Harbour Bridge wallaby may be from Tunks Park
A WILDLIFE expert believes the wayward wallaby who decided to take a trip across the Harbour Bridge last week may have hopped out of Tunks Park in search of a new patch to live.
Mosman
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A WAYWARD wallaby bounced his way into international news when he decided to take a trip across the Harbour Bridge.
The marsupial was videoed by police last week hopping along the highway in early morning traffic before they managed to rescue him.
The incident has put the spotlight on a small colony of swamp wallabies living in the Cammeray area.
The first sighting was in October 2016 and since then North Sydney Council has been keeping an eye on them.
“It is possible that the wallaby was from Tunks Park,” bushland management co-ordinator Gareth Debney said.
“Males around this age do tend to leave their birth territory in search of a new patch to call their own.”
Tunks Park has a number of green corridor links with Cammeray Golf Course, which runs alongside the Warringah Fwy.
Once the wallaby made it to the freeway Mr Debney believes that southward-heading vehicles could have disorientated and frightened him. And as a result he started moving towards the bridge.
It is not known how many wallabies there are in Tunks Park but it is likely that there are only one or two.
Numbers in the colony fluctuate over time and more occupy a larger bushland area on the northern side of the park managed by Willoughby Council.
They arrived in the area after moving south through bushland alongside Middle Harbour from Garigal and Ku-ring-gai National Parks.
Over the past 25 years local councils have invested in rehabilitating bushland in the area and there has also been a focus on foxes.
“Regionally co-ordinated fox control over the past 18 years has also played a role in improving the survival rates of juvenile wallabies,” Mr Debney said.
The swamp wallaby is the largest native herbivore in North Sydney Council’s bushlands and the only remaining macropod.
They are also vulnerable to interference by off-leash dogs and they can become easily stressed when chased, especially with young in the pouch.
Dogs should be kept on a short lead when walking in bushland.
Meanwhile, the rogue wallaby was released back into the wild on Thursday morning after recovering from his ordeal at Taronga Zoo’s wildlife hospital.
The wallaby’s new home will be in the Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park.