Aussie swimming great Giaan Rooney reveals how a beloved family member had to be castrated in shocking medical emergency

Former Olympic swimmer Giaan Rooney has revealed the shocking circumstances that led to her family's pet wallaby Wiz being castrated.

The 41-year-old mother of two sold her luxury Gold Coast property in 2021 to take up a life as a macadamia farmer with husband Sam Levett.

Last year, the family started taking care of a young wallaby that they named Wiz after the animal appeared in front of their car one day.

Over the past seven months, Wiz had joined a mob of other wallabies on the farm and had seemed 'healthy and robust' until very recently.

'Even when the 'kids' leave home they still get themselves into trouble don't they?!?' Rooney posted to Instagram.

'Every few weeks I do a welfare check on him, as he still allows me to check him over, give him a scratch, remove any large ticks while he eats some berries - it is such a joy!

'But this particular check stopped me in my tracks as I could clearly see that Wizz had damaged his scrotum sack… badly… either from a fight or a fence.'

Rooney shared a series of photos of the marsupial's inflamed scrotum - and issued a 'trigger warning' for males.

'I managed to get onto some incredibly compassionate wildlife vets who saw the need to medically intervene ASAP and we hatched a plan,' she went on.

'On Good Friday, we darted (sedated) and castrated Wizz on our back table, removing the damaged and infected tissue to ensure his survival.

'He recovered in his old kennel on the sheepskin that was in his pouch for 12 hours then busted out. We found him eating grass on the lawn like nothing had happened!'

Rooney was happy to announce that Wizz now seems completely unaffected by the entire drama and has been accepted back into the bob of other wallabies.

The champion swimmer even thinks Wizz might have become a dad before he was castrated.

'I love seeing him with his ‘girlfriend’ who is the same size as him & has a Joey in her pouch,' wrote Rooney.

'It’s probably unlikely but I really hope he did become a Dad before his manhood was removed.'