RYAN BA­CHOO

Lead Ed­i­tor - News­gath­er­ing

The Zoo Con­sul­tant for the Em­per­or Val­ley Zoo, John Sey­ja­gat, is as­sur­ing the pub­lic and the Zoo’s guests that the Red Kan­ga­roo named “Jack” is not sick, starv­ing or suf­fer­ing.

In a state­ment on Thurs­day, Sey­ja­gat, said re­cent­ly, the kan­ga­roo’s weight and body con­di­tion be­came con­cern­ing to the hus­bandry staff at the Em­per­or Val­ley Zoo.

"Health mon­i­tor­ing in­di­cat­ed that the an­i­mal was not dis­eased and free of pathogens (virus­es, bac­te­ria, fun­gi, pro­to­zoa and worms). Food in­take was nor­mal, and be­hav­iour was with­in lim­its. Ex­cept for the loss of weight, the kan­ga­roo was oth­er­wise healthy. The kan­ga­roo re­mains mon­i­tored for health and be­hav­iour­al changes," Sey­ja­gat said.

He went on to ex­plain fur­ther: "As an­i­mals age, their me­tab­o­lism slows down and mo­bil­i­ty re­duces, re­sult­ing in loss of mus­cle mass. Phys­i­cal wear and age at­tri­tion may al­so con­tribute to re­duc­tion in mo­bil­i­ty, low­er food in­take and loss of mus­cle mass. An age-re­lat­ed low body score does not nec­es­sar­i­ly in­di­cate an un­healthy an­i­mal."

The kan­ga­roo was im­port­ed from Bill Coburn of Wild Acres in San­dusky, Ohio, USA, for dis­play at Sa­fari Park in Ch­aguara­mas. It was a sub-adult when im­port­ed and lived most of its adult ma­ture life at the Sa­fari Park in Ch­aguara­mas. Kan­ga­roo longevi­ty in the wild is about eight years and ap­prox­i­mate­ly 20 in hu­man care.

Sey­ja­gat said the kan­ga­roo was sur­ren­dered to the Em­per­or Val­ley Zoo in Jan­u­ary 2023. At the time it ar­rived at the Em­per­or Val­ley Zoo it was be­lieved to be ap­prox­i­mate­ly 15 years old and "not in the best of con­di­tion."

"The kan­ga­roo was un­der­weight and thin,” he said.  “No med­ical or nu­tri­tion his­to­ry was avail­able for this an­i­mal from Sa­fari Park.”

Cur­rent­ly, “Kan­ga­roo Jack” is housed with oth­er kan­ga­roos in its present en­clo­sure at the Em­per­or Val­ley Zoo.

“While full grown male Red Kan­ga­roos can reach a max­i­mum weight of 180 lbs., this male had nev­er maxed out its growth po­ten­tial and was con­sid­ered av­er­age size for a male Red Kan­ga­roo. Av­er­age weight in cap­tiv­i­ty is about 110-120 lbs," the Zoo con­sul­tant not­ed.