Boof

When Boof arrived at my door, I thought, Oh dear, what an ugly joey!   Most joeys are beautiful little things with huge eyes and ears, and long eyelashes, and the most endearing expressions on their faces….but poor Boof…he was behind the door when looks were given out.  He had little eyes, and fluffy untidy fur, and little stumpy eyelashes.   But, I look after orphans of any description, so in he came.  I soon discovered his plain looks covered a huge zest for life and a fighting spirit.

 

He came into the household that was already trying hard to cope with Hell Joey, and his friend Buckaroo.  By this time that pair were more or less living outside, but he soon got to know them.  On good days he was outside too, although in his pouch, so he was having interaction with his species almost from day 1.  Soon after he came, and had settled in, I got a phone call from another carer, asking could I take her two, Josie, and Captain Midnight.  So arrangements were made, and they arrived shortly after.  Captain Midnight was another wallaroo, like Hell Joey, but unfortunately, he wasn’t well, and died fairly soon after.  Josie on the other hand, fitted in with Boof really well, and they became constant companions.  Josie was so beautiful…she had big lustrous eyes, and just so gorgeous, with not a hair out of place….she would groom herself industriously and often.  Boof just kept on being boof….still plain, and still messy.  He reminded me of many a teenage boy.  Didn’t matter how good the clothes were, and how clean they started off, they always managed to look like something the dog dragged in.  Boof groomed himself too….not quite as often as Josie, but he still did it….all healthy roos do it…..but he still looked unkempt and a mess.

 

But he thrived and grew, and he was soon living outside with the “big kids”.  He coped with Hell Joey and his bullying, and just seemed to take life in his stride.  When visitors would come to the house, all the other roos would beat a retreat away from the house, but Boof would come bounding over to see whether anyone had a bottle….he would sit back on his tail, and let everyone talk to him, and really seemed to enjoy the attention.  When it became obvious that there was no bottle, he hung around anyway….I suppose hope springs eternal….

 

In due course Hell Joey and Buckaroo left, and life just went on for Boof….and when Roobella arrived, he just accepted the fact that they were now three.  Life was never a problem for him.  Then one terrible night I was woken by the noise of dogs barking and the sound of roos hopping round the house in a panic.  It was around 3 am, and at that time of night the roos would normally be quietly nibbling at the grass, or just having a bit of a rest before they start eating again.  But all hell had broken loose.  I rushed outside in my bleary half awake state to discover Nolan rushing round the yard, nose to the ground, in between barks, all the neighbourhood dogs barking frantically, and the roos racing round everywhere.  I called them all, and after a few minutes they calmed down sufficiently to come to me, and I took them all up onto the back verandah while their hearts stopped racing.  It became quite obvious to me that we’d had a nocturnal visitor in the person of a fox, and I thought we were really lucky no one had been injured or taken.  Eventually, things calmed down, and I went back inside.  I couldn’t sleep, because every little noise I was back out checking them.  After sunrise, I went out again, and checked everything out, and discovered that Boof had blood on his throat.  I initially thought the fox had grabbed him, but discovered the blood was just on his fur, there were no injuries evident, but when I went to feed them later, I discovered his mouth was starting to swell.  I’m not sure exactly what happened, but something obviously had.  Over the next few days his whole face swelled up.  Nothing appeared to have broken, but I think it’s highly likely in his attempt to avoid the fox he ran into something (like a tree, or fencepost), or he fell and landed on something hard.  But, typical Boof, he still wanted his bottle, and he still wanted his grass, even though he was having difficulty keeping the grass in his mouth because of his swollen lips….. After a few weeks, his face returned to normal, and he was plain old Boof again.  For a while there he actually looked like a little chipmunk.

Around this time, the fox returned, and took Roobella.  Another frantic night, but he and Josie were unharmed, and he took the loss in his stride.  A while later, we lost Josie too……she couldn’t cope with the new green grass that had sprung up after a bit of rain but Boof coped with her loss, and with digesting the unfamiliar food.  He just accepted the newcomers as they came into care, and also accepted the fact that some of them died.  But it was obvious he needed to go into pre-release, and that he really should have the company of a roo around his size.  About this time I got a phone call from another carer in a similar situation.  If Boof went to her place, he could be able to be released from there, as she lived close to the bush, and the wild kangaroos lived close by, so arrangements were put into place, and the day came for him to move on.  Typical of him, he just accepted everything that happened, and went off in a suitably doped up state, after an appropriate dose of valium for his hour’s car trip.

 

I heard a few weeks later that he had settled in really well into his new home and had made friends with everyone in his new family.  He was still acting cool and laid back, nothing seemed to faze him at all, and he still looked a mess….his winter coat had started to fall out, and he looked worse than ever!  But that was just Boof….