2019-03-07
The culling of kangaroos is currently a topical issue, and best left to others to debate, but with it being particularly dry in South Australia at the moment along with a couple of good breeding seasons, the kangaroo numbers are bigger now than they’ve been for some time.
With two kangaroos to every person in Australia, according to recent media, it goes without saying if you put yourself in the wrong place at the wrong time bad things can happen. Even if every person had one as a pet there’s still over 20 million of them hopping freely around the Australian countryside and outback.
South Australia has an approximate land size of million square kilometres with most of the states population living in the 1000 square kilometre greater Adelaide metro area. That means there’s a lot of free space for the kangaroos to roam unrestricted.
Kangaroos can be erratic and unpredictable. While you’re cruising the countryside in one of our Landcruiser Wagons or Dual Cabs and you happen to see a kangaroo on or near the road, to improve your chances of avoiding a wildlife collision and possibly endangering your life, the kangaroos life and our four wheel drive we offer the following tips:
MOST IMPORTANT WHATEVER YOU DO DON’T SWERVE! The chance of hitting the road shoulder and a vehicle roll over is increased hugely if you impulsively swerve at the sight of a roo, or any other wildlife for that matter.
As an added protection, if you choose to hire a Complete Ute and Van Hire 4WD Wagon, 4WD Dual Cab or Landcruiser Tray or Landcruiser Dual Cab you can be assured it will be fitted with an approved roo bar. Even more of a reason not to swerve!
While we don’t want you taking risks in one of our Complete Four-Wheel Drive Hire vehicles or purposely try to run down our national animal icon it does give peace of mind should you a kangaroo suddenly appear out of nowhere.
It’s a chance meeting and not one confined to one location or one time of day, but it’s generally a known fact that driving in the outback, or even sometimes on Adelaide’s semi-rural roads, the possibility of sighting a kangaroo increases near both sunrise and sunset and generally through the night.
Night driving is particularly risky business, although the fact is that you’ve just got to be always aware. It’s the surprise factor that initiates bad reactive actions.
Drive aware, keep ‘em alive and minimise damage … easy!!