Does it make me an SPG if I like white kangaroos more?

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Does it make me an SPG if I like white kangaroos more?

Phin Wong

Does it make me an SPG if I like white kangaroos more?

Appreciating one of nature's rarest beauties in South Australia ... in an increasingly politically-correct world. Words: Phin Wong “Oh my god, how adorable is this white kangaroo?!” I Whatsapp-ed a friend from South Australia, followed by a picture of the albino animal and about eight apt emojis. “Are you allowed to do that today?” came the reply. “Have a preference for an animal based solely on its colour? Are brown kangaroos not good enough for you? #SPG” I’m relatively certain she wasn’t being serious. My friends and I do that to each other a lot: get into each other’s head to the point of complete mental incapacity and debilitating paranoia. Helps keep us on our toes. But she did have a point. We do live in an impossibly politically-correct age where anything one says or writes can be deemed offensive by anyone with WiFi. That and the

Back to my encounter with the … kangaroo unadorned with pigment. It was a hot summer day at Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park (that’s the name of the place, not what I choose to call it based on an uninformed generalisation of its animal population). A dry spell had turned the landscape dramatically brown. And suddenly, there he was, casually posing under the shade of a large tree, resplendent in white fur, like an arctic-bound tourist who got off at the wrong stop. (Don’t wear fur … unless you’re born with it.) These kangaroos are relatively rare in the wild. According to our guide, approximately one out of every 10,000 kangaroos born is albino. And most of them don’t make it to adulthood because (says science, not me) the lack of camouflage makes them easy targets for predators (no judgement — predators are animals too), while sunburn and cancer are also more likely

Some animals even evolved separately from their mainland counterparts. The Kangaroo Island kangaroo, for example, is smaller than the Western Grey kangaroo, and has longer, thicker, often darker fur. Well … most of them, anyway. (Nothing wrong with the ones that don’t conform to our broad stereotypes!) Even today, more than one-third of Kangaroo Island is declared conservation or national park. PARK LIFE Most of the kangaroos here at Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park are orphans, coming in as joeys from road accidents where their mothers didn’t make it. They’ve been hand raised over the years, so they’re perfectly happy to be hand-fed by visitors. (But if they felt the need to build successful careers of their own, I’m sure that would be fine too.) It’s the same with most of the koalas and wallabies here. Most of them are rescues that were brought in needing care

The park now has over 100 species of animals, including a variety of snakes and reptiles, penguins, owls, kookaburras, echidnas, emus and the critically endangered Southern Cassowary. There is also an albino peacock roaming the grounds, but I was less interested in him seeing as I’d already seen one in Jennifer Lopez’s last fight scene in The Cell. (No offense to the peacock. Or to J-Lo… I really liked Jenny From The Block).

THE TRUTH COMES OUT Alas, I fear I can control myself no more. I confess: I do like white kangaroos more! I feel a connection to them ... They kinda remind me a little of myself, hopping from one shaded area to another, overly concerned about sun spots on my pallid skin, perfectly happy for a stranger to feed me by hand. Also — and I mean no disrespect to the albino kangaroo’s pigment-unimpaired kin — come on, the white ones look like giant bunny rabbits! What’s not to love? I love white kangaroos. And I don’t care if that makes me sound like an SPG. Not that there’s anything wrong with being an SPG, of course… The Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park is located along the Playford Highway, near the centre of Kangaroo Island. Visit www.kiwildlifepark.com for more information. Find out more about wildlife in South Australia here.

Source: TODAY

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