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HR21 rescues ‘Ledge’ the lost roo

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HR21 rescues roo

24 Oct HR21 rescues ‘Ledge’ the lost roo

Posted at 15:15h in NiftyLife, Products by

A Nifty gets brought in again to rescue wildlife

It was an extreme mission to rescue a kangeroo spotted stuck on a tiny ledge 20 metres above trains tracks in Melbourne recently.

After getting calls from several train drivers, Wildlife Rescuers volunteers were brought on to the scene at South Morang. “I don’t know how you could really put it into words, but holy s**t is probably a good way to do it,” the vice president of the not-for-profit organisation told a TV reporter.

The kangaroo was spotted on a small ledge at the McDonalds Road overpass in on Wednesday morning. No-one knows how it got there but it could have gone up the retaining wall which is lower further along the track.

Rescuers theorised – “He must have got scared by a train and just hopped along the fence line, which has led him to continue going up there — as kangaroos can’t just easily turn around — until it’s gotten narrower. Then landed on that ledge and realised ‘oh I can’t go anywhere now’.”

First rescue ideas

The team tried a few different tactics as it was in a very precarious  position.  The rescuers required some assistance from SES Whittlesea and Metro Trains, who had to close down the train line. What followed was a very long and complicated 12 hour rescue mission.

The team decided to sedate the animal as it was getting nervous with all the people watching. They were worried he would jump off the ledge and had a net to break the animal’s fall. The team were also worried that the sedative would make the animal fall off the narrow ledge.  Luckily that didn’t happen.

Bring in a Nifty HR21!

The only safe way was to bring in some specialist equipment in the shape of a Nifty HightRider 21. Able to travel over the train tracks and fit into the tight space it was the only machine for the job. Both a Wildlife Rescuers volunteer and a Metro Trains worker went up in the cherry picker to drag the animal into the cage and lower it safely to the ground.

Finally at about 1am, he was safely taken down and taken to an animal shelter an hour later. “I’ve never done anything this extreme, it’s probably one of the hardest rescues I’ve done, and I’ve been rescuing for about 10 years,” hero Andrew from Wildlife Rescuers said. “It was so nice to get the news that he was up and starting to move around.

Named Ledge after his exploits the roo has made a full recovery.