SEEING dead kangaroos on the side of Londonderry Road isn’t unusual, but when five remained there for more than a week, some tagged with pink tape and police tape, residents started asking questions.
The Gazette received a number of enquiries about the kangaroos before their removal last week, with some motorists noticing the tape wrapped around the arms and legs of some of them.
Hawkesbury Police said that was often their practice to alert Council staff of the need for their removal, however when the Gazette first contacted Council on the matter, they said removal was the responsibility of Roads and Maritime Services.
The RMS responded quickly to the claim, saying it was in fact the responsibility of Council.
This was when Council’s director of infrastructure services, Jeff Organ got involved.
“The removal of dead animals from local roads is Council’s responsibility, however the removal of dead animals from Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) roads (i.e. main roads) is the RMS’ responsibility, with the RMS responsible for all works within the carriageway including road shoulders and longitudinal drainage,” Mr Organ said.
“In this instance, to avoid any protracted response, Council staff have collected the dead animals from Londonderry Road in order to clean the area as quickly as possible.
“Council will contact RMS to ensure that the responsibility for such work is made clear.”
Kate Jones posted on the Gazette Facebook page last week that the stretch of Londonderry Road out the front of the EucFACE experiment at the university was a “death trap” for kangaroos.
“I read the EIS for this development and nowhere did it mention the problem of erecting a six-foot fence in a wildlife corridor,” Ms Jones post read.
“This wildlife corridor connects Rickabys Creek to the Hawkesbury River and the Blue Mountains. My question is who cares about this carnage and why have no provisions been made for the kangaroos movement.”
The carcases were taken by Council at the end of last week.
