Mandurah couple ‘shocked’ to find decapitated kangaroo on jogging path

Andrew and Maria Tarrant were running their usual path at 10am when they spotted the headless joey sprawled out in the middle of the track.

The couple immediately called the City of Mandurah rangers, who took the corpse away and alerted the Department of Parks and Wildlife.

Mr Tarrant said he and his wife were left in “total shock” after discovering the animal.

“To think that someone’s killed this poor animal and then purposely put it on the track – it just had us in disbelief,” he said.

“We run the Creery Wetlands Nature Reserve on a 15-kilometre loop almost every day, and usually we keep our eyes open for snakes, but it was very disturbing to see the joey.

“The Creery Reserve kangaroos are so docile and they just lay down when I run past – especially the young ones so knowing someone has intentionally hurt them is the worst type of cruelty.

“The corpse had not decomposed and the ranger said it was recently killed, so it’s just unnerving that someone could do something like that.”

The attack came just hours before the RSPCA issued an appeal for help on several unsolved animal cruelty cases across WA, including a small dog that had been set on fire, emus that had been deliberately run down by a four-wheel-drive and a cat that had been shot in the neck with an arrow.

RSPCA WA chief inspector Amanda Swift said it was appalling to think the people committing these crimes were yet to be apprehended.

“They could, potentially, be harming other innocent animals and thinking they have got away with their crimes, because they haven’t yet been caught,” she said.

“With just 12 inspectors on the road, we rely heavily on the WA community to be our eyes and ears on the ground, and to report animal cruelty when they see or hear about it, and we’re appealing to anybody who knows anything about these cases, even if it seems minor, to report what they know to us so that we can find the people responsible and get justice for the animals subjected to these terrible incidents of cruelty.

“We know that our presence, particularly in regional areas, needs to be greater than it is right now, not only to deter people from committing acts of cruelty but to enable us to respond more quickly when something is reported.”

Anyone with information on animal cruelty is urged to call the RSPCA hotline on 1300 278 3589.

The City of Mandurah urges the public to contact its rangers on 9550 3777 in similar instances.