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I was originally picked up by a ranger in suburban Canberra, the National Capital of Australia, after my mother was knocked down and killed by a car. That was back in July 2000. Luckily, the ranger checked my mother's pouch and found me. I was in a very bad state. Mum was dead, and I had suffered some injuries as a result of her collision with the car. I was also very frightened which was causing me some stress.
 Back then, I weighed 1.5 kilograms and was totally reliant on my mother to look after me. You can see how tiny I was.
In Canberra, the RSPCA Wildlife (ACT) co-ordinates with the rangers to look after injured and sick wildlife. I knew that I was in good hands when I was passed onto them - they have an injured wombat as their mascot.
Within hours of being picked up, I found myself in the care of Donna (a registered wildlife carer) and her husband John, who live in one of Canberra's suburbs. When I was left with them I was asleep and snug, wrapped in a woolen pouch with a hot water bottle to ensure I didn't get chilled. But being a nocturnal animal I was awake at 2am and started to move around, waking my new foster parents with all my rustling - that was how I was christened with my name - Russell.
You would think that I was safe and on the road to recovery - but I wasn't out of the woods just yet...
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