Aussie property owners warned after 'very rare' find in backyard tank

While finding a kangaroo carcass in a household tank is very unusual, it's more common for snakes to become trapped and cause health risks to drinking water.

Pictures show inside the tank and the kangaroo carcass after it was found at the NSW central coast property.
The routine tank clean ended up becoming a bit more serious. Source: Facebook/PristineWaterSystems

Aussie property owners are being warned to check their water tanks regularly after an "incredibly unusual" find in a backyard tank this week.

Tank cleaners working on the NSW Central Coast say the "unbelievable discovery" demonstrates the serious health risks of not keeping a close eye on your private water supply.

"We never thought we’d encounter this during a routine water tank cleaning… but today, our team found a decomposed kangaroo inside the tank," the team shared on Tuesday.

"The poor animal had been there long enough for bones and decomposing flesh to remain, and let us tell you — it was not a pleasant sight."

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Pictures shared from the scene show the animal had clearly been stewing in the tank for quite some time, with the owners seemingly unaware of the unfortunate contaminant.

Related: Aussies urged to make simple garden feature after 'amazing' backyard discovery

Astonishingly, Glen Gillingham, who runs Pristine Water Systems on the NSW Central Coast told Yahoo News Australia that it's not the first time his team has found a kangaroo carcass in a home owner's water tank.

He pulled a deceased kangaroo out of a 150,000 litre tank a little more than 12 months ago. And there are serious health risks with such a scenario, he warned.

"All the bacteria and everything else that goes along with a rotting carcass ... You wouldn’t normally go out and drink water that has gone through a rotting carcass."

More pictures show inside the tank and the kangaroo carcass after it was pulled out at the NSW property.
Unsurprisingly, it makes the water 'horrible'. Source: Facebook/PristineWaterSystems

In these situations his team typically drain the tank completely and give it a full clean. "There's not much else you can do," he said.

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In that previous case, the tank was embedded in the slope of a hill on the property with the lid at ground level. However the lid of the metal tank had become rusted and weak when Glen believes a kangaroo jumped on it and fell through into the tank to perish.

While a kangaroo is a real rarity, there's another animal that poses the same health risks but it more common to come across.

"More common is snakes in the tank," Glen told Yahoo. "That doesn't take a broken roof or anything. They can get in through the pipes – generally chasing mice or frogs – and they can't get out."

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He recently pulled a deceased three-and-a-half metre python from a family's water tank.

"I've pulled a few pythons out of tanks – they've all been dead. That's just as bad as a kangaroo," Glen said.

"It makes the water horrible."

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