care with Adelaide Hills Kangaroo Rescue and was hand-raised from there.
When she was a bit younger Juju had an accident in the joey run and fractured her arm. She had surgery and recovered well. Juju, in her usual spirit, never skipped a beat.

Juju stayed in care with AHKR until she was weaned. Under South Australian law, hand-raised joeys cannott be released back to the wild, so once she was ready she moved on to her volunteer-run safe sanctuary home, along with her lifelong love, Bruce.

We wanted to share Juju's story because of where it ended up. At a sanctuary.
For joeys like Juju there is nowhere safe to release them in South Australia. A good sanctuary is the difference between one of these joeys having a life or not having one at all. That is why we work so hard to support all sanctuaries, from Eyre Peninsula, to the South East, and the Murraylands, as well as kangaroo rescuers and carers.

When one sanctuary is doing better, everyone is. It lifts capacity, it takes some pressure off the people running them, and it builds a bit of community between volunteers who are mostly doing this on the smell of an oily rag. That matters for their mental health too.

It's the whole village that keeps a joey like Juju alive. The pinky carers, the rescuers patching up fence-hanger joeys, the pouch checkers, and the sanctuaries that give them somewhere to land. Every part matters. It's all of it working together that means a joey like Juju gets to grow up, get well, and end up somewhere safe with some-roo like Bruce. 🫶

12/06/2026

08/06/2026

According to the 2025 government reports one in five South Australian kangaroos disappeared in a single year. And barely anyone blinked.

2024: 5.2 million.
2025: 4.1 million.

That is over a million kangaroos. More than 20 percent of the entire state population. Gone in twelve months.

If we lost 20% of most other species in a year there would be headlines. Inquiries. Outrage.
Kangaroos? Silence.

What is scary is we have stopped noticing. Every generation grows up with fewer kangaroos than the last and just calls it normal. We see a small mob at dusk and think the paddocks are full. Ecologist Ray Mjadwesch has spent years studying this. He puts it bluntly. People only notice kangaroos where they are. They don't notice where they're not.

Meanwhile the commercial quotas keep getting handed out like nothing has changed and over $1m in taxpayer funds spent to kill more in the last 12 months.

One in five. Gone.

📸 Julie Thompson

04/06/2026

🌼🌼Meadow Lea🌼🌼

In September last year we got a call from a gentleman driving back to Macclesfield. He'd stopped to move a deceased kangaroo off the road - and found a tiny joey alive in the pouch. He drove straight to us.

This was Meadow (aka Miss Meadow Lea). ❤️

She came in to our care at around 2kg, blind, with blood from a torn ear. Over the next day or so it became clear her leg wasn't right either. We took her in to see Dr Tina at Barker Veterinary Clinic who x-rayed her and confirmed a fracture. She splinted it carefully and advised us to give Meadow Lea some time to see if her sight would come back.

About ten days later, it did!

Her leg healed beautifully, and that little notch in her ear is still there - you can spot it in the last photo - but it doesn't bother her at all.

From the very beginning, this girl was a cuddlebug. She'd snuggle in and fall asleep looking like she was smiling. (Picture 2 is proof. 😊)

Meadow Lea won't be going back to the wild - she'll move on to a volunteer-run safe sanctuary when she's ready, where she'll live out her life with the love and care she deserves.

We think Meadow Lea's mum was part of a small family group that lived just outside of town - a little mob of five or six that many locals knew well. When the property was sold and new fencing went up through their paddock, several kangaroos were killed on the nearby roads over the following weeks. Her mum was one of them.

Meadow Lea lost everything she knew that night but she also found her way to us and we wanted to give her every chance to have a happy healthy life.

Meadow's treatment was made possible by the generous financial contribution of LAV . 🫶

16/05/2026

While we put together some updates on the Adelaide Parklands, how cute is Bambi? She’s in care with our rescue organisation. We usually stick to highlighting sanctuaries…but….it feels like everyone needs to watch some Bambi video after this horrendous week. ❤️

Thank you to Animals Australia for sharing her story!

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1ErBcgbHNH/?mibextid=wwXIfr

25/04/2026

April 25th is World Veterinary Day and we want to specifically acknowledge our vet team at Mount Barker Veterinary Clinic - Dr Tina, Dr Lucie, and Dr Helene - and also all the vets across Australia caring for native wildlife.

To our vets who have supported AHKR and the joeys in our care, thank you.

The joeys might not know all the people who fought for them. We do - and we're grateful for every one of them.

20/03/2026

Please remember our kangaroos when you hit the polls today. And the native ducks as duck killing season starts.

Vote like their lives depend on it.

03/03/2026

21/02/2026

A message from the heart.

I have been avoiding visiting any social media sites over the past few months due to battles with my mental health, while giving my focus to the joeys we currently have in care. It’s a juggling mission made easier by a wonderful support system ❤️

Yesterday, I opened Facebook to see a post made by a fellow wildlife carer that broke my heart. This carer is one that we have worked alongside for many years now, they have provided support, advice and care for us and many of ours and their own wildlife cases.

Despite all of their hard, dedicated, knowledgeable work with kangaroos, when they shared a heartbreaking story of a Joey that sadly had to be put to sleep after gaining advice from trained vet staff, a person shunned them and wrote some incredibly insensitive comments regarding the intentions of all wildlife carers. That they jump to euthanasia, that they can’t be trusted.

A reminder from us to them:

Permitted wildlife carers are volunteers. All vet fees, food, milk is provided by and paid for by the carer. For kangaroos in South Australia - that is for life.

Wildlife carers do not receive any mental health support unless they seek it via the same avenues you do. There are no resources available that specialise in wildlife related trauma.

The animals that are taken into care are treated the same as many of you would treat your pets. They are family. The moment you receive a call for an injured or orphaned animal your entire soul is devoted to making the best decision for that animal. They will carry the trauma, the heartbreak, the love, the sleepless nights - with them.

Many of us have dedicated their lives to advocating for those that cannot advocate for themselves. It is a selfless, hard, heartbreaking, traumatic, exhausting, payless job. You are the financial and educational advocate for an animal that the Australian Government pays people to kill.

Whoever, wherever and however you support wildlife and animal rescuers - be kind. There are always going to be bad eggs in the world - do not let them take away from the support of those that share the stories that many are too ashamed and scared to share.

Please take the time today to say or do something kind for a volunteer. Whether that be a wildlife carer, an emergency service worker or community support.

In a world where you can be anything, be kind ❤️

17/02/2026

It's been a long and scary day! In the early hours of the morning we were alerted to a grass fire way too close to where we are located.

Moving wildlife can be complicated, so we monitored the CFS page and alert apps and prepared for evacuation if required.

The CFS fought the fire that had expanded into scrub for some 5-6 hours until bombers could come in upon daylight. The ground crews will remain on site for some time..

We are so thankful to the Macclesfield Country Fire Service, the SA Country Fire Service, and all the emergency services and FFU that attended.

Today was a huge reminder that a well equipped CFS means the volunteers are safer and the community is safer. (And less wildlife will be impacted!) From the siren that alerted the entire town to the aerial support.

Also, thank you for all the messages offering support and checking in that we were safe!