MOTORISTS are being urged to take care on roads across the peninsula after a mother kangaroo, her at-foot joey and pouch joey were all tragically killed in the one incident in Merricks North last week. The incident occurred along Balnarring Rd near the Jackalope Hotel, early on the morning of 26 February when the kangaroos were struck by a passing vehicle on the 80kph stretch of road and left for dead.
Belinda Eden, vice-president of the Mornington Peninsula Koala Conservation, raced to the scene after being alerted by a distressed local about 7am where she initially found an eastern grey kangaroo and her at-foot joey dead on the road. But as she attended to the mother, she said, “I just looked at her pouch and I could see that there was a joey in there so I couldn’t move her straight away because I didn’t want to injure the joey”. “It was so young and known as a pinky because they’re pink and hairless” she said. “It was well and truly alive,” Eden said, as she managed to carefully cut the joey free from the pouch, which was still attached to its mother’s teat, before waiting until the nearest vet clinic to open – but sadly, the joey was unable to be saved and had to be euthanised. Eden said it was “a really tragic situation” and urged drivers to exercise more caution in areas where there was high wildlife activity.
According to the Mornington Peninsula Koala Conservation group (MPKC) and Save the Kangaroos on the Mornington Peninsula (SKOMP), more than 50 eastern grey kangaroos and swamp wallabies have been killed between October and December last year – a figure they said was “extremely concerning”.
From October to February, a further 18 koalas had been killed by vehicles across the peninsula. One “incident hot spot” was at the Westernport Hwy, near the turn off to Tyabb-Tooradin Rd, which has seen seven koalas being struck and killed in the past 12 months, including two deaths in 24 hours last week.
Eden said the increased frequency of wildlife road fatalities had raised alarm, adding she was in disbelief that the family of kangaroos she tried to save had been “left on the road like rubbish”. “We have to educate people to let them know we’ve got wildlife in the area and that between dusk and dawn is particularly a hazardous time when you’re driving, and you should drive with the expectation something will appear,” she said.
Eden encouraged all drivers to “slow down” and “if you’re involved in a vehicle strike, or come across an injured animal on the road, pull over safely and check on the animal’s welfare and always call for help, even if the animal manages to leave the scene”.
“Often kangaroos and koalas will move away but have significant injuries. If they aren’t checked, they will die a slow and painful death. It’s also important to note that when one kangaroo crosses the road it is most likely that another, a young joey, will be following.”
Eden recommended people call Wildlife Victoria, a 24/7 wildlife emergency response service, on (03) 8400 7300 and keep local wildlife carer details in their phone. Eden said while driver awareness was important, the rising road toll had been attributed to habitat loss due to land clearing and trees being taken down on public and private property rendering animals homeless. A situation she believed was due to “lax” planning laws and loopholes.
She said another issue was that the peninsula was currently without a dedicated wildlife hospital that operated 24/7. The MPKC and SKOMP hope authorities would start incorporating wildlife messaging into road safety, noting that while signage in koala and kangaroo hot spots had helped, as has the successful lobbying to drop the speed on Cape Schanck Rd, more needed to be done and they intended to soon meet with the Mornington Peninsula Shire to discuss a range of measures. “Wildlife should not be an afterthought. We will keep advocating for them, because the peninsula is their home, and they should be safe from these ongoing pressures,” the groups said.
First published in the Mornington News – 11 March 2025
