Late night road encounter on Aussie island prompts warning to tourists
An image of a koala startled by an oncoming vehicle highlights the need for drivers to take care on country roads at night.
Tourists who visit Australia are often disappointed there aren’t platypus swimming by the Sydney Harbour Bridge, or kangaroos jumping around the MCG. But those driving around remote Kangaroo Island will often see a koala crossing the road.
But sadly drivers inexperienced on country roads are often too slow to react, and the result is a bloody screaming koala and a dented up rental car. In an effort to warn visitors about the need to slow down, particularly at night, wildlife photographer Phil Bromley has taken an arresting image to highlight the problem.
Taken with a mobile phone, his picture shows a koala that decided to sit in the middle of the road in February as he returned home from the island’s wild southern end. He was turning a corner when he came across the animal, and believes he wouldn’t have seen it if he was doing the 100 km/ph speed limit. Instead of driving on, he pulled to the side of the road and checked it was okay.
“I think the locals understand there is a lot of wildlife. There are kangaroos and wallabies galore when you’re going back to your motel. It could be a half hour or a 45 minute drive and it’s almost impossible not to come across any animals,” Bromley told Yahoo News.
“There’s hardly a time I ever do the speed limit around there. It’s the same around places like Uluru, things pop around left right and centre, and you just can’t do the 100 km/ph speed limit.”
Australia's treatment of koalas in spotlight
Koalas in Kangaroo Island have been in the headlines in March, after it was alleged timber harvesters were killing and injuring the marsupials as they bulldozed trees. While there has long been evidence the practice occurs elsewhere in South Australia and Victoria, the exposure of it on the island led to fears the nation’s image could be tarnished, affecting tourists from visiting.
As a nature lover, Bromley was appalled by the vision he saw of the alleged incidents on Kangaroo Island, and he hopes his photo can save a few of the region’s embattled marsupials. His advice to slow down at night on country roads is consistent with messaging from both government and insurers. But not everyone on social media agrees.
"Stopping on corners is dangerous on country roads and promoting slow driving is also," one person wrote. "The faster you go the less time you spend on the road, less chance of hitting one," another person remarked.
Others welcomed Bromley's message, saying koalas "are certainly on the move at the moment". "If you're visiting or live here, it would be terrific if you understood the plight of the animals," someone else said.
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