The confronting sight of a pile of kangaroo carcasses dumped on the side of the road between Dubbo and Mendooran has left a passing motorist shocked.
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Gemma Ambrose found 19 eastern greys, all with their heads and tails removed, and the bodies gutted.
The smell from the dead kangaroos was “awful” and there were signs they had only been there for a couple of days.
The scene, about eight kilometres from Mendooran, left Mrs Ambrose with concerns about animal cruelty.
She reported the matter to the authorities immediately on Thursday night.
She also contacted the Daily Liberal, providing photos of the remains of the kangaroos, a protected species.
Mrs Ambrose was driving between Mendooran and Dubbo with her mother and three young daughters when she “glimpsed a pile of animal-looking remains”.
She also noticed a strong smell of dead animals.
“Disturbed” by the size of the pile, she turned back.
There was no attempt to hide them… one can only assume these remains were meant to be seen.
- Local woman Gemma Ambrose
Mrs Ambrose soon noticed the remains were missing heads, and had hardly decomposed.
“My mother guessed they had been there only a couple of days,” she said.
The motorist, local to the area, and her mother found the animals were all missing heads, tails, limbs, and had been gutted.
With a lack of any blood in the area, Mrs Ambrose was of the view the kangaroos had been killed elsewhere and dumped by the side of the road.
“There was no attempt to hide them… one can only assume these remains were meant to be seen,” she said.
“Perhaps to shock and horrify people driving by.”
The RSPCA told the Daily Liberal on Friday its inquiries into the report were continuing.
It raised the possibility it may not be a case of animal cruelty.
“... this appears to be consistent with professional contracted shooters,” RSPCA media liaison Stefania Kubowicz said.
“We understand that it’s common practice that the chiller requires the heads to be removed, which is strong indicator that this is the case here.
“If the kangaroos are not the correct weight for the chillers, shooters have been known to dump the carcasses on the side of the road.
“While this is definitely not activity the RSPCA supports, there is nothing illegal about this under the POCTA [Protection of Cruelty to Animals Act] legislation that we regulate.”