Facebook
A kangaroo has been rescued after spending nearly a week trapped down a mineshaft.
The roo was found by Mark Firman, who was running with his dog, Buddy, on Sunday morning.
As they made their way through Creswick Forest, near Ballarat, Buddy suddenly veered off track.
And the pooch refused to leave a spot until his owner came over to investigate, where he found the poor kangaroo stuck in a mineshaft, around 4m deep.
Mark called BADGAR Emergency Wildlife Rescue who sent volunteers, Gary Ward and Michael Sari, to retrieve the animal, who was cold and distressed.
Mr Ward told the Herald Sun, ‘We were lucky the shaft wasn’t too deep for our ladders to get down.
‘There are hundreds of unmarked mineshafts in this area, you can’t see them, anyone could fall in.’
There were scratches on the wall where the 70kg make Eastern Grey kangaroo had been attempting to get out.
He was found to be suffering with hypothermia and a lack of food, and went into shock once rescued.
The three men carried the roo to the car a few hundred metres away, before securing him on a stretcher.
He was then taken to Hepburn Wildlife Shelter where Jon Rowdown and Gayle Chappell performed emergency treatment.
The mud was washed off him and helped to raise his dangerously low temperature.
Luckily, it sounds like the critter is on the road to recovery.
Mr Sari explained, ‘Upon first glance of him, we were very distressed at his futile situation. He was half submerged in freezing, muddy water and alert, so we held little hope for survival.’
‘This boy was one of the very few lucky ones,’ he added.
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
