By Mikayla van Loon
A kangaroo found itself in a peculiar situation recently, ending up on the top level of the Mooroolbark train station car park.
Calls from concerned community members to Wildlife Victoria and Vets for Compassion saw rescuers come to the aid of the distressed roo.
Vets for Compassion founder, unpaid chief executive officer and vet Elaine Ong was required to attend with a dart gun to tranquilize the kangaroo and relocate it to safety after a check.
“By the time I got there, our rescuers were already there. Three of our rescuers, Narida, Jacquie and Vicki, spoke to car park management and cleverly blocked, with their cars, the exits for the kangaroo, so the kangaroo couldn’t come down because we didn’t want it to get onto the road,” she said.
“They parked far away enough that it wasn’t pushed to the rooftop either where it could jump off, which is what has happened before at Melbourne Airport – one actually jumped off the rooftop and died.
“And because I had privacy, and there was no one to disturb the kangaroo, no cars came up. That was the best outcome, that was the best plan.”
Tranquilizing the kangaroo required patience and quiet so Dr Ong could get into a position where she could dart it safely.
“The kangaroo was looking at me when I first approached, but I couldn’t dart it in the chest, because it was not a big one,” she said.
“So I had to somehow be patient and move from pillar to pillar so it couldn’t see me and then finally, get close enough to send a dart to tranquilize it.”
Thankfully after successfully darting the kangaroo, Dr Ong was able to thoroughly inspect the roo’s health “and fortunately, it didn’t have any injuries”, just slightly worn pads.
The kangaroo was released into a mob nearby but Dr Ong said they’re not entirely sure where it came from originally.
“There’s so much development going on around every part of Melbourne, inner and outer. So in terms of Mooroolbark, there’s mobs in the Lilydale, Mount Evelyn, Chirnside Park area.
“So I guess it got disturbed and ended up lost or took the wrong turn and ended up going up to the roof of the car park.
“We actually don’t know where exactly this mob comes from, but obviously all that area to the north and east is kangaroo inhabited.”
Dr Ong said unfortunately rescues of this kind are all too common not just for Vets for Compassion but for other groups all across the state.
“It’s happening all over Melbourne. Down south in Pakenham there’s people there every day trying to rescue them or put them down because they’ve been mostly wounded or injured.
“Also in the west and the north, Epping, Bundoora, the North East Link is disturbing a lot. So we’re seeing a lot closer to Metro Melbourne, even near the Burke Road, Bulleen Road area, and the Eastern freeway.”
Since the end of the pandemic, with the boom in construction projects, Dr Ong said calls per week have increased from 20 to between 60 to 90 for displaced animals.
“We’re trying to fit a lot of people in the city. We’re trying to fit seven million people here, and naturally we need to build homes and cheaper homes for people to live in. We have the North East Link too,” she said.
“We understand all this. We’re not anti-construction but it’s got to be in the pre-planning stage. There’s got to be thought about the animals that live there, and as best as you can help move them before you bulldoze them.”
Dr Ong said when kangaroo habitat is destroyed often “the little ones go off to die” while the larger ones are displaced.
Instead Dr Ong said solutions like relocation are usually quite successful for families or mobs of kangaroos, otherwise urban design provisions should include green, wildlife corridors to ensure they can move on their own.
“It’s inhumane. This is 2024 we’ve got to do something a little bit better, even build corridors so they can move to green areas safely, if not relocating them.
“Help us help them move away to green corridors. It’s been done overseas. I don’t see why they can’t do it here.”
