Lyrebird roadkill

[Stephen Whiteside]

Thought I'd share this with you.

I was driving north of Marysville this afternoon - towards Lake Mountain - and came across this dead lyrebird on the road.

A car rally had just passed through a few minutes before. The road had been closed, and we had been asked to wait by the side of the road for a few minutes until it was re-opened. We were one of the first cars through, and came across the dead bird only a few minutes later. It was still warm.

Makes me angry. I carried it to the side of the road, but there was nothing else I could do.

[r.magnay]

Unless we ban cars completely we will always have roadkill Stephen! Best you don't do any road trips up through the centre if you get angry at one dead bird. I must have killed hundreds of birds, animals and reptiles on the roads, it always makes me sad when a creature runs, flies or jumps out in front of me to meet its end but don't make the mistake many drivers do and try and avoid them!
I very recently went to Adelaide with my father to buy a wheelchair friendly vehicle for my mother, Dad and I met the young girl who owned the vehicle, (her brother had upgraded the car to a later model for her) She was a very pretty young girl about 19 or 20, she had swerved to miss a bird that flew out from the side of the road and rolled her car, she is now paralysed from the shoulders down, it broke my heart. I would much rather see a dead bird or animal than that!

[Stephen Whiteside]

Yes, that's a fair comment. Mind you, I do wonder how our roadkill will be viewed in a hundred or two hundred years' time. I would not be surprised if society then is quite aghast - much as we feel now about public lynchings and floggings and the like.

It doesn't take too much imagination to envision a society struggling to hold onto its last vestiges of wildlife, and quite appalled at our cavalier attitudes.

I agree it's a very thorny problem that is extremely difficult to imagine any solution for, but I do suspect nonetheless that we will not tolerate it forever.

I'll be interested to check out the law in this instance. The lyrebird, from memory, is a protected species. What are your obligations as a driver? I'd also be very interested to know how fast these cars were going.

The fact that it was a lyrebird certainly upset me much more than if it had been a currawong, say, or even a magpie. Lyrebirds seem almost sacred to me, which is a bit silly, I know. Also, the fact that the death had been so recent - the bird was still so soft and warm - and almost certainly related to the rally which had gone through only so recently - made me very angry.

I drive a fair bit in the country, and I don't recall having ever killed anything. (Touchwood! Perhaps my time will come.) I did clip a wombat's paw once many years ago with my rear wheel.

Having said that, I seem to be a pretty slow driver - I'm forever pulling over to allow the backlog of cars behind me to get past!

[Bob Pacey]

Always sorry to see Stephen but Like Ross if you have not hit a roo or some other animal driving out west you are very lucky.

The only ones who seem to get out of the way are crows.


Bob

[william williams]

try Canberra and close surrounds Stephen ten to fifteen kangaroos are killed each week results about 2 million dollars damage a year and that is only 20 k diameter from parliament house we even have kangaroo dung on our front lawn and we are in the town.


bill williams

[Stephen Whiteside]

Yes, I guess we are all pretty much desensitised to roadkill. I'm not sure we will always tolerate it, though.

[keats]

Are you sure it was dead? I never trust a liar bird.