With bushfire boring down on the rural Australian community of Wytaliba, Gary Wilson and Julie Willis decided not to flee their home – they had a house full of orphaned kangaroos to protect (1/6) 
As the flames approached, more than a dozen baby marsupials snuggled into fabric pouches hung in the couple's living room, while full-grown kangaroos and other wildlife that had left their care long ago also came back to the house in search of refuge (2/6)
Wilson and Willis defended their home for at least 14 hours with fire extinguishers, water pumps and a sprinkler system on the roof that doused burning embers falling from the sky (3/6)
Preparation and more than an ounce of luck meant the couple's cypress-pine home still stands with the motherless joeys surviving. The Nov. 8 fire that swept through the small Wytaliba community killed two of Wilson's neighbors (4/6)
While Wilson and Willis usually care for joeys rescued after their mothers are struck by vehicles, they are now hosting an increasing number of fire orphans (5/6)
Willis said the joeys, which are fed a special milk formula every two to four hours, will eventually be released back into the wild. Read the full story here: reut.rs/3blGIPC (6/6)
