More than a quarter of animal collisions on Melton and Moorabool roads involve kangaroos, Wildlife Victoria figures reveal.
Of the 462 animals injured on Melton roads in the past 12 months, 142 were eastern grey kangaroos, it found.
“More surprisingly, 6000 kangaroos [in Victoria] required assistance,” Wildlife Victoria spokeswoman Amy Amato said.
“Many of these were from the peri-urban fringe of our city as the urban sprawl expands rapidly into traditional wildlife territory.”
The eastern grey kangaroo is the second- largest marsupial in Australia. An adult male weighs between 50 and 66 kilograms, while the female is between 17 and 40 kilograms.
Local animal rescuer Nathan Miles said kangaroos could cause “extensive damage” to vehicles and injured animals could be a risk to drivers.
“Kangaroos have no road sense,” Mr Miles said. “They’re very oblivious to cars and can’t comprehend that cars are coming at a certain pace.
“I attended to a call-out in Atherstone. The car couldn’t have been going more than 40km/h, but the kangaroo was stuck under the car.
“If you hit one at a particular speed, it can even kill you and a lot of cars get written off.”
Mr Miles said he had noticed a spike in the number of kangaroo call-outs recently.
In the 12 months to February 2014, 110 injured kangaroos were reported to Wildlife Victoria, but that jumped to 142 for the past year.
“We keep bulldozing land and we’re encroaching on their habitat,” Mr Miles said.
“We had one [injured kangaroo] in Caroline Springs, in the middle of suburbia.”
He urged Melton council to erect more signs in the municipality, particularly at Eynesbury, Rockbank and Melton South, warning drivers of the presence of kangaroos.
Wildlife Victoria responded to 77 injured kangaroos in Moorabool in the year to February 2014 and 84 in the year since.
Ms Amato urged drivers to call Wildlife Victoria in the case of an accident.
“If the kangaroos are not hit badly enough to die, they’re able to hop off, but by the time people find them a few days later, the animals are in a lot of pain.”
Who to call
Call 1300 094 535 for wildlife emergencies. More details are at wildlifevictoria.org.au.
