Echidna freed by police from University Hill Shopping Centre, Bundoora

A SHARP response in a prickly situation has freed an echidna from the concrete jungle of a Melbourne shopping centre.

When Constable Laine Bramley reported for duty today, she had no idea she would end up at the pointy end of an echid-napping investigation. Constable Bramley and her partner were driving through University Hill Shopping Centre this afternoon when they spotted Enrique the Echidna crouching against a shop wall. The duo sprung into action, phoning a local wildlife rescue group who gave them advice on how to rescue the spiny anteater, who appeared to have crossed several busy roads to do a spot of shopping. By dint of some unusual operational tactics involving gently jemmying the echidna out of the corner with a baton, Const Bramley managed to free the frightened mammal. “It had burrowed itself into the wall so tightly it took me several minutes to get it out of the corner,” she said. “Luckily I had my slash proof gloves on!” The police officers arrested the prickly customer and escorted him to nearby parkland where he was released without charge and immediately burrowed himself into a shady spot under a tree. He’s been warned against jay walking in future.

A SHARP response in a prickly situation has freed an echidna from a concrete jungle.

Enrique the Echidna has been freed from the concrete jungle.

Constable Laine Bramley had no fear in handling Enrique the echidna after finding him backed into a corner at the University Hill Shopping Centre in Bundoora.

The anteater, who is believed to have negotiated several roads to reach the shopping centre, was tough to convince to move on.

But after Constable Bramley and her partner got some instructions from a local wildlife rescue expert over the phone, the pair used a baton to jemmy the egg-laying mammal from the corner he had become wedged into.

“It had burrowed itself so tightly into the wall it took me several minutes to get it out of the corner,’’ Constable Bramley said.

Enrique was then quickly taken into custody.

Luckily Constable Bramley had her “slash-proof’’ gloves on and was brave enough to pick him up and take him on a quick trip to a nearby park.

He did what many who have had a brush with the law have and failed to do — began digging a hole to freedom.