Qantas logo goes rogue.
Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2013 11:13 pm
Flight passengers landing at Melbourne Airport got to see the local wildlife sooner than they expected after a kangaroo got loose in its car park.
The three-year-old male eastern grey kangaroo was spotted by travellers around 9am this morning who alerted emergency services.
Police officers attended the scene but had difficulty apprehending the wild kangaroo. The kangaroo started licking his arms, which is a sign of stress, so police called in a wildlife expert.
The kangaroo was eventually shot with a tranquilizer gun before being assessed by wildlife officer Manfred Zabinskas.
He said: 'Judging by his nail wear he's been hopping around on bitumen for quite a while. Certainly done some damage to his feet, he's in a lot of pain which works to our benefit.
'It may be the only thing that stopped him from panicking enough to try and jump over the railing.'
Nine Network reported that the kangaroo will be kept in captivity and observed by a vet until it is ready to be released into the wild.
But many onlookers said they were happy that tourists could get a close up look at the animal.
'Well it's lovely that at a place where so many tourists land one of our national symbols can just be hopping around the car park,' said an unidentified local.
It's the second kangaroo to make its way into the airport car park in the last couple of months after another one - nicknamed 'Qantas' - managed to make its way to level five before it was sedated by a ranger on October 21.
It has since been released back into the wild.