Road kill a Yowie food source?
Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2017 12:13 pm
On a recent trip to Mitchell (near Roma Queensland) in order to interview pig hunters that had a yowie encounter whilst hunting in the scrub, I was struck with the volume of road kill along the Warrego highway. Although this has always been a hazard on Australian roads, being “winter” the numbers should be a lot lower than what I witnessed going to Mitchell last week.
During the interview I happened to bring this up with the two local pig hunters. Both men said that it was always a problem along the Warrego. I asked if there was a clean up crew working the highway?
They said that they had never seen one, to which I asked what happens to the big roo’s on in the middle of the road?
One of them said “No idea what goes on day to day, but mate I seen a big grey dragged off the road into the tree line, by something that looked like a huge bloke….it was dark around 2am and my lights just caught it as I approached. It looked like it was bending to pick this roo up, but then it just dragged it away into the dark”.
On the way there I noted certain area’s where a lot of kangaroo’s had been hit. I also took a lot of video on the way there of the thicker areas of road kill. We stayed in town that night and headed back towards Tivoli at 730am. When we got away from town, going back down the Warrego, I noticed far fewer carcasses on the road. I had assumed that they had been cleaned up by the government roads dept. Then we got the place where they were thick on the road only to find then in worse state but still near were they had fallen.
Where had the other gone I wondered?
And so I began watching the tree line off the roadside (my wife was driving) remembering what the pig hunters had said. Sure enough away from the roadside lip and on into the visible fringe of the scrubline where kangaroo’s, mostly big greys laying there in pairs and sets of three in groups very close to one another. They were too far in to be the work of motorists and in my opinion too big for even a dingo to quickly pull over the embankment only to leave them in groups amoung the shadowy trees.
When I got home I did a little research into this area and came up with this….
Every year close to 2 million native animals die on Queensland Roads.
Qld Highway Wildlife Roadkill Media Release
Last updated: January 22, 2013
A winding paved road the Queensland outback
“Road kill” is a sad fact of life (and death) on highways throughout the State. But the current situation is fast spiralling out of control, particularly out west. Tourists to the outback now commonly refer to the Warrego highway as “the highway of blood and fur.” This is a sad indictment on our road system and hugely detrimental to the tourism industry.
“What is particularly disturbing is the “domino” slaughter that could easily be curbed, if not completely eradicated,” says RSPCA Qld Wildlife Coordinator Janet Gamble. “Currently, animals hit by vehicles often remain on the road for days and sometimes weeks. Other animals are then drawn to feed on the carcasses and they in turn become victims. These are common, not occasional, occurrences and thousands of animals are dying slow and painful deaths.”
Which gels with an account of Yowie activity reported by Tony Healy…
“A FRIGHTENING 1997 yowie sighting in Toowoomba has come to light recently, but Yowie hunter Tony Healy said it wasn't the only sighting around that time.
He said in 1998 a family of migrants encountered a yowie when it ran in front of their car in a suburban area at the bottom of the Toowoomba Range”.
I’ve posted some I.R footage that night drive to Mitchell and you can see the grey roo’s on the road fringe. I used this clip mainly because for the first time since 2012 my wife talks about the West Wyalong encounter with her sister in the car with us.
https://youtu.be/AEb3k2gn2R0
Cheers
During the interview I happened to bring this up with the two local pig hunters. Both men said that it was always a problem along the Warrego. I asked if there was a clean up crew working the highway?
They said that they had never seen one, to which I asked what happens to the big roo’s on in the middle of the road?
One of them said “No idea what goes on day to day, but mate I seen a big grey dragged off the road into the tree line, by something that looked like a huge bloke….it was dark around 2am and my lights just caught it as I approached. It looked like it was bending to pick this roo up, but then it just dragged it away into the dark”.
On the way there I noted certain area’s where a lot of kangaroo’s had been hit. I also took a lot of video on the way there of the thicker areas of road kill. We stayed in town that night and headed back towards Tivoli at 730am. When we got away from town, going back down the Warrego, I noticed far fewer carcasses on the road. I had assumed that they had been cleaned up by the government roads dept. Then we got the place where they were thick on the road only to find then in worse state but still near were they had fallen.
Where had the other gone I wondered?
And so I began watching the tree line off the roadside (my wife was driving) remembering what the pig hunters had said. Sure enough away from the roadside lip and on into the visible fringe of the scrubline where kangaroo’s, mostly big greys laying there in pairs and sets of three in groups very close to one another. They were too far in to be the work of motorists and in my opinion too big for even a dingo to quickly pull over the embankment only to leave them in groups amoung the shadowy trees.
When I got home I did a little research into this area and came up with this….
Every year close to 2 million native animals die on Queensland Roads.
Qld Highway Wildlife Roadkill Media Release
Last updated: January 22, 2013
A winding paved road the Queensland outback
“Road kill” is a sad fact of life (and death) on highways throughout the State. But the current situation is fast spiralling out of control, particularly out west. Tourists to the outback now commonly refer to the Warrego highway as “the highway of blood and fur.” This is a sad indictment on our road system and hugely detrimental to the tourism industry.
“What is particularly disturbing is the “domino” slaughter that could easily be curbed, if not completely eradicated,” says RSPCA Qld Wildlife Coordinator Janet Gamble. “Currently, animals hit by vehicles often remain on the road for days and sometimes weeks. Other animals are then drawn to feed on the carcasses and they in turn become victims. These are common, not occasional, occurrences and thousands of animals are dying slow and painful deaths.”
Which gels with an account of Yowie activity reported by Tony Healy…
“A FRIGHTENING 1997 yowie sighting in Toowoomba has come to light recently, but Yowie hunter Tony Healy said it wasn't the only sighting around that time.
He said in 1998 a family of migrants encountered a yowie when it ran in front of their car in a suburban area at the bottom of the Toowoomba Range”.
I’ve posted some I.R footage that night drive to Mitchell and you can see the grey roo’s on the road fringe. I used this clip mainly because for the first time since 2012 my wife talks about the West Wyalong encounter with her sister in the car with us.
https://youtu.be/AEb3k2gn2R0
Cheers
