Monday 22 March 2010

Kookaburras, Kangas and Disbelief



During a recent chat with a blogbuddy in Canada, she asked me about the wildlife park in Angus which had Kangaroos and Emus. In my infinite wisdom I laughed at such an idea and suggested she was likely getting confused between an Aussie restaurant and the Murton Nature Reserve which are just across the road from each other......




Following a friendly wager, I thought no more about it until the following day when an email popped into my inbox with a website attached.......http://www.kookaburras.co.uk/





Following a large slice of humble pie and much laughter, I felt duty bound to go along and inspect Kookaburras for myself...... well.... there was always the off chance that they were fibbing about their exotic birds and mammals.....




.....but no......they exist all right.





To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure whether these were Rheas or Emus..... but whatever they were, you don't see too many in Angus fields and pastures.




I spoke to one of the chefs at the restaurant and he told me there were no Wallabies or Kangaroos left as the last one had escaped into the countryside. Sadly, its quest for freedom towards the Angus hills was cut short when it was hit by a car and killed in the village of Kinsgmuir, about 5 miles to the east.

I can only imagine the look on the driver's face seconds before impact.......




I would've loved it if there had been real Koalas, but these wooden ones softened the blow somewhat.






......and a poignant wooden tribute to The Last Kanga whose bid for freedom was tragically cut short by a confused Angus motorist.


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13 comments:

  1. What a fun post, Neil! And I love your photos! Great tribute to The Last Kanga! Have a great week!

    Sylvia

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  2. How bizarre but quite interesting. Sadly, roos and wallabies hit by cars are quite common in Australia. Those birds are definitely emus.
    Sydney - City and Suburbs

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  3. I would love to have emu burger someday.

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  4. This is quite exotic for Scotland. But, I;m curious, what was on the menu?

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  5. i like the selfportrait the best, hello mr. neil! :) that hunter seems bit suicidial thou. wtf? the lamb is nice detail, as is the dandem (?) bike. u probably have somtin going on with that sign but my spenglish no hacks it.

    r u on google earth? ;)

    c ya!

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  6. Great shots of the sculpted images. And those look like Emus to me.

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  7. Any driver in UK could be forgiven for being startled by a kangaroo. Poor Kanga!
    There is an ostrich farm near us which causes some violent double-takes in drivers unfamiliar with the area.

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  8. Tut, tut Neil, kangaroos and wallabys are two dstinct species. The great difference is something like that between crows and ravens except that in the two mammals it is apparently in their molars!
    I think your assesment of the Emus was spot on. Emus are very tall birds (up to 6') of very little brain and normally not as fluffily feathered.

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  9. Great blog Neil. Made me smile. The carvings are great. How sad that the Roo was run down, Did you try the food?

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  10. aloha,

    what an incredible place and taking us to this fun place, love the carvings also, thank you for showing us a little bit of your world for tuesday...

    have a good remainder of the week.

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  11. Maybe I should catch a wallaby or two here in our garden and post them over there, they come and eat my vegetables as soon as they come out of the ground. My wife says they're a pest.

    Cheers, from Down-Under.

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  12. Your Canadian blogbuddy is obviously a very wise woman.

    ;-)

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  13. Ooh what was the food like? Did you eat? I am intrigued now.....

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