Chris Barns, nickamed "Brolga", is an Australian

kangaroo Kangaroos are four marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...

carer. He is the founder of the Kangaroo Sanctuary in

Alice Springs Alice Springs ( aer, Mparntwe) is the third-largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Known as Stuart until 31 August 1933, the name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Alice, Lady Todd (''née'' Al ...

and was featured in the 2013 BBC documentary series ''Kangaroo Dundee''. Barns and the Kangaroo Sanctuary came to international attention when

Roger Roger is a given name, usually masculine, and a surname. The given name is derived from the Old French personal names ' and '. These names are of Germanic origin, derived from the elements ', ''χrōþi'' ("fame", "renown", "honour") and ', ' ( ...

, one of the earlier kangaroos which he adopted, went viral for his muscular physique.

Early life

Barns grew up in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

, in the 1970s and was a shy child who did not excel in school. He partially attributes this to being 6 feet (182cms) tall by his early teens. Barns left home at the age of 17 to work as a zoo keeper in Broome, going to work at several wildlife parks before starting work as a tour guide.

Work with kangaroos

In the early 2000s, while working as a tour guide running tours between Alice Springs and

Uluru Uluru (; pjt, Uluṟu ), also known as Ayers Rock ( ) and officially Gazette#Gazette as a verb, gazetted as UluruAyers Rock, is a large sandstone geological formation, formation in the centre of Australia. It is in the southern part of the ...

, Barns came across a

joey Joey may refer to: People *Joey (name) Animals * Joey (marsupial), an infant marsupial * Joey, a Blue-fronted Amazon parrot who was one of the Blue Peter pets Film and television * ''Joey'' (1977 film), an American film directed by Horace ...

, still in its dead mother's pouch, near

Curtin Springs Curtin Springs is a pastoral lease operating as a cattle station in the Alice Springs region of the Northern Territory of Australia. Occupying an area of , the working cattle station and roadhouse facility is located on the Lasseter Highwa ...

. The kangaroo mother, who had been hit by a car, had been dead for some time. Withthe help of a nurse on the tour, Barns managed to free the 4-month-old joey. The tour group named it Anna (later renamed Palau). This experience made Barns angry about how many vehicles had already driven past the dead mother and not thought to check that she may have a joey. He decided that it would be his mission to tell people about how to check for this. Following this, in 2005, Barns started the first incarnation of the Kangaroo Sanctuary, the Baby Kangaroo Rescue Centre, and many joeys started being sent to him, mostly through a combination of road accidents and hunting. In 2007 alone, 75 joeys were brought into the sanctuary, including Roger on 24 May 2007; it was initially thought he would not survive long. In 2009, after exceeding capacity at the existing site, Barns moved to what is now known as the Kangaroo Sanctuary, funded primarily by donation and entry fees. In 2013, Barns and the sanctuary were featured in the BBC documentary series ''Kangaroo Dundee'', a six-part series which he followed up with the book ''Kangaroo Dundee'' with James Knight. In 2014, Barns married Tahnee Passmore and they share their home with a family of joeys. Barns has said that:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barnes, Chris 'Brolga' Living people Year of birth missing (living people) People from Alice Springs Animal sanctuaries People from Perth, Western Australia