Roodunnit?
Wallaby colony on Loch Lomond under attack as macabre killer leaves skinned carcass on beach
SCOTLAND’S only herd of wild wallabies are being targeted by a heartless killer – who skinned one of the creatures and left its carcass on a beach.
A boat owner made the horror find when he took family members including children as young as five to visit the island of Inchconnachan on Loch Lomond – home to the herd since the 1940s.
It came weeks after another visitor reported finding a pile of dead wallabies which appeared to have been shot.
Red-necked wallabies were introduced to Inchconnachan
by Fiona, Countess of Arran. The island is now run by her nephew, Sir Malcolm Rory Colquhoun, 9th Baronet of Luss and the owner of Luss Estates.
Taxi driver Owen Brain, who found the skinned wallaby, said: “I went over with a group of family members, including children aged from five to 14.
“I’ve been over around 200 times and I’ve seen wallabies on many occasions.
“They are often about just around dusk and I thought we might be a bit early on this occasion – but I certainly didn’t expect to see one skinned.
“The animal’s head was down to the bone, as though it had been bitten or pecked at, but the flesh was still on the bones everywhere else so the death must have been recent.
“I initially thought some hooligan types with an air rifle would be the likely culprits but I have to say it’s a mystery.”
Owen said he had spoken to the boat owner who found a mound of dead wallabies.
He added: “The other chap said it looked like the wallabies had been shot, which pointed to a possible cull.
“It is possible that some people have come on to the island and shot the wallabies.”
Owen, 50, from Glasgow, said he reported the grisly find to the Loch Lomond & the Trossachs National Park authorities, who passed it on to landowners Luss Estates.
They have expressed concern over the free access allowed to campers on Inchconnachan, which can result in boozed-up neds spreading litter and damaging the island’s ecology.
In 2009, visitors to the island reported finding one wallaby shot dead and the charred remains of several others.
At the time, the factor for the 103-acre island described the deaths as a “disturbing” development and suggested the blame lay with unwanted intruders.
The wallabies are rarely seen, emerging only early in the morning and in the evening to drink from the loch.
The animals grow to 3ft tall and hop on their hind legs like kangaroos.
Inchconnachan’s habitat is very similar to their native Tasmania and by 1993, there were an estimated 125 living on the island. Yesterday, Luss Estates confirmed they were aware of the latest deaths.
A spokesman said: “There is unregulated public access to the islands in Loch Lomond, fostered by the right to roam and wild camping legislation.
“It is not uncommon to note a considerable number of tents and associated personnel, on Inchconnachan island in particular, at any one time, notwithstanding the high conservation status of the islands. Given the high conservation status of the islands and damage to the flora and fauna caused by unregulated and unsustainable levels of public access, Luss Estates actively canvassed the Loch Lomond & the Trossachs National Park to include the islands in the recent bye-laws introduced to manage wild camping on the west bank of Loch Lomond, to no avail.
“The islands are being overrun with unregulated access.”