No, we do not. All our kangaroos and wallabies are hobby farm pets. They all have names, and almost all of them live out their entire lives with us. You may have seen exotic meat, including kangaroo meat, on the shelf in local stores. All of the kangaroo meat for sale, anywhere in the world, is from wild culled sources and comes directly from Australia. Australia exports kangaroo meat and hides to about 50 different countries. In Canada, a kangaroo is a very valuable animal. It would not be economical to breed them for their meat, and in fact there are no licensed abattoirs to send them to for slaughter, even if we were so inclined, which we definitely are not.

We do have more kangaroos at the farm every year. We have been open to the public now for 9 years. We started out with 12 kangaroos. 9 years later we have 54 kangaroos. That’s a difference of 42 animals. That means that on average we have added (rounding) 5 kangaroos per year. However, one also has to factor in the natural attrition of 2 or 3 animals per year from old age and/or illness. That would mean that in reality we are adding about 7 or 8 animals per year. That’s about right. It’s important to remember that kangaroos only produce 1 independent joey per year. Some of our females are elderly and no longer produce joeys, or never did produce joeys. We have a lot more males than females. Male kangaroos do not have joeys. As time goes on, we will produce a few more joeys than we did the year before, but it will still be some years before we reach our goal of a mob numbering about 100 animals. Once we reach that number we will keep our intact males separately from the females, and only a select number of females will be introduced to those males in order to keep up with natural attrition. Almost all those animals will live out their entire lives on the farms. We have rarely sold animals in the past (a total of 6 adult males over the last 5 years) and have no plans to sell any at all in the future.

Our original animals were rescues and came to us out of New Zealand (which they are not native to) New Zealand was in the process of eliminating all their non-native species (shooting and poisoning).  If we had not removed them from New Zealand, they would have been destroyed.  The rest of our kangaroos and wallabies came from other North American breeders.  We keep kangaroos and wallabies strictly as pets.  We do not breed them for their meat or their hides.  Kangaroos outside of Australia are very valuable because it has been impossible to import them from Australia since the 1960’s.  The ones that were outside of Australia at that time could not be sent back.

We do rescue a number of other species.  100% of our parrots are rescues.  We give them a forever home.  We have also rescued a number of sugar gliders.  We’ve also been “gifted” numerous chickens and ducks and a few rabbits by people who think the appropriate way to get rid of their unwanted animals/birds is to boost them over our fence!

Kangaroo Creek Farm is not a charity, nor is it a not-for-profit, or registered organization.  It is simply a family run and owned business.

If you would like a more relaxed and peaceful experience at the farm, then we recommend that you avoid visiting during the holidays and the weekends if possible.  The best time of day to visit is first thing in the morning when we open at 10 a.m.  The animals are at their most lively and still eager for their treats.

No, it doesn’t hurt them, and is the recommended way of carrying them to avoid injury to both the animal and the handler. A kangaroo’s tail is the strongest part of it’s body. There is a rock-solid connection between the base of the tail and the base of the spine. Attempting to move a kangaroo anywhere it doesn’t want to go by any other method may well injure the animal. They have very fragile upper bodies, so carrying them bodily is a bad idea, and cooperation is unlikely. Likewise they have very fragile front legs. Any attempt to lift or restrain a kangaroo by it’s front limbs will probably result in broken bones and/or dislocation. Injury to a hind limb could be a life-ending injury.  One alternative to lifting a kangaroo by it’s tail is to “wheelbarrow” it. This involves picking up the tail and pushing the animal in the direction you want it to go. Sounds simple, but takes some effort. I have actually water-skied behind kangaroos minus the water. Hard to say who is controlling what. Handling an adult by the tail is a rarity and only done when necessary. You might also see us pick a joey up by the tail in order to put it head first into it’s cloth pouch. This makes it easy for the joey to arrange itself into a comfortable position. Eventually they learn to barrel roll head first into a pouch as soon as it is offered to them.