Your morning adorable: Orphaned kangaroo joeys get a helping hand in Australia

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

These kangaroo joeys, rescued from the recent bushfires in Australia, are lucky -- they’re getting great care from wildlife rehabilitator Annie Williams. (They’d be unable to survive in the wild without their mothers.)

Sadly, many other Australian joeys aren’t so lucky -- many parts of the country permit commercial kangaroo hunting. While adults are the hunters’ targets, the government mandates the killing (by methods we’re sickened to think about) of the joeys orphaned when their mothers are killed by hunters. The rationale, according to government-issued statements, is that the alternative to dispatching the joeys would be to allow them to die of starvation, dehydration or predation.

Animal welfare advocates disagree, pointing to joeys like these as evidence that the babies can survive with help from caring people. An organization called the Australian Society for Kangaroos has taken up the cause (and its website lists ways to help).

More photos of these guys after the jump!

--Lindsay Barnett