Sunday, August 22, 2021

Kangaroo politics

We've had this old boomer hanging around the house lately. I wrote a post about him chasing the dog along the bottom track. She's also bailed him up in the bush between the house and the inlet. It seems he hangs out in this liminal zone. When I first saw them together, the dog was howling at him and he had up his boxing paws and neither animal could work out who had the upper hand. Every time I've seen them together, they are trying to negotiate power structures and kinda failing.

Sometimes, early in the morning before I get out of bed but after light has filled the house, I can hear the splashing of an animal crashing through the shallow waters of the inlet. Experience tells me it is my dog chasing that boomer roo into the water. I'll put on my boots and run down to the shore, call her back. I'll see her swimming in circles around the old man kangaroo, who is sitting low in the water with just his head emerged. And she'll come back, my dog, shaking the briny from her hackles.

Anecdotes swarm of kangaroos that lead dogs into dams, swamps and rivers, and then drown them once the dogs are out of their depth. People I know have told me of this very occurrence, of seeing it happen right in front of them and not being able to do a thing. It seems my dog and this old boomer have a relationship that I don't totally understand. I've been so worried about what might happen when I go to work, leaving my dog at home. I'm worried that I'll find her dead or drowned on the shore, or that this bush dog has gone one step too far and killed the old boy.

A neighbour had a chat with me on the beach the other day (yes I have a neighbour now). Apparently he's seen this same old boomer walk out into the water and sink down, so that just his snout is showing above the water line. 'I've never seen anything like it,' he said. 'Maybe he's trying to get rid of ticks?'

'So my dog wasn't chasing him in?'

'Nope.'

'Right.'


 

13 comments:

  1. It appears that this kangaroo goes into the inlet each morning to rid himself of parasites as a self care exercise. Has anyone else heard of this?

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  2. Wow. I've never heard of that. I don't know how effective that technique would be. From my experience with ticks they are really hard to kill and the bastards can probably hold their breath for ages!

    I hope Selkie and the old boy can sort theor shit out without coming to blows. On the other side of this I've seen a dog chase a kangaroo into the water and drown it, but it was a much smaller roo. The roo went under and the dog just circled and barked - having a great time. Until the roo stopped coming back up. I couldn't do anything. It was horrible to watch. Especially as the couple who owned the dog were hungover and sunning themselves on the rocks, not responding to my yelling at them to control their dog. Stoners.

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    1. I've seen that too, but both roo and dog were fighting. I wasn't stoned or hungover by the way. It was just really distressing all round.

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    2. Hey I wasn't insinuating you were stoned Sarah. Not at all. I was annoyed with the couple in my story who were and not calling their dog back.

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  3. This is a similar sort of encounter with a dog and the wildlife in our part of the world. Naughty Fenton.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GRSbr0EYYU

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  4. I don't live in the land of Kangaroos, so I have no idea of their behaviors. I do love reading about them though, and this is such a great perspective. I hope your dog stays safe, and that the two of them are just playing territory games and nothing dangerous happens for either of them.

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  5. Drowning would be a horrible ending for the dog or roo. Ticks are hardy even in our snowy winter climate. During the winter with snow on the ground, if the outside temperature reaches 40 degrees in the sunshine ticks emerge. Our Canada geese are covered in ticks and they are in the ponds, yet the ticks survive.

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    1. Interesting ... I've seen local marsupials covered in ticks. I wonder if they are native to our country?

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  6. Kangaroos can be surprising. We had an old boomer who'd hang out at our place by the sea with us while we gardened and eventually came to die in our garden - old age, allegedly. We used to wonder how he got to the other side of the village, beyond the estuarine creek we backed onto, and lo, we saw him one day leave our garden at a low tide and make his way slowly across to the other side. Mystery solved.

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    1. Yes they are surprising, and from what I've seen, perfectly comfortable with going into the water. Emus do it too.

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