A KANGAROO has miraculously escaped injury after falling down an 11 metre mineshaft.
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A rescuer was astounded to find the kangaroo was in perfect condition after a lengthy operation to retrieve it.
Within hours the kangaroo and its joey in-pouch were back in the wild.
Rescuer Manfred Zabinskas was called to the injured kangaroo in Vaughan on Sunday night, reported by a gold prospector.
But in the gathering darkness, with little information about the kangaroo's location he was forced to put off a rescue until Monday morning.
At that point, he mounted an operation to reach the kangaroo, along with two other wildlife rescuers.
After sedating the kangaroo and setting up, Mr Zabinskas abseiled down the remote mineshaft.
He flipped the kangaroo into a rescue bag and climbed up the shaft. He and another rescuer pulled the kangaroo up from the top.
A young 20 kilogram female emerged, with no apparent injuries. A search revealed a young joey still on-teat, about one month old.
Sure she must be injured, Mr Zabinskas took her home to his wildlife shelter, still sedated. With a full shelter, he was forced to put the young mum in his living room.
Read more: Kangaroo rescued from forest mineshaft
She was soon hopping around, jumping over furniture. A quick run in a enclosure told Mr Zabinskas there was no way she could be injured.
So, he sedated her again, and released her back into the wild.
He said it was a miracle she was uninjured.
"The shaft was that deep. I was not optimistic. And to have no serious injuries was just bizarre," Mr Zabinskas said.
He called on the government to address abandoned mineshafts in the landscape.
"We fear that one day ... a child's going to fall down something like this and get seriously injured," he said.
"This is another reminder that the government needs to have a plan for reducing these dangers."
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