By GEORGIA WESTGARTH
AN unborn joey was decapitated in a sickening, violent group attack on two kangaroos in Lysterfield South.
The tortured bodies of two kangaroos and an embryo were found off Battersby Way, near the Churchill National Park, in the early hours of Wednesday 23 March.
Lysterfield South resident, Robert Bishop, disturbed the group of “yobbos” with a torch, before hearing a “hammering sound” and making the grisly discovery.
“At about 11pm we had idiots hooning around the empty block next to us, chasing the kangaroos with their 4WDs,” Mr Bishop said.
“There were two vehicles and they were screaming and yelling out the windows as they sped after the poor terrified animals.”
The drivers hurled abuse at Mr Bishop as they left the scene, but it’s suspected the same men returned an hour later with weapons to kill.
Mr Bishop recalls seeing six to eight men gathered around a twitching kangaroo, about midnight.
“They were standing in the headlights of a very large white 4WD … the unfortunate kangaroo was upside down, its legs splayed wide and one of the men was hacking away at it with a very large knife.
“The other males were talking excitedly and watching the spectacle, while another group was on the grass and I could hear a hammering sound coming from them.”
Endeavour Hills police were too late to catch the men, but found the two adult kangaroos with their throats slashed, ears hacked off and organs spilling out.
One leg had been chopped off and the unborn joey was found in the gutter.
A devastated Mr Bishop said he was still coming to terms with the ordeal which unfolded on his driveway.
“They would have had to have used a big knife or a machete, why would you cut off their ears, that’s just sick,” he said.
Mr Bishop described the men involved as “singlet wearing yobbos”.
“They were Australian boys, I know because of the accents when they were swearing at me,” he said.
Sergeant Terry Lloyd from Endeavour Hills police said there was no link to the decapitated kangaroo found in a Diamond Creek park on Australia Day, however the investigation was ongoing.
“We are appealing for witnesses,” Sgt Lloyd said.
“It’s quite disturbing,”
“We know they were driving a white 4WD and urge anyone to contact police straight away, write down number plates and get a description of the offenders if it’s safe to do so.”
It’s been speculated that the men may have used a bow and arrow to initially kill the animals.
The incident has prompted the RSPCA to remind offenders that animal cruelty offences can face fines of more than $74,000 or up to two years in prison.
In a statement from the RSPCA, CEO Dr Liz Walker said the organisation was “sickened by any acts of deliberate cruelty against animals”.
“There is a known link between violence against animals and violence against people,” she said.
“We take deliberate acts of violence against animals very, very seriously.”
In a bid to stop the slaughter of animals in his own street, Mr Bishop is crowd funding to install cameras.
“It’s an ongoing problem in this street, we had a roo knocked over and had it legs broken six months ago, we had to call a Wildlife Victoria member to put it down,” Mr Bishop said.
“We also have issues with rubbish dumping, drug deals and other undesirables in this street and I want to put up a steel pole topped with three wireless signal cameras to deter them or catch them.
“I felt so helpless not being able to give police a better description or the number plates, I was so shocked by what I saw and I thought what can I do about it.”
Mr Bishop is hoping to crowd fund up to $1000 to buy and install the cameras to capture footage of the vacant paddocks and the street.
To make a donation visit: www.generosity.com/animal-pet-fundraising/help-me-catch-those-who-slaughter-kangaroos
Anyone with information on the butchering of the three kangaroos is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
