Tasmanian devil Mary found 2km from her Gold Coast theme park home after two weeks on the run | Queensland
After two weeks on the run from teams of thermal imaging drones and zoo keepers, a runaway Tasmanian devil on the Gold Coast has finally been found and taken to hospital in an unstable state.
In the early morning hours of June 2, Devil Mary escaped from a quarantine facility at the Paradise Country theme park, 15,000 km north of her hometown; zoo officials believed an “abnormally large leap” saw him clear a fence.
CCTV cameras recorded the carnivorous marsupial animal prowling through deserted lands within the park at 4am on the morning it disappeared.
In the following days, Mary was spotted by a home security camera system about 2 km away from the park; Meanwhile, searchers found kangaroo and kangaroo carcasses, as well as the remains of devil feces, in the surrounding bush.
But the marsupial carnivore managed to escape its captors by Tuesday night; until he was found in a bushy area just off Kopps Road, less than 2 km from the amusement park he had escaped from.
A spokesman for Village Roadshow Theme Parks, which operates several Gold Coast theme parks including Paradise Country, said he was found in an unstable condition and taken to a specialist veterinary hospital “following extensive search efforts following the latest CCTV observations and geoprojection modelling”.
“Paradise Country’s experienced wildlife team continues to provide support and care to Mary, who is now in a stable condition and remains in the veterinary hospital to allow experts to carry out further diagnostic testing,” the spokesperson said.
There are pockets of bush surrounded by housing estates within a 2km radius of the theme park, but these are connected by narrow streams to the larger forests of the Gold Coast’s hinterland.
Mary had left behind her friend Mavka, who had recently arrived from a zoological facility in New South Wales.
Initially, zoo officials said they were not only shocked to hear that an animal had escaped from their facility, but also couldn’t believe it was Mary.
In the days after his escape, Village Roadshow posted a video of Paradise Country animal curator Lauren Mousley.
Mousley said Mary was two years old, an age when demons “can be a little more adventurous.”
“But – we have only known him for a short time – and what we do know about him is that he is extremely shy and tends to seek shelter when there is movement,” the zookeeper said.
“So, given his demeanor, it’s very, very abnormal to find out that he was the one who went out.”
