Over the past month we have not been alerted to any car crashes or burnt cars in the local area – which is a good thing, so there has been not much to report about in that department. But we have ourselves seen some very bad incidents on the road over the last two weeks.
The ‘horror weeks’ started when we came across the first animal left for dead on the road. On the way from one meeting to another one evening, I discovered a smallish Kangaroo lying in the middle of the road – his head popped up looking around bewildered and afraid – I turned around and went back. Another lady, Francis, stopped and helped me get him off the road. Unfortunately, he desperately wanted to get away and flipped back onto the road. Shari from Tamborine Pet Farmstay stopped and helped to move him back off the road again. We contacted Wildcare who said they would send out a carer. In the meantime, we managed to contact carer Sue Allan from around the corner who stayed with us until Bren Dalby from Canungra who finally arrived to administer the drugs. The poor thing’s leg was completely snapped off, and it was extremely sad the driver had not bothered to stop to at least get him off the road.
The next incident was a Corella left for dead on the side of the road in the round-about near the Bearded Dragon. I managed to retrieve him and organise collection by the RSPCA but he was unfortunately paralysed and subsequently euthanised.
Finally, coming back from another meeting, I came across a Koala lying on Waterford-Tamborine Road left for dead. It was extremely broken. A girl stopped who turned out to be Wildlife Carer Wendy Bateman’s daughter. A man also stopped who had a box for which we scooped up the koala, placing her into the box and then into the car. The whole situation was made even sadder when we discovered her little baby lying dead on the side of the road a bit further up.
Such a terrible couple of weeks for us and just so sad that people leave these precious animals for dead on the road without attempting to render any assistance. But thank you to the people who did stop to help and also to the carers who do such a thankless job at any hour of the day or night!
If you find a sick or injured native animal call:
Wildcare Hotline 5527 2444 or RSPCA 1300animal