'Disgraceful': Woman says speeding car killed wallaby and joey found outside school
WARNING – DISTRESSING CONTENT: Wildlife carers say a dead wallaby and her joey were killed by a speeding car just metres from a primary school.
Wildlife Rescue and Carer Shelters – Phillip Island moderator, Kaylene Mendola, was called by locals to recover the body that was found early Friday morning near the intersection of Settlement Road and Watchorn Road in Cowes, Victoria.
Ms Mendola decided to film the scene to demonstrate how the mother and her joey were found on the side of the road in a school zone.
“The speed limit is 40km/h during school hours and 60km/h outside of those hours,” she told Yahoo News Australia.
Ms Mendola is furious in the video, stating that a driver would have to have been driving well over the speed limit to kill the joey hiding in the pouch, as well as the mother.
“How could somebody be going that fast in a school zone?” she asked.
Ms Mendola said that while she was removing the body, parents of the children at nearby Cowes Primary School, thanked her for removing the animal as local school children had become distressed when they spotted the animal on their way to school.
She pointed out the irony of the situation, telling Yahoo she had just spoken in an interview with local media about speeding at that exact location on Thursday.
“This is disgraceful,” she said in the video.
“That this can happen, right near the school,” she adds while showing the close proximity of the school and the site of the impact.
“To kill both mum and baby is absolutely disgraceful, and things need to be done urgently,” the wildlife volunteer said.
Ms Mendola said that after filming the video she “put the joey back into the mother’s pouch,” and removed the body.
“I took her out to bushland,” she told Yahoo News.
She finishes the video by highlighting the terrifying reality that it could have been the life of a child that was taken.
“That could have been one of the students,” she said.
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