I’ve had a couple close calls within the last month, with kangaroos hopping onto the road.
We live in a semi-suburban area with a fair amount of local bushland. There are always Kangaroos grazing in our local residential parks and reserves.
A few months ago, someone at the pub had her car damaged by a deer. A few weeks later, a deer was seen on the side of the road, having been involved in another collision. (Later that day, the decapitated carcass of the deer was seen, some weirdo obviously thought that a head with 12-point antlers would look great in their man-cave).
Last week, my niece claimed that she saw some kangaroos crossing the Princes Highway, even though there was no grazing areas on that side of the road. We were skeptical. A few days later, I saw a kangaroo trying to cross in the exact same location. Most of the traffic had slowed down, but there is always one idiot. Either they were not paying attention at all and were in a hurry, didn’t care about the kangaroo or were actively trying to mow it down. The Kangaroo did get away, but the driver did cross a solid line and run a red light.
This is a combination of Suburban Sprawl encroaching on bushland and farmland and idiot drivers. If a deer or a kangaroo takes out some idiots from bumper, bonnet and windscreen, that is one thing, but if they take out a pedestrian, that is another.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
An insurer is urging motorists to take care on country roads and to call wildlife carers to help injured animals after a “huge spike” in the number of collisions between cars and kangaroos.
Head of claims for Royal Automobile Association Insurance Nicole Cox said accidents involving kangaroos were up 32 per cent in September and October, compared with the monthly average.
Goolwa veterinary nurse Kristin Pearce recently took to social media to urge motorists to stop if they hit a kangaroo after she moved three in three weeks from the same stretch of road in Port Elliot.
Volunteers at Fauna Rescue SA are also reporting an increase in wildlife injured or killed this spring, taking more than 600 calls in September and October.
She said if a female kangaroo was killed in a collision, wildlife rescue groups could instruct motorists on how to check for a joey, what to do if one was found and they would often come and assist.
Darren Davis, of the Get Home Safe Foundation, said people should avoid driving at dusk and dawn when animals were most active, if possible.
The original article contains 529 words, the summary contains 181 words. Saved 66%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
