Native animals have been left traumatised and injured following a weekend-long bush doof near Cessnock.
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Intense noise distressed and disoriented wildlife in the area, prompting dangerous and erratic behaviour resulting in injury.
Cedar Creek Wombat Rescue, which specialises in the four-legged marsupials, was forced to take in six injured kangaroos. On Monday one remained in a critical condition.
Rescue co-founder Roz Holme said the noise from the Pokolbin Mountain rave went from Friday to Sunday night and made her house shake despite being miles away.
“It was 10 kilometres away but it was like it was in our backyard,” she said.
We’ll never be able to find out the damage done to all the animals.
- Roz Holme
Ms Holme said several kangaroos hit fences after being scared by the noise.
“As soon as kangaroos start running, they run blind,” she said.
One kangaroo suffered a severe injury after running into barbed wire while another was hit by a car and dragged.
Ms Holme said the medical bills would be expensive and ongoing, and the costs applied only to treating the animals she was aware of.
“We’ll never be able to find out the damage done to all the animals,” she said.
Ms Holme said she had no problem with people having parties, but was annoyed by the level of noise and the effect it had on animals.
“I don’t care what they do out there, but they don’t need to make that much noise,” she said.
“It stresses the wildlife out really badly. A lot of our sick ones were really stressed. We spent Friday to Sunday trying to keep everything calm.”
She said she and her husband Kevin had to tranquilise some animals.
“We shouldn’t have to do that,” she said.
Ms Holme said the increased traffic also caused damage to the rural roads, which she said weren’t built to cope with a high volume of vehicles.
Ms Holme said her calls to police did not stop the noise. She said it wasn’t the first rave held in that location but it was definitely the worst.
Central Hunter duty officer Inspector Glenn Blain said police did receive a noise complaint. He said police were aware it was an ongoing problem.
Inspector Blain also said police spoke to the organisers of the event and that the licencing team were looking into the matter.