Name: Ringo
Species: Macropus Giganteus (Eastern Grey Kangaroo)
Primary Caretaker: Terrestrial Team, Michael Henson
Diet: Grass, shrubs, etc. (one of Ringo's favorite treats is apple slices, give them to him with a little bit of honey!)
Housed: Terrestrial District Enclosure 5 Currently residing with the Supervisors
"Ringo" is our name for an Eastern Grey Kangaroo that was found in the Utica Grocery Market. We don't know how or where he came from, considering his natural habitat is some way from Oregon. When we first heard of this guy hoppin' all throughout Utica, the supervisors were really concerned about the strange abilities he has.
That being said, Ringo's species originates from Australia! We have no clue how a fellow like him managed to get up here in Clackamas County. We talked about it with one of the Supervisors, apparently they were giving Ringo quite the chase until he reached Utica.
Ringo is certainly one of the more unique Fauna we've encountered over the years, his jump packs quite the punch! It doesn't always happen, but whenever Ringo feels threatened, his jumps will shake up the surrounding area like an earthquake! This can spell trouble for our terrestrial team, he can really cause disaster to strike if he isn't treated carefully. The Supervisors were a bit squeamish about letting us be the caretakers of Ringo, but I would say that we're handling him excellently.
Road near Utica Grocery Market when Ringo was first discovered.
We were first called up about Ringo when all sorts of trouble was happening down in Utica, Ringo was apparently so scared that he caused a magnitude VII earthquake! You could have walked down certain areas of Utica and you would have thought a twister had come through!
Ol' Ringo was found in the produce storage of the Utica Grocery Market with his head in a bag full of veggies. Poor fellow must have been starving. He wasn't too happy when we came to help him, but he became mellowed out after Michael fed him some apple slices dipped in honey.
Ringo was real skeptical about coming with us at first, but he really did seem to imprint on Michael. Gosh, it really was a heartwarming scene when Ringo was following Michael around. It's surprising just how far a tasty snack can go!
When Ringo was first brought into our wildlife center, we discovered he had plenty of cuts and bruises all over his body. I have a feeling that his previous caretakers weren't treatin' him all that well. We asked May about why he was so beaten up, apparently the original owners of Ringo were planning on using him for no good somewhere nearby Utica. May didn't go too deep into details, but I think they were called "Chaos somethin'."
Anywho, whatever they're named I hope I never have to meet them. Gosh, the nerve of some people to abuse innocent critters! It really gets my blood boiling when people treat critters so poorly, I don't think I can bear thinking about what they did to Ringo.
Special Needs and Accommodations!
Ringo seems to be a bit untrustin' of people. Our medical team diagnosed Ringo with a form of PTSD, he'll start shaking up the area when someone he doesn't know comes up to him.
Ringo really only seems to be entirely calm when he is around Michael. And I'll tell you what, Ringo gets really happy whenever he gets to spend time with Michael. It certainly is a heartwarming scene to watch those two get along so well! It really makes all of us at the wildlife center happy to see Ringo is learning how to trust humans again.
EDIT: While we did have Ringo settled in the terrestrial district, we've gone ahead and resituated him at enclosure 5 due to a recent incident. This might just be a temporary solution, we just need Ringo to be seperated while we rehabilitate him so he doesn't cause any major damage to our nice wildlife districts.
We wanted to try and introduce Ringo to some of his own kind, so we decided to keep him in the terrestrial district to give the ol' man a chance to make a friend or two!
EDIT #1: Ringo was a little bit coy at first, but he made a new friend! It's the only other kangaroo we have 'round here, but the two are really hitting it off. We decided to call this other kangaroo 'Buddy' for him being such a good pal to Ringo!
EDIT #2: Ringo… had a bit of an accident today. Ringo was fighting with Buddy over some apple slices, and Ringo got so mad that he started shaking up the whole area. The critters managed to run in and about the terrestrial district, so that really caused some trouble for our terrestrial team.
We've decided that it was for the best that we keep Ringo away from some of the other animals, at least for a little bit. It may seem a tad harsh for us to keep him away from the other animals, especially when he was just starting to make some friends, but we just can't have him shaking up the area like that; especially if it could possibly hurt some of the other critters.
EDIT #3: Well… it seems that Ringo had a bit of an "emotional outburst" today, at least that's how Michael put it. Earlier today, Michael and Laura went out to pay Ringo a visit. Laura told me that she accidentally stepped on Ringo's tail, and the old roo went cuckoo! He started jumping all over enclosure 5. And by gosh, that earthquake that Ringo caused just about ruined enclosure 5. We contacted the Supervisors about the incident and they told us they would cover the cost for repairs, but they said they were sending someone over to discuss Ringo's stability. I'm a bit concerned that we may not be able to support Ringo here at the wildlife center…
EDIT #4: After about a month of discussion, the Supervisors have decided that they were going to be the ones taking care of Ringo from here on out. All in all, we decided it was for the best that Ringo is somewhere the Supervisors could monitor him and control his abilities, Ringo was just too high-maintenance to keep here. All of us at the Wildlife center were present to give Ringo a proper send-off, Michael, in particular, was really beat up over it. Poor guy, I wish I could do something to cheer him up, but at least he knows Ringo is in good hands.