Wildlife volunteers have been praised after rescuing four kangaroos that spent at least a day trapped in an uncovered mineshaft near Trentham.
The two-hour operation began after bushwalkers noticed the nose of a kangaroo appearing from a hole in Wombat State Forest about 6.30pm on November 22.
The team from Five Freedoms Animal Rescue was called to help pull the native animals to safety.
Operator Manfred Zabinskas said he was amazed that the kangaroo had been able to get up high enough to be seen.
‘‘It was really weird because that shaft was five to six metres deep,’’ he said.
‘‘Basically they were just walking through the forest and they saw this kangaroo’s nose poking up from the hole.
‘‘They went to investigate and found there were three other kangaroos down there.’’
Mr Zabinskas said the incident was made more unusual because the mineshaft was partially covered by a fallen tree.
‘‘It’s not really in an open position,’’ he said.
‘‘It’s almost like the kangaroos went for shelter under this fallen tree and they’ve slipped in.
‘‘How all four have slipped in is beyond me.’’
He said the kangaroos’ condition indicated they had been down the shaft for at least 24 hours.
‘‘They were pretty beat up. Falling that far to start with is a bit of an issue.
‘‘The biggest problem we had was that one of the kangaroos was really large, a male about 80kg, and he was jumping to try and escape.
‘‘It looks like he’s landed on top of the other kangaroos each time he did that.’’
A female kangaroo had to be euthanased due to serious injuries including a broken tail, exposed bone and damage to internal organs.
‘‘A joey’s got a few broken bits including wrists and ribs, while the other male seemed to have mostly superficial injuries.
‘‘They’re now being taken care of and we’re reasonably confident they will do OK.’’
The rescue prompted an outpouring of support on social media, with animal lovers applauding both rescuers and the bushwalkers who found the kangaroos.
Macedon Ranges Wildlife Network data shows 1292 kangaroos were rescued by volunteers last year, up from 1064 in 2013.
