Council Workers Use Heavy Machinery to Free Kangaroo Stuck in Landfill

Council Workers Use Heavy Machinery to Free Kangaroo Stuck in Landfill

IT WASN’T quite a pig stuck in mud, but rather a kangaroo stranded waist high in dried cracked dirt.

Bundaberg Regional Council’s waste and recycling team used heavy construction equipment to tackle the delicate operation yesterday, the News Mail reports.

As the mud set hard, the animal might have had no way to save himself, had he not been rescued.

The team didn’t muck around as they called in the big guns to help rescue the marsupial.

Digging around the roo to help loosen the compacted dirt, the team took only minutes to set it free.

Excavator operator Tony Riley addressed the media after video of the rescue went viral.

Mr Riley said the animal looked stressed and tired and as he began the action plan to rescue it.

“First of all I started digging a trench to him and I thought he might turn around and go through it to get away,” he said.

“But it just kept getting deeper in the mud.

“I started digging the other side of him and the mud slid away and he was able to jump up the bank.”

Mr Riley has been operating excavators for 17 years and said this was the first roo rescue he had been part of.

“It feels good to help and I didn’t think there would be this much publicity,” he said.

Waste and recycling co-ordinator Kerry Dalton said it was a call from a customer who alerted the council to the distressed animal.

Ms Dalton said it was the second time they had something like this happen.

She said once the kangaroo was free there was relief all around.

“It’s always nice to see a happy ending,” Ms Dalton said.

“It was like he jumped up to the machine and thanked it.

“He stood there and got his bearings before he hopped off.”

Ms Dalton was unsure how long the roo had been there, but thought it may have been a couple of hours at the most.

This article originally appeared on News Mail and has been republished here with permission.