Girl’s prickly attempt to rescue echidna from drain

A young girl found herself in a prickly situation when she tried to rescue an echidna from a drain outside a Moe fast-food restaurant last night.

The girl, aged about 12, saw the echidna dart down a stormwater drain at McDonald’s on the Princes Freeway about 6.30pm and became concerned for its welfare.

CFA operations officer Simon Bloink said the girl wrapped her arm and hand in a towel and reached in to try and pull the echidna out.

But the wildlife rescue turned into a human rescue when the echidna’s quills trapped the girl’s arm and left her caught with a dislocated shoulder.

“As she started to try and pull the echidna backwards, all the echidna’s done is stand up and jammed her hand and arm between the wall of the drain so that the spines were sticking into her hand and arm so every time she moved that was the process,” Mr Bloink said.

“Once the firefighters got there, obviously with gloves on, put their hand down, removed a bit of dirt but also touched the echidna and the echidna just walked forward which released her arm.”

The girl was taken to Latrobe Regional Hospital with a dislocated shoulder.

Mr Bloink said the echidna stayed hidden from the drama and locals had told firefighters it was often seen in and around the drain.

“As emergency services, calls never cease to amaze you. You go to so many different things at different times and this was just one of those interesting ones,” he said.