Wildlife Victoria is called on 24 hours to assess and sometimes euthanise animals who have been accidentally hit by a car like the kangaroo pictured in the Herald Sun (27th January 2010) or have major injuries from other accidents like dog and cat attacks.

CEO of Wildlife Victoria, Sandy Fernee states that "Unfortunately this is an every day occurrence across Victoria and to reduce the need for more euthanasia we need to become more aware of the wildlife that we live with.  This might mean a slight inconvenience to people who live in areas that kangaroos and other wildlife live, that is we may have to drive a little slower on the roads especially between dusk and dawn, however it is a small inconvenience when you consider the inconvenience we humans have caused by major developments going up in the traditional territories of these animals."

Wildlife Victoria volunteers attend to seriously injured animals on a daily basis.  Unfortunately in an instance where an adult kangaroo has fractured legs, pelvis or back there is little that can be done to rehabilitate that animal.  Although the bones can be fixed, the animals often suffer capture myopathy and die in care, however the main issue is that the force they put on their bones as they move through the bush means that that weaker section of the bone is very likely to re-break causing the animal to starve to death or suffer predation after rehabilitation and release.

Ms Fernee says that "our organisation has a good relationship with the police, most police, especially in regional areas are experienced in humane euthanasia.  However we prefer to send out an experienced assessor first to ascertain the seriousness of the injury and also to check the females for possible surviving pouched young.  It is unfortunate that for the sake of safety in an urban environment the officer in the picture had to use a hand gun, we prefer our rescuers to use a rifle to ensure a one-shot euthanasia.  The alternative for this animal was to sedate him and move him to another area or to take to a veterinarian for  chemical euthanasia.  However this causes a great deal of stress to the animal as well and it is sometimes a difficult task to juggle a decision between two options that could both potentially cause a great deal of suffering for an animal."

Wildlife Victoria is available 24 hours a day and our dedicated team of volunteers are used to 2am calls for an animal in distress.  However in some areas our volunteers do not have access to fire arms or in urban areas are not permitted to use them and it is in those instances that we rely on police to support our volunteer service.

It is important that members of the public call on expert help in instances like these, these animals, if they feel cornered or scared, can lash out and deliver serious injury.  For any injured wildlife please call our Emergency Phone number 13 000 94535 (13 000 WILDLIFE).