An Aussie family’s annual mini-golf tournament came to a sudden halt when they discovered course was blocked by a mysterious object. They’d planned to play on Christmas Day, but the weather had been stifling in Kalamunda, east of Perth, and so they’d left it set up overnight.
Family matriarch Dawn Parsons had spent hours designing and building the course, and she’d found an extra-long piece of metal pipe to add to the challenge.
Unfortunately, a wayward wild animal, a large rotund quenda, also known as a brown bandicoot, had thought it the perfect place to rest for the night.
“We were on the seventh hole, and we went to put the ball through, and my husband goes, Oh, there’s something in there,” Dawn told Yahoo News.
“I said, No, I’ve tried it, it’s empty.
Determined to sort out the problem, he gave the pipe an almighty shake.
“Mum stayed put, but the babies must have fallen out of her pouch, and they came popping out into the lawn,” Dawn said.
“We totally freaked out, so we popped them back in, and they scuttled back up the pipe to mum.”
The quenda was stuck deep in the pipe with her legs behind her. Source: Kanyana Wildlife
The quendas needed help, but the pipe was too long to fit onto the back of the ute.
“She was so winched in there, she looked like she was just a tight little ball,” Dawn said.
Not wanting to disturb them anymore, Dawn’s husband methodically unpicked the rivets holding it together, then drove them to Kanyana Wildlife, a centre specialising in helping sick and injured native animals.
What happened to the quenda and her babies?
Summer is a particularly busy time for Kanyana’s staff, and they were hard at work when the quenda and her joeys arrived.
Its CEO, Danny Shelton, volunteered to get her out, using cutters to split the pipe down the middle.
“I don’t think the babies were helping her situation, because they wanted to stay in her pouch,” he told Yahoo, noting that they made her body wider.
“I worked my way down, just cutting and bending the pipe to free it up, and when I got near, we were able to get her out.”
Danny methodically cut the quenda free from the pipe. Source: Kanyana Wildlife
Danny said it’s people like Dawn and her family, who are willing to put their plans on hold to help wildlife, that make his work feel worthwhile.
After the quenda and her joeys were deemed healthy, and the mini-golf course was packed up, they were returned to the property.
“It was a great outcome, a real Christmas miracle,” Dawn said.
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