It was an eventful morning in the parklands late in April when a young male roo was spotted by many park punters, hopping across the tip site!
Although it’s a large park, it’s not a park where kangaroos reside and not an appropriate place for one either. This male was clearly displaced from elsewhere.
Pete, myself, Therese and John were able to carefully follow him into snakegrass where he settled – actually the best place he could have hidden, away from off-leash dogs and people!
I called my Vet who is experienced with kangaroos and has a dart gun, along with another rescuer. We needed to safely capture this roo so he could be released somewhere safe.
Therese and John blocked off snakegrass to prevent people and dogs from walking through. Pete was down in rock circle ensuring the roo didn’t hop into the off leash area – that would have been a disaster!
Although the roo started hopping off into the depths of bushes, we were able to locate him and the Vet successfully darted him.
After 15 mins, the sedation kicked in and he fell into a deep snooze. After an assessment, we found no injuries and he was healthy! It then took four of us to carry him out on a stretcher and drive him back to the top of the park in our vehicle.
He was released to a large area of appropriate bushland where he could wake up safely and hop off freely.
He was roughly a young 4 year old male weighing approximately 60kg – so a relatively small kangaroo!
– Ranger Kim Davis
