Caught by hand

[Steve0]

About 5-6 years ago I was Salmon/Tailor fishing on a beach North of Eden. I had done a walk, following and catching from a school of fish, but this is not about fishing.

As the sun was setting, well off in the distance straight out to sea I saw a dark spot gradually moving in my direction. I kept catching, occasionally glancing out and seeing it still heading my way. Eventually the description of the dark beast became clear. I swapped rod for phone, knowing it would keep coming my way.  A reasonable impression of what I was seeing is in the first photo to the right of the breaking wave on the l/h side - just a small dark blob above the water. 

Eventually, it found its way into the wash zone where, with feet on the sand, it stopped all attempts of forward motion.

I watched for a few wave breaks. Seeing it shivering badly, I decided to step in and do what I could to get it out of the water. It was swiveled by waves to face the ocean again, so I used the opportunity to take hold of it's tail and drag it up the sand.

While I was nervous about a potential kick for my trouble, the wallaby did absolutely nothing to protest the tail grab or the drag up to bank. It was totally spent. You can see by the scrape marks in the sand that it did not change position for the entire time I had hold of it. The outer marks are from my shuffling feet.  

 

I considered phoning WIRES, but the sun was setting and the location I was in included a walkway too dangerous to use at night.  I made the decision to leave is shivering and hope it recovered.  On may way out about 10-15 minutes later I looked back and saw it still there. There is a happy ending. The next morning there were wallaby track from where I left it leading straight into the scub.   

The beach was a long open beach and the nearest headland is many kms away.  It was not coming from that direction, but equidistant from land each way.  Being a Swampy, it is not a surprise to see it swimming. It was surprising to discover that it had been out to sea long enough to be at serious risk from hypothermia. 

 

 

[Green Hornet]

Good on you for helping out the poor little fella.

The strangest thing I ever saw a couple of kangaroos do one morning was hop down onto the edge of the water where both ‘roos got absolutely flogged in the shorebreak, rolled and washed up onto sand, only to get up and repeat the process several times before hopping up straight past me, over the dunes and off into the bush.

All I can think of is they were getting rid of ticks, leeches or some other parasite and in all my years, that was the only time I’ve seen anything like it.

[noelm]

It’s funny how as you fish for years, how many odd/funny things you witness, most people wouldn’t believe some stuff I/we have seen, I mean how many people would have been beach fish and a Kangaroo swims up in the surf? Well done for helping the tired animal.

[Yowie]

Wallaby was just having a body surf, stayed out for too long.

I have seen pictures of black swans body surfing on small waves, then fly back out to do it again.

[bessell1955]

Well done, you! 

[Hill373737]

Nice work on the rescue!!

I've had a wallaby swim across Stingray Creek neer Laurieton, passing just a couple of metres from my boat. 

There's also a small island in Split Rock Dam that has had a solitary kangaroo on it since the water level spiked up to 100% back in October 2022, once the water level drops back to around 70% the submerged part of the ridge will appear and it will be able to join its mates.

[Green Hornet]

It’s not uncommon to come across eastern grey kangaroos swimming in St Georges Basin. A handful I’ve come across have been well over a kilometer from land and in those cases I’ve kept my distance to prevent them panicking, but made sure they’ve reached land. They appear to be quite competent swimmers.

My theory there is that dogs, both wild and domestic, have chased them into the water.