Tag Archives: oceania

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'Not something we see everyday': Wallaby on loose in Colorado

A wallaby on the loose was the last thing Sgt Charles Searcy with the Montrose County Sheriff's Office in Colorado expected to respond to.

Nonetheless, he and a state patrol officer, as well as a couple of good Samaritans, and the wallaby's owner, chased the hopping marsupial for about 45 minutes on the night of Thursday, July 8.

Finally it jumped safely back home to his proper enclosure.

A couple driving by happened to notice the wallaby on the side of Jay Jay Road, just north of Montrose. They called a non-emergency dispatch line for help.

READ MORE: 'Utter shock': New study shows kangaroos can communicate with humans

"Um, yeah, there's a kangaroo loose on Jay Jay Road," the passerby told dispatch. "Or, a wallaby, it's much smaller than a kangaroo, I would guess wallaby… not a prank call, I swear to god I'm looking right at it."

The dispatcher laughed a little, responding, "um, okay… that's just not something that we get every day."

Sgt Searcy tells CBS4 he didn't believe it at first.

"You know, we don't have kangaroos here, we don't have wallabies here, so (I'm thinking) are there drugs involved, somebody's seeing something, we're going to a drug call, somebody's having hallucinations," Sgt Searcy recalled.

"So, when I first got there, I was even skeptical when I got out of the truck, and the reporting party came and right away was like, 'here's a picture of it, we're not crazy,' and then I actually saw it, and I was like, 'wow, okay.'"

READ MORE: Wallaby rescued after 6km ocean swim

Sgt Searcy says the wallaby is a legal pet of a nearby resident, and he had somehow gotten out of a fenced-in yard.

The wallaby's owner eventually found the responding officers and the good Samaritans, and helped coax him back home.

"It was a fun night," Sgt Searcy said.

"We don't get a whole lot of humour, and things where we can laugh it off, and still today, I went in to work for a little bit this morning, and the jokes kept coming, so I'm sure I won't hear the end of it for a while."

Sgt Searcy says once they got the animal back safe and sound, he looked around at its enclosure and living conditions, and said there were no signs of neglect or mistreatment of the animal.

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PM puts blame on ATAGI for Australia's 'glacial' rollout

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has insisted advisory body ATAGI has to shoulder blame for Australia's slow coronavirus vaccine rollout.

Speaking on 2GB with Ray Hadley, Mr Morrison said ATAGI's advice had been "very cautious" and "that had a massive impact on the rollout of the vaccine program, it really did".

"It slowed it considerably in the end," Mr Morrison said.

"It put us behind and we wish that wasn't the result but it was."

Prime Minister Scott Morrison holds a news conference in Canberra.

READ MORE: UK newspaper attacks Scott Morrison's pandemic response

Mr Morrison's government has come under intense scrutiny over the national vaccine rollout, which is one of the slowest in the developed world.

ATAGI's advice over the AstraZeneca vaccine has shifted multiple times in recent weeks, raising and lowering the minimum age.

"Those decisions are made independent of government, and should be," Mr Morrison said.

READ MORE: Airlines forced to fly cargo only to Australia after number cut

https://omny.fm/shows/the-ray-hadley-morning-show/pm-says-20-000-under-40s-received-astrazeneca-desp/embed?style=cover

"If we want a system where drug control in Australia is not run by politicians but by the professional medicos, sometimes that means they'll be very cautious in circumstances like this."

Mr Morrison also described the United Kingdom's decision to lift all major coronavirus restrictions as "quite an experiment".

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has declared the UK will rely on the vaccine without imposing health orders from July 19.

The UK has almost 65 per cent of adults fully vaccinated with two shots, compared to Australia's 11 per cent.

"I still note over 200 people died in the UK last week," Mr Morrison said.

"I think 50 yesterday."

He said UK cases were running at over 30,000 each day.

"I know there's been a lot of references to the United Kingdom," Mr Morrison said.

"They've had more cases in a day than we've had in 18 months."

Australia's slow vaccine rollout has been criticised by British press in recent days, with the Financial Times describing the pace as dangerously "glacial".

Mr Morrison also called out Liberal backbencher Craig Kelly's anti-vaccination claims as "rubbish" and dangerous for Australia.

"This 'the whole COVID thing is a conspiracy and it'll turn my arm into magnets' and all this sort of stuff, this is just crazy nonsense," he said.

"And it does put people's lives at risk."

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Wild wet weather moving over Australia's south

Much of Australia's south will be hit with rain and blustery winds in the coming days as a large low-pressure system and multiple cold fronts make their way across the area.

The low, which has been causing weather chaos for parts of Western Australia's south, will move across the Great Australian Bight and pass through Tasmania, before moving north towards South Australia, Victoria and parts of western NSW.

This will result in moderate to heavy showers for most of Australia's south and send a surge of strong winds across the same regions.

LIVE UPDATES: All the latest breaking news on coronavirus in Australia and the world

A high in the north of Australia is also likely to cause some moderate showers in Queensland while parts of the Northern Territory will continue to see a dry spell extend into the weekend with some bushfire warnings in place for the far Top End.

Dozens of communities in WA are still cleaning up after a solid week of wild weather which saw floods and hazardous surf warnings across many coastal towns.

Perth exceeded its monthly average rainfall yesterday with 148.6mm falling as compared to 142.3mm.

https://twitter.com/weatherzone/status/1414847798638366720?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

READ MORE: Perth braces for more storms and damaging winds

While the west coast's wild weather has subsided slightly today, it will pick up again this evening and into tomorrow with more storms sweeping in from the sea and damaging winds predicted for Perth's south and southern parts of the coast.

Dangerous surf conditions are still in place for WA's Jurien Bay and high tides are likely for low-lying coastal areas, according to meteorologists.

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Man extradited to NSW on murder charge

A 23-year-old man will face a murder charge in a New South Wales court today after being extradited from Queensland.

The charge stems from a May 12 incident in Coonabarabran, about 340km north-west of Sydney, when a 53-year-old man was found at the front of a house with serious injuries to his head and face.

Emergency services were called to the Nandi Street home about 7pm and police were told a group of people had gathered when the man was found.

READ MORE: Outrage after hefty parking fines issued at Sydney mass vaccine hub

Police have described the incident as a fatal assault.

The older man, who knew the younger man, was airlifted from Coonabarabran Hospital to St George Hospital but later died.

Detectives investigating the alleged murder eventually applied for the 23-year-old's extradition and Queensland police arrested him at home in the north Brisbane suburb of Carselding early on Monday morning.

NSW police said the man yesterday faced Brisbane Magistrates Court, where his extradition just across the border to Tweed Heads was granted.

He's due to front Tweed Heads Local Court today after being taken to the local local police station and charged with murder.