Council workers scouring remote bushland for a highly invasive weed leapt into action last week after making a startling discovery wedged between rocks. Staff from Lake Macquarie council in NSW were working to protect native plants from lantana when one of the team “saw something moving out of the corner of his eye”.
A closer look revealed that the figure was an “obviously distressed” wallaby that had somehow found itself stuck between two large mossy rocks.
“It had clearly been there for quite a long time. It was struggling to get free, and so we tried to give it a gentle nudge, but there was no reaction,” Rezak Boudjema, a site supervisor for the council’s Natural Areas Project Team, said.
“There was this thought: ‘Oh no, it’s got a broken leg or a broken back or something’.”
Photos show the wallaby firmly wedged between the rock masses as a volunteer with Hunter Wildlife Rescue tends to it.
The woman first “covered the wallaby’s head to minimise stress”, Mr Boudjema said.
The council team and volunteer then worked together to “gently” wriggle the adult male free.
It was then placed in a large plastic carrier and hauled out.
“It was a two-person carry, and it took about 20 minutes to get it out because there’s no defined tracks in there — it’s pretty rough bush,” Mr Boudjema said.
“I’m really proud of the effort, which showed great teamwork and cooperation.”
The animal was stuck between rocks and took more than 20 minutes to be freed. Source: Lake Macquarie City Council
Wallaby on the mend after distressing ordeal
The wallaby was rushed to the Animal Referral and Emergency Centre at Broadmeadow, where it underwent X-rays.
Miraculously, it didn’t have any broken bones.
The animal was then handed over to a specialist marsupial carer, who named him after the suburb he was found in — Valentine.
The title seems especially fitting since the wallaby was found just a few days before the romantic holiday, Mr Boudjema said.
Valentine is “recovering slowly” from the ordeal, with “the ultimate goal of being released back in the wild”, Hunter Wildlife Rescue Vice President Kerry Walker said.
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