'Absolute cruelty': Bystanders blasted for 'ignoring' badly injured roo
A badly injured kangaroo was left to die in the middle of a busy bike path in South Morang, north-east Melbourne, a wildlife carer claims.
Krysti Severi from Victoria’s Rescue Rehabilitate Release received two calls from concerned locals about the hurt animal, who had spotted him from a passing train.
“You could see where he had been struggling for hours trying to get up,” Ms Severi posted on Facebook, along with heartbreaking images of the suffering roo.
“He had worn down fur on his paws and his toes in his desperation to get up [and there were] scratches in the concrete,” she added.
Ms Severi, a part-time wildlife rescuer, said she was shocked that only two people had contacted her about the kangaroo laying in the middle of the busy footpath.
“I just cannot believe that not one person rode that bike path today, not one person went for an early morning walk,” she wrote.
”Not one other person, apart from the two people who called me didn’t see him from the train?” she asked on Facebook.
“He was in plain sight,” Ms Severi told Yahoo News Australia, adding that the path the roo was on received heavy foot traffic.
“[The footpath is] used a lot to commute between two major train stations, people walk their dogs there, people use it to jog and cycle, someone would have seen him,” she insists.
When Ms Severi arrived on the scene she was heartbroken, the struggling kangaroo was barely alive.
“He was salivating, he had defected himself and worn off fur from his paws where he had struggled over and over to get up,” she said.
Ms Severi has been a volunteer for three years and suspects the roo was hit by a car and had travelled on adrenaline for about 30 metres before collapsing.
“They usually try and find shelter after they have been injured but he just couldn’t make it,”
Seeing the kangaroo at the very end of his life, the wildlife carer knew she had to make his last moments as comforting as possible, and placed a blanket over his head before euthanising him.
She posted the images to Facebook because it was “absolute cruelty leaving him there, kangaroos deserve a voice, I needed to tell this kangaroos story [sic].”
“Rest now beautiful boy. I'm sorry you had to suffer for so long and I'm glad Kristi could help end your suffering. Be free now,”one person responded.
“This makes me so angry, I can't believe how people just ignore things like this these days,”
“The older I get, the less I can tolerate people, how hard would it be for someone to call this in so the animal could get aid?” one person asked.
Ms Severi told Yahoo News that if the public ever come across the same situation, there is always someone to call.
“Call your wildlife rescuers in your state, jump on social media and ask for help, at the very least call your local police station, they may have a list of wildlife volunteers you can call,” she said.
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