One of the things I love most about being in the country is the native wildlife. I cannot share the farmers general view that kangaroos, wallabies, wombats etc are a problem and should be treated as vermin.  Bunnies are cute.  Foxes are an evil problem as are wild pigs. These are feral animals that were introduced and as we know, should not be here. Our native animals on the other hand are the original animals of our land and I feel have just as much right to the pastures as the cattle and sheep.  I would not be popular should I voice this opinion at our local pub down the road however.  I can understand the attitude of most farmers who struggle to get good grass for their herds and I understand their anger when a mob of roos come onto their land and chomp away at grass that is there to be eaten by their herds. I still have this excitement though every time I see a mob of roos about the place or a wombat waddling across the road.

This is unfortunately where I get very upset.  The thing I hate most is when I am driving along and find a roo or wombat dead in the middle of the road.  I just cannot go past it and leave it to be run over and squashed by numerous cars and trucks who either don’t see it or don’t care about it lying there.  I have to stop and drag it off the road.  I have bought a box of disposable gloves and if I see a dead animal on the road, I stop, put a pair on and pull the animal off the road and onto the verge. If its fresh, I try to see if there is a baby in the pouch as well.  I have had a small amount of experience with baby native animals but sadly, they are very hard to keep alive and to survive, unlike domestic baby animals.  You really have to know what you are doing.  They are very fragile. Echidnas are a prickly problem.  They waddle forth across roads without the slightest notion of danger.  It is not possible to pick them up for obvious reasons, so the best way to get them out of harms way is to use ones foot to push them off the road. You kind of gently “dribble” them off to the side.  Another native is the Blue Tongued Lizard who just loves to sun itself on the road most frequently in early Spring when the roads are warming up and the temperature has risen.  They aren’t the most obliging of reptiles to be taken to safety. They are most indignant about being moved out of harms way.  They hiss and spit and open their beautiful blue mouths to try to scare  their “attacker” away. Pushing them with a long stick is the best way in this case and eventually they accept defeat and slither off into the undergrowth beside the road.

It is inevitable that there is going to be road kill.  There are so many big logging trucks etc up here and it would be so dangerous for them to stop for wildlife on the road.  I just feel sad when I see a dead native animal,  so that’s why I stop and move it.

These little ones were on the side of the road as I came home the other day.  They just looked at me as I stopped the car and stared as if to say “What?  What do you want?” and then hopped away under the fence.  I just love them!