Carlton Set for Leap From Warm Pail to Wide World

Born on a California freeway and nurtured in a bucket, Carlton the wallaroo is healthy now, his brush with danger over, say Sacramento Zoo officials.

The next challenge for the 10-month-old marsupial, who survived after his mother escaped from the zoo and was killed by a truck on Interstate 5, will be adjusting to life with other wallaroos in captivity.

Hairless and hardly larger than a small cat when he was jolted from his mother’s pouch in February, Carlton fairly strutted about at his first press conference Thursday. Zoo keepers looked on proudly as the little guy hopped from one end to the other of his new pen and played with his pal, a rabbit named “Mr. Bun.”

Carlton, who has grown from less than two pounds to more than 12 and now sports a thick gray and white fur coat, will soon join the zoo’s eight healthy wallaroos in their regular enclosure.

Mary Liebmann, one of three zookeepers who cared for Carlton at home during his struggle for life, said she and the others are nothing short of astonished that he survived.

Wallaroos, smaller versions of their close cousin the kangaroo, are notoriously difficult to raise because they are sensitive creatures that don’t like human attention, Liebmann said. Normally, the babies don’t even leave their mother’s pouch until they are 6 months old or so.

But Carlton had no choice.

Late in the afternoon of Feb. 24, his mother bounded over a zoo fence and hopped about a half mile through a residential neighborhood. With zoo workers and neighbors in pursuit, she scooted down a ramp and onto a stretch of I-5 that is named for Carlton E. Forbes, a late Caltrans chief engineer. She was hit by a tractor-trailer rig.

Mother Wallaroo died later at a nearby veterinary hospital, but her baby was thrown free, born into the outside world there on the pavement, although he had been in the pouch for two months. A passing motorist stopped and scooped up the baby, keeping him warm until help arrived.

Zookeepers quickly dubbed the little fellow Carlton, for the freeway. After a flood of initial attention from the media--which inspired Santa Barbara resident Pete Nevin to pen the song for the wallaroo--the keepers set out quietly to save Carlton’s fragile life.

Pillow Hung in Bucket

To substitute for a pouch, they suspended a pillowcase from the lip of a five-gallon bucket. They added a heating pad in the bottom for warmth. Regular applications of mineral oil kept the youngster from drying out. The keepers took Carlton home so they could feed him from a bottle every three or four hours.

Although Carlton overcame minor intestinal illness and eye infections during his first few months, his life was threatened at one point by a calcium deficiency that retarded bone growth. He suffered several breaks in each hind leg and spent two months in what Liebmann calls “wallaroo traction.”

“It looked like there was no hope,” she said. “For a wallaroo not to have use of his legs. . . .” Shrugging, Liebmann didn’t finish the sentence.

A change in diets got Carlton the calcium he needed, and he responded with vigor. For the last several weeks he has been alternating between a shed and his pen next to the wallaroo exhibit, where keepers hope he will begin to socialize with his fellow marsupials.

Liebmann said the ordeal has been both “incredibly frustrating” and rewarding at the same time.

“The way it all started was tragic and depressing,” she said. “But it looks promising at this point.”

So this song’s for Carlton, the baby kangaroo

I’m just one of a million Americans who’s pullin’ for you

And when you get a little older, when you’re feeling strong

Let’s send you back to Australia, in memory of your mom. . . .

--From “Carlton’s Song,” by Pete Nevin