Cairns wallaby deaths: Sixteen attacked at Trinity Beach in early morning

A shocking overnight attack on multiple wallabies has once again ignited calls for fencing to be fixed and pet owners to take responsibility.

DEVASTATED wildlife carers have described their horror after 16 wallabies were mauled to death by a loose dog at Trinity Beach.

Agile Wallaby Project founder Shai Ager said the attack happened about 4am Wednesday at the sports grounds.

Ms Ager said she was saddened by the deaths, which she felt were completely avoidable.

“Fifteen wallabies have been killed, one had to be euthanised, making a total of 16 dead,” she said.

Several joeys were rescued from their dead mothers’ pouches, but Ms Ager said there were no guarantees they would survive.

“It’s difficult to say if they will survive because they are completely traumatised by the event and injuries might arise later,” she said.

Agile Project wildlife rescuer Joel Groberg with 16 wallabies found dead at Trinity Beach, sports ground. Picture: Shai Ager.

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“Some joeys survived because they were in their mother’s pouches.

“This joey (pictured above) is starting to walk and (I) assume it was thrown from it’s mother’s pouch and luckily he got away.”

Ms Ager said passing police officers first spotted the dog chasing wallabies.

“Cairns police saw a dog running through the field this morning chasing and attacking wallabies.

“They called the council dog catcher who then called the Agile rescue hotline, which is a 24/7 service, within a matter of moments after receiving the call four volunteers came out to the field to help at 4am this morning,” she said.

Wednesday’s attack is the not the first time Shai Ager has woken to a field full over dead wallabies from a dog attack. PICTURE: BRENDAN RADKE

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Smithfield police Sen-Sgt Ed Lukin confirmed they were contacted by a member of the public about 3am on Wednesday morning who reported what was believed to be domestic dogs attacking wallabies at Trinity Beach.

However, he said police then patrolled the area and could not locate any dogs or injured wallabies.

The volunteers worked hard making sure no joey was left behind.

The lack of light in the early hours of the morning made it difficult to locate the joeys.

“We had to completely scan the area to find any surviving joeys,” Ms Ager said.

One of the surviving joeys was located under some shrubs about 8.30am.

Ms Ager praised the quick response from the police, council and volunteers.

“It’s a wonderful community involvement in such a disastrous situation.”

But Ms Ager wanted to stress the importance of preventing such an attack from happening again.

“The council needs to maintain the fencing around the sports ground, gates must be closed and no holes in the fence,” she said.

Ms Ager said the Agile Project had once again offered to help fix the fencing but pet owners needed to do their part.

“Pet owners need to be responsible and keep their dogs inside their yards,” said Ms Ager.

The offending dog was caught and removed by the council.

Originally published as Cairns wallaby deaths: Sixteen attacked at Trinity Beach in early morning