RSPCA INVESTIGATES AFTER WALLABIES FOUND MUTILATED
RSPCA launches investigation after butchered animals found in drain
MUTILATED wallaby carcasses have been left to rot in a stormwater drain at Mareeba.
The RSPCA is investigating whether the two marsupials were killed before or after their legs were butchered, possibly by people supplying meat for pet dogs.
A Mareeba woman, who did not want to be named, stumbled across the grisly sight along Ray Rd earlier this week, and said she was horrified by the find.
“I know that people eat kangaroos, and things like that – but you don’t just butcher wildlife and then dump it in a residential drain,” she said.
“The wallabies were still there this morning, and they’re now quite decomposed.”
The dead wallabies were reported to both Mareeba Shire Council and the RSPCA, which confirmed it was investigating the incident.
The woman believed the animals may have been killed on Sunday night, given their state of decomposition.
“It’s quite possible that someone has deliberately hit these animals, in order to take dog meat,” she said.
Mareeba based wildlife carer Roslyn Goldsmith said Ray Rd was a hotspot for agile wallabies, which were frequent victims of vehicle strikes in the area.
Ms Goldsmith, who cares for up to nine wallabies at a time, described the mutilation as a “lowdown, dirty act”. “It’s so inhumane,” she said. “It takes a real dirty, rotten, stinking person to do something like that to them.”
The Agile Project co-ordinator Shai Ager, whose conservation group is attempting to relocate agile wallabies from Trinity Beach to a private sanctuary, was appalled by the case.
“It’s absolutely disgusting to think there are people who think it’s okay to do something like that to an animal,” she said.
“It causes so much distress to the public, and also to the authorities and the RSPCA.”
She said wallabies were a native species, that deserved to live a peaceful life in the wild.
“Humans and animals need to learn to coexist together,” she said. “There is no reason for us to do these horrible things to the animals.”
editorial@cairnspost.com.au facebook.com/TheCairnsPost www.cairnspost.com.au twitter.com/TheCairnsPost