It was an early September morning in 2023 and my partner, Trent, was on his usual commute to work just before 6.30am when he saw this huge male kangaroo lying on the side of the road, still alive, still mobile and with a catastrophic leg injury. Someone had hit this poor boy and left him there to suffer. Trent called me and I headed straight out there.
I immediately called Access Canberra to ask for a ranger to attend so that this boy’s suffering could be ended as soon as possible. I was told that the ranger “just had one job on the northside”, but then would be on their way to me. It being outside of business hours, there was only one ranger available on call for the whole of Canberra.
While we were waiting, this poor kangaroo tried multiple times to get up on his broken leg to try and escape from the sound of the loud cars zooming past. His will to live was so strong. At one point, he had fallen back into the middle of the road which meant I had to pull his poor body back off the road and onto the median strip of this busy road. At this point we had been waiting over an hour and still no ranger had turned up.
By this time, I was in hysterical tears just waiting and watching this poor suffering kangaroo knowing that there was nothing else I could do to help ease his suffering but continue to wait for the ranger to turn up. But little did I know, no one would be coming to end his suffering.
It was now 8.00am, no ranger had turned up, and this poor kangaroo had tried a final time to get up and hop away. I stopped the traffic, ran over to him, and pulled him back off the road. Minutes later, he was dead. He suffered for far too long and he died in fear, pain and agony. Where was the ranger who was supposed to be coming to end his suffering after just tending to one job on the northside? A complete mystery that ended in complete tragedy.
I ended up calling Access Canberra to let them know that they could tell the ranger not to bother coming out here anymore, who even knows if they ever were coming given we waited two hours. There was no apology and there was no explanation for the no show.
This story, while utterly heart wrenching, is unfortunately not a stand alone case. On average, I am waiting over an hour for a ranger to attend to injured kangaroos that I have stopped for. This is not the first kangaroo to have died waiting and sadly would not be the last. It is utterly careless and despicable that during the peak times for wildlife collisions (outside of business hours), there is only one ranger on call to service the whole of the Canberra region. How many more animals must suffer for extensive periods of time? How many more compassionate people must be left feeling completely hopeless and distressed waiting for a ranger who may never show up?
This is precisely why the ACT Government’s restrictions on wildlife carers in the ACT not being allowed to rescue, rehabilitate or even euthanise injured kangaroos must change and it must change now. By allowing wildlife carers to play a role in this space, this will lead to shorter response times and better outcomes for our wildlife and the people that care for and about them.
To all the kangaroos suffering and waiting on the side of the road, we see you, and we are sorry.