In cold blood

By Mara Pattison-Sowden
The attack occurred on Don Road, close to Don Crescent, right in front of a newly-erected “Wildlife crossing” sign.
Don Road resident John Kenwright found the wombat on Friday morning and was disgusted that someone would go to such lengths to kill a native animal.
“You can tell by the tyre marks,” he said.
“There are no tyre marks underneath the animal, but it was hit on a bend where people have to slow down anyway.”
Mr Kenwright said many animals – including wombats, deer and wallabies – came down from the national park that backed onto Don Road, and crossed the road to graze on the grass.
He said he could understand there were sometimes accidents where people couldn’t stop in time when an animal was crossing in the middle of the road, “but there are some idiots who are purposely out there trying to hit them”.
“It is against the law to run over protected wildlife,” Mr Kenwright said.
“We lobbied to get the wildlife crossing signs to alert people that animals regularly cross this part of the road.”
Resident Sue Hoffman said Don Road was a shared road, but many people drove up without regard for other traffic, cyclists, pedestrians or the wildlife.
“This is a spot where the animals tend to cross,” she said.
“But I’m starting to wonder if we (humans) haven’t killed them all off.”
Mrs Hoffman said people should be using the road sensibly.
“I think the kind of people who don’t care, just don’t care,” she said.
Don Road resident Elizabeth Jacka lives across the road from the “Wildlife crossing” sign, which was erected four weeks ago, and said it was “very distressing to see the deliberate destruction of the wildlife.”
Mrs Jacka said when she first came to Don Road 10 years ago there were wombats everywhere, but she had noticed a significant decline.
“We get to know these wombats, one leaves his territorial mark on the bottom rung of our gate every night – a sign we know he’s alive and well,” she said.
“I think they’re being targeted because they do dig and make holes in paddocks and some people regard them as a nuisance.”