Tag Archive for 'kangaroos'

Kangaroo Nearly Kills Victorian Man

Published on November 25, 2009 in Wildlife. 1 Comment Tags: .

For those that don’t know, kangaroos are wild animals that should be respected because they do have the ability to kill you:

A VICTORIAN man was almost drowned by a kangaroo after he dived into his farm dam to save his pet dog.

Chris Rickard, 49, of Arthurs Creek, is being assessed by Austin Hospital surgeons after being mauled by the 1.5m roo at 9am (AEDT).

He only managed to end the attack when he elbowed the kangaroo in the throat as it tried to hold him under water, The Herald Sun reported.

By then he had already suffered a deep gash across his abdomen as the kangaroo tried to disembowel him with its hind legs, as well as a deep gash across his forehead and further cuts and scratches across his chest.  [Herald-Sun]

Read the rest of the story at the link, but this gentleman is lucky to be alive.  Just last year a kangaroo nearly killed a woman in New South Wales who got to close to one.  I have had my own run ins with feisty males that dominate their mob of kangaroos.  When confronted by a large male it is best just to give them their space and keep your distance.  But as this case shows circumstances don’t always make that possible, but I’m glad Mr. Rickard is alright.

On Walkabout Video: Kangaroo Boxing

Published on May 25, 2009 in New South Wales. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Here is a video I shot near Tom Groggin Station in Australia’s Snowy Mountains of two kangaroos fighting each other:

Picture of the Day: The Unlucky Kangaroo

Published on May 15, 2009 in Wildlife. 0 Comments Tags: .

This had to be quite painful for the kangaroo, it is good to see he was able to pull through:

Melbourne, Australia, May 9, 2009–A
gray kangaroo (pictured) that was shot through the head with an arrow
had survived for up to a week before being found in the southern city’s
outer suburbs.

The injured marsupial, which underwent surgery at the Melbourne Zoo, is expected to recover.

Meanwhile, the conservation group Wildlife Australia has posted an
Australian $10,000 (U.S. $7,600) reward to find the kangaroo’s shooter,
according to the Agence France-Presse news agency.

—Photograph courtesy Wildlife Victoria via AP  [National Geographic]


Wallaroo On the Loose in New York

Published on May 11, 2009 in Wildlife. 0 Comments Tags: , .

There is a fugitive wallaroo on the loose in New York:

Police in New York state are on the alert for a missing wallaroo which has been on the run for the past month.

According to the online newspaper The Oneida Daily, the one-metre tall marsupial escaped his cage in the town of Chittenango, some 400 kilometres west of Manhattan, and has been foot-loose ever since.

The animal was spotted Wednesday (local time) by several motorists in the neighbouring town of Canastota, but a police search failed to turn up the critter.

Authorities urged citizens to take great care in approaching the animal, even though the rogue marsupial was not considered dangerous.  [AFP]

Check out this Good Morning America video for a humorous look at this escaped wildlife fugitive.

Kangaroo Attack Nearly Kills New South Wales Woman

Published on July 19, 2008 in New South Wales and Wildlife. 0 Comments Tags: , .

As cute as kangaroos can be it is important to remember they are wild animals:

 

A 65-year-old woman mauled by a kangaroo on her central western NSW farm is lucky to be alive, with the animal only stopping its attack when it was chased away by the farm dog, her son says.

Rosemary Neal was rushed to Mudgee Hospital suffering facial lacerations and other injuries, after being attacked on her nearby farm on Friday afternoon while checking on horses in a paddock.

Her son Darren said his mother was lucky to be alive after being attacked by the male kangaroo – which he estimated to have been up to two metres tall, and weighing 100kg.

He said Mudgee had become overrun by kangaroos in the past two years, with the animals now congregating on many of the rural properties.

“There would be a couple of hundred kangaroos within a hundred metres of the house, and on Friday night she was just walking down the paddock to check on the horses before it was dark,” he said.

“A lot of kangaroos have just bolted, but the males don’t care, they just stay laying down, they’re not scared.

“The kangaroo has just jumped up and launched straight at her. He hit her once and she just dropped and rolled. My dog heard her screaming and bolted down and chased him off.

“It it wasn’t for the dog she’d probably be dead.”

Mr Neal said his mother was in a “bad way”, but had been discharged from hospital late Friday night.  [AAP]

I’m glad Ms. Neal is alright but I think it is important for people to realize that the vast majority of kangaroos will hop away when approached.  However, occasionally you get a big male kangaroo that is not scared of you and looks at you as a threat to his mob.  I have had this happen to me before and I just walk away from the kangaroo to show him that I am not a threat and he is still the superior male.

Hopefully the kangaroo that harmed Ms. Neal isn’t shot and killed over this because he was just doing what wild kangaroos do.  However, if he is shot and killed I know what they can do with him.

Who Destroyed My Fence?

Published on June 18, 2008 in Crap About Me. 0 Comments Tags: .

I came home the other day to find my backyard fence destroyed!:

intruder-1.JPG

Who could do such a thing!  Click below to find out:

Continue reading ‘Who Destroyed My Fence?’

On Walkabout On: The Taipan Walls & Mt. Zero

Published on December 21, 2007 in Victoria. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Prior Posting: The Mt. Stapylton Trail

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As I began to climb down the summit of Mt. Stapylton, I dropped into another valley, but this valley was quite possibly the most spectacular in the whole park:

These multi-colored rock walls are called the Taipan Walls. A taipan is one of the world’s most venomous snakes, found here in Australia of course, and their color is some what similar to these rock walls:

The walls became more and more impressive the closer I walked towards them:

After passing through the valley I had to climb up another hill where I was rewarded with these view looking back on the Taipan Walls:

From the top of this hill I had to climb down one last massive rock face. After getting to the bottom of the rock face I once again had to break a bunch of brush and then popped up in the Mt. Zero campground. From the Mt. Zero campground I then proceeded to head for the trail leading up Mt. Zero:

As I started walking up the trail I surprised an echidna that was walking up the trail as well. Once the echidna saw me it took off into the brush and then curled up into a ball to defend itself:

The echidnas are one of Australia’s most unusual animals because they are one of only two mammals in the world that lay eggs. The other mammal that lays eggs is the platypus and together these two animals are known as monotremes. Interestingly enough both of these monotremes also have poisonous stingers. The echidnas stinger isn’t usable anymore because it is located so far within its quills while the platypus still can use its stinger, but the poison in both animals is not fatal. These echidnas are actually great to have around because they eat nothing, but ants. I wish one of these guys would move into my backyard where it would find a never ending buffet of ants.

Anyway I continued up Mt. Zero and here is a narrow rock passage I had to pass through:

I continued up to the summit of Mt. Zero and was rewarded with this spectacular view of Mt. Stapylton:

You can see the big rock face I had to climb down to get to the Mt. Zero campground. On the opposite side of the rock face is where the Taipan Walls are located plus in this picture you can see the summit of Mt. Stapylton an kind of get an idea of the path I took to get to Mt. Zero. This picture is really great of example of why the Grampians is the top rock climbing capitol in Australia. Just fantastic rock climbing not only on Mt. Stapylton, but across the entire range.

Here is a view looking towards the west:

The field directly below Mt. Zero is actually an olive farm. The terrain for about another 4 hours of driving west of the Grampians looks exactly what you see here in the distance. Nothing but range land and farms. The terrain really doesn’t change until you reach the Murray River area an hour outside of Adelaide where you have to cross some steep mountains in order to reach Adelaide.

Here is view looking towards the southwest:

In the distance you can see the last peak of the Grampians, Mt. Arapiles which is the singular premier rock climbing destination in Australia. I didn’t have a chance to drive out there on this trip, but I will definitely visit the place at some point.

After checking out the view I headed back down the mountain and back to the campground. Instead of climbing through all the rocks and bush I had to go through on the way here, I decided to take a dirt road back to the Mt. Stapylton campground:

I made excellent time on the road and even had a chance to give directions to some lost Chinese tourists. After walking for a couple of hours I was back at the Mt. Stapylton campground and who else was there to greet me? No not my wife, but the kangaroos:

The wife did have a dinner of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and Pringles waiting for me again which was nice. All in all, on this hike since I deviated from the Mt. Stapylton loop trail and also climbed Mt. Zero I figure I probably covered over 20 kilometers on this hike. I definitely felt it in my legs, not so much the distance but the climbing up and down the rocks, however it was worth it. Just a spectacular day out in the Grampians. Fortunately I still had a couple more spectacular days to enjoy.

Next Posting: McKenzie Falls and the Jaws of Death

On Walkabout At: Grampians National Park

Published on December 19, 2007 in Victoria. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

One of the top holidays my wife and I have taken here in Victoria is without a doubt a trip to the Grampians National Park located in western Victoria. Western Victoria is mostly flat farm country and the Grampians are literally an island of beauty in the middle of the endless rolling farm land. To reach the Grampians only takes about 3.5 hours from Melbourne and this easy access makes the Grampians one of Victoria’s most popular national parks.

The Grampians were first settled by Aboriginals 5,000 years ago, which by Aboriginal standards is quite recent when compared to areas in northern Australia that were first settled 35,000-50,000 years ago. The Aborigines called the mountains the Gariwerd mountains and it became the heart of the Aboriginal culture in Victoria. Due to this Aboriginal heritage the Grampians are filled with Aboriginal art sites which make up 80% of all Aboriginal art in Victoria. The Grampians were first visited by Europeans when Major Thomas Mitchell led a British expedition to explore the area. Major Mitchell was so impressed with these mountains that he named the area after the Grampians mountains in his native Scotland.

The reasons the Aboriginals and Major Mitchell were so impressed with these mountains is easy to understand once you visit the place yourself. The mountains are spectacularly rise from the surrounding farmland in three distinct ranges that look waves of rock in an ocean of farmland. In between each range is thickly forested land with lakes, creeks, and waterfalls. Only the town of Halls Gap which you see pictured above and below is located within the Grampians:

Halls Gap is a very small town, but includes all the necessities you need for a great time in these mountains. Just outside of Halls Gap, make sure you visit the Grampians Visitor Center and the adjacent Aboriginal cultural center. Both facilities are outstanding and worth visiting. If you are not into camping Halls Gap does make a great base to explore the Grampians from. Many hiking and climbing trails begins from inside the small town. As you can see below the white dot represents Halls Gap, which is perfectly located to explore the Grampians from:

  • 1. MacKenzie Falls & Lake Wartook – MacKenzie River Walk
  • 2. Reid Lookout & The Balconies
  • 3. Mount Zero, Flat Rock, Hollow Mountain, Mount Stapylton, Gulgurn Manja Shelter & Ngamadjidj Shelter
  • 4. Golton Gorge
  • 5. Beehive Falls & Briggs Bluff
  • 6. Buandik Picnic Area & Falls, Manja Shelter & Billimina Shelter

My wife and I prefer camping and we set up camp in the remote far northern portion of the range at the base of Mt. Stapylton. At the Mt. Stapylton campground there was a trail that led to an easily accessible rock art site:

This rock art site is called the Ngamadjidj shelter. Ngamadjidj means white-person in the local Aboriginal dialect. The rock art at the site depicts the first European settlers who came to the area.

The first settlers in the area began to log trees and clear the land for farming. Much of the Aborigine land was lost which made hunting and grazing for food more difficult. Aborigines began to starve while others began to steal sheep for food. This gave many settlers the excuse they needed to shoot the Aboriginals. This early colonial history was not good for the Aborigines though things are better now, but still it is sad to see this rock art having to be protected by bars due to vandals:

The Stapylton campground was quite good and had good restroom facilities and even running water. It wasn’t busy either. There was only one other camper in the entire campground with us. However, we had plenty of visitors though, because the campground is filled with kangaroos:

Since we were one of only two camp sites at the campground; we became quite popular with the kangaroos. The kangaroos came right up to our camp site looking for food. This one kangaroo actually unclipped the clips on my rucksack and began digging through my bag throwing things out of it looking for food.

I approached the kangaroo to get him out of my bag and look at this innocent face he gives me:

If you ever wanted to get up close and personal with the kangaroos the Stapylton campground is definitely the place to go. They are everywhere and are very tame. We would have no shortage of kangaroos during our stay at the campground; especially around meal times.

Speaking of meals make sure you check the fire restrictions. When we went there was a total fire ban, which meant we couldn’t use our gas stove to grill with. We were stuck with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and the other non-cooking food we had available, which kind of soured our visit to the park a bit. Good thing we brought plenty of wine though. You can’t beat peanut butter and jelly with wine for dinner. :)

Anyway, I knew the next day was going to be quite exciting as I was set to climb one of the main peaks in the park Mt. Stapylton, which towered over our camp site.

Next Posting: The Mt. Stapylton Trail

Nothing But Love for Kangaroos

Published on October 11, 2007 in Crap About Me and Wildlife. 10 Comments Tags: , .

Near my home their is jogging path adjacent to some nearby bush land where often I can see kangaroos lounging around in the field:

kangaroos-in-a-field-1.JPG

My wife and I have lived in Australia for nearly a year and a half and I can still remember how excited we were to see our first kangaroo. We pulled the car over and stopped along the side of the road for about ten minutes to watch kangaroos hopping around in a field. Our Aussie friends said we would eventually get sick of seeing them, but you know what we still love seeing the kangaroos and are not sick seeing them yet:

Kangaroos Graze in a Field in Victoria

In fact my wife and I love kangaroos so much that we even invite them over for dinner, as the main course:

kangaroo-meat-1.JPG

I have talked about this before, but kangaroo meat is outstanding if you know how to cook it. My wife figured out how to marinate the meat properly and when we grill the meat it is fantastic eating. We still love looking at kangaroos, but after eating a few of them we probably won’t ever look at a kangaroo in quite the same way.

Kangaroos No Longer Considered A Pest

Published on August 24, 2007 in Wildlife. 0 Comments Tags: , .

It may be odd to American to understand why Australian believe kangaroos are a pest. Many Americans think of kangaroos as being cute and exotic animals while Australians consider them pests since they often end up hitting the grill of their cars on the highways here. The amount of road kill on Australian highways is staggering. For example when I drove from Ayers Rock to Alice Springs I counted 37 dead kangaroos in five hours of driving. This is something I do when driving long distances in Australia, I count road kill to pass the time; that is how prolific road kill is in Australia.

I have also had my fair share of close calls hitting kangaroos as well. The kangaroos are really dumb and will follow a kangaroo in front of them even if it means getting hit by a car. So when I see one kangaroo running across the road in front of me, I slow down instantly because I know more could run out of the bush as well. Despite all this though, as an American I still enjoy the kangaroos and have not gotten tired of them yet much to the bewilderment of my colleagues.

However, according to this article Australians are finding more and more uses for their most recognizable animal:

KANGAROOS are no longer a pest but a valuable source of income for rural communities, a new study has found.

Adelaide University PhD student Dana Thomsen has examined the economic and social issues related to commercial kangaroo harvesting for the past five years.

She said that far from being a pest, kangaroos were now regarded as a valuable resource by graziers.

“Commercial harvesting of kangaroos, originally used as a form of pest control to reduce the pressure on grazing lands, is now a significant industry that directly employs around 4000 people and contributes up to $230 million a year to the Australian economy,” Ms Thomsen said.

Kangaroo meat and skins are now exported to 60 countries and the market is growing.

Kangaroo pelts are highly sought after in Europe for clothing, shoes and accessories while kangaroo meat is lauded for its low fat, high protein health benefits.

Some may find this hard to believe considering the cute factor that kangaroos possess, but I actually enjoy eating kangaroo meat and my wife does too. BBQ kangaroo meat is outstanding if you know how to cook it. The first time we grilled it we didn’t cook it right and it came out very dry. Since then my wife has figured out how to properly marinate the meat and how long to BBQ it and the meat has been outstanding. I’m all for eating more kangaroos and I hope one day I can find kangaroo meat in an American supermarket. They may be cute, but they are tasty too.