A DISTURBING discovery outside a Dalyellup school was the last straw for a family that is fed up with what they described as an escalating crime rate in the suburb.
A 10-year-old boy was shocked when he found a dead kangaroo inside a baby’s pram at the front of the Ocean Forest Lutheran College last Saturday.
The kangaroo was decapitated and had been wrapped in a blue baby blanket before being placed inside the pram.
It was reported to police and the Shire of Capel and the kangaroo was removed.
The boy’s aunty and Dalyellup resident Caroline Nightingale said she was scared to think of the motives or reasoning behind the horrible scene.
“It is absolutely disgusting, it made me feel so sick,” Mrs Nightingale said.
“Somebody has gone to a lot of trouble to make it look like an abandoned baby, it makes you wonder what that person is capable of.
“It’s bad enough that it was a dead kangaroo, it’s worse that it was decapitated – but what if it had been a baby?”
While the circumstances of the kangaroo’s death were unknown, Bunbury psychologist Daniella Princi said people harm animals for many reasons including power and control, curiosity, peer pressure of experience of abuse.
“Some will stop with animals, but enough abusers have been proven to continue on to commit violent crimes to people that it’s worth paying attention to,” Ms Princi said.
Mrs Nightingale said the disturbing discovery was the last straw in a long string of crime which had driven her family out of the suburb.
The family moved to Dalyellup five years ago but an increase of car break-ins and theft has forced them to look for somewhere else to live.
“We are out of here – we have had to call the police so many times and it always takes at least half an hour for them to arrive,” Mrs Nightingale said.
“With thousands of people moving to the area, why can’t there be a manned police depot out here?”
Shire of Capel residents have pushed for a local police station for more than a year.
New police minister Liza Harvey said there were currently no plans to build a police station in Capel but she had received a letter from the Shire of Capel on the issue.
Minister Harvey said she was waiting for advice from WA Police.
Department of Environment and Conservation regional wildlife officer Pia Courtis said the incident was being investigated.
She said taking protected fauna including Western Grey Kangaroos carried a penalty of up to $4000.
If you have information call the Bunbury Department of Environment and Conservation office on 9725 4300 or the Wildcare Helpline on 9474 9055.
