Wild animals deserve to be treated with respect and compassion, but sadly there are many cases of people being heartbreakingly cruel to wildlife.
One recent situation has left animal lovers in Australia outraged, as several kangaroos have been struck by arrows by locals, leaving them to die in pain.
On Friday, Liz Miller of Wildcare Australia was contacted by the RSPCA about an eastern grey kangaroo found on a golf course in Kooralbyn.
The kangaroo had an arrow in its shoulder, and was laying in agony. “It was really very obvious he was in immense pain, and it made me very angry,” Liz told Yahoo News Australia.
The poor kangaroo was sedated and brought to a veterinarian to have the arrow removed.
Luckily the animal survived… but other kangaroos haven’t been so lucky. This is just the latest in a recent spike in cruel kangaroo shootings.
Just ten days earlier, two kangaroos were found shot with a bow and arrow, orphaning a five-month-old joey.
This kangaroo was believed to have been shot by an amateur from the suburbs. Experienced hunters aim to kill their targets as quickly and painlessly as possible, but this person left the kangaroo to bleed out, sentencing it to an agonizing death if it hadn’t been found.
“They tend to be shot in the leg or just somewhere where it’s going to linger and then the wound festers,” Michael Beatty of RSPCA Queensland told Yahoo. “Eventually they die from blood poisoning or infection.”
Cases like this have become heartbreakingly common, coinciding with a loss of habitat that has pushed more kangaroos to the suburbs.
“It makes me very, very angry,” Wildlife Care WA volunteer Lyn Manuel told 7News.
“I’m disappointed to think there are people out there that have no conscience, no remorse and would go out and inflict pain in such a cowardly way on such an innocent creature.”
But the culprits could face punishment. The Queensland RSPCA has put out a call for information about the case. According to 7News, the culprit faces a $50,000 fine for the crime.
We hope the culprits are caught and face justice for hurting these poor kangaroos! Spread the word by sharing this story!