Gruesome parcel left on Aussie street disturbs community: ‘Sickening’
Locals have speculated about what led to the bloody parcel being left on the suburban road.
Wrapped in black plastic and left on a suburban street, a southwest Sydney man’s gruesome find has left a community disturbed.
Photos of the object were snapped by local man Chris on Wednesday morning. They show two kangaroo legs tightly bound in gaffer tape. A dark liquid can be seen staining the bitumen at the Macquarie Fields intersection.
Chris told Yahoo News Australia he's lived in the area for eight years, and did a "double-take" when he saw the legs. “Never in my time have I witnessed anything like that," he said.
More than twenty-four hours after spotting the legs, he said he was still feeling "disturbed" and there was one particular detail that has stayed on his mind. "They appeared to be joey legs. Which makes it even worse," he said.
Kangaroo legs mysteriously disappear
Sydney Wildlife Rescue’s Ricardo Lonza drove to the scene after receiving a call from Chris that afternoon. The man had placed the kangaroo body parts on the nature strip to avoid them being run over and then left the scene, but by the time Mr Lonza arrived, they had mysteriously disappeared.
Speaking with Yahoo News Australia on Thursday, Mr Lonza said with the legs gone there wasn’t much he could do to investigate the incident. “I never got to see it, I never got to open up the plastic and see if other parts were in there,” he said. "There was a bit of kangaroo fur and that was about it."
Animal lover's 'blood boils' after kangaroo discovery
The kangaroo body parts were found in a suburb on Sydney's outskirts where suburbia meets farmland. Mr Lonza said it’s possible the legs were hacked off from roadkill or harvested by a licensed shooter, but he hopes it's not "something worse" – like someone intentionally mutilating animals for thrills.
News of the find, which has circulated widely on social media has horrified many members of Sydney’s wildlife community.
“I do hope that this poor roo was not the victim of abuse and torture,” one person wrote. “This is sickening. Makes my heart ache and blood boil,” another person said. “Omg, how? This is so disturbing,” someone else added.
Are kangaroos disappearing from Australian landscape?
Australia currently issues a number of licenses allowing, shooters and landholders to kill kangaroos. It constitutes the world's largest land-based slaughter of wildlife on the planet.
Government agencies maintain the program is sustainable, but many wildlife advocates argue the species is disappearing from the landscape and compare it to previous large-scale wildlife culls that saw the Tasmanian tiger become extinct and koala numbers severely reduced.
While the slaughter is sanctioned by Australia's state and federal governments, overseas the industry remains controversial. Trade in kangaroo body parts has been banned in California and US Congress will soon consider a national ban.
Amid a climate of protest from animal rights groups Nike and Puma both declared they would phase out use of the skins. Adidas is currently under pressure to do the same.
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