Katina Stowe and her partner Timmy Bronson were woken with a start in
the early hours of Thursday morning by loud scratching in their home in
Raymond Terrace, New South Wales, Australia.
“I said ‘What are you and what are you doing in my house?’ and it bolted
into my bathroom,” Miss Stowe said of the animal that looked like a
possum.
“It’s knocked over ornaments and shampoo bottles. It trashed my bathroom.
And I’m thinking how did it get into my house when it’s all locked up?”
Faced with so many questions the couple turned to the internet for answers.
“I Googled ‘possum with spots’ and it came up with spotted quoll,” Miss Stowe said.
Alternatively known as tiger quolls generally grow to three or four kilograms and have a taste for backyard chickens.
“It started sleeping in my sink,” Miss Stowe said. “We said ‘come on, mate, here’s the window, you can leave now.” A good Samaritan offered to rescue the tiger quoll but it left of its own will at about 7.30am. The carnivorous species is considered vulnerable since its habitat has dwindled across the state. “They’re hunting at night and it may well have been after a mouse or rat,” National Parks and Wildlife Service quoll guru Geoff Ross said. “Or it might have just liked that bathroom. For those people to have one in their home is quite a privilege.”
Carnivorous marsupials are a rarity. The eastern quoll is all but extinct and the tiger quoll can sometimes be found on the urban fringes. It’s next biggest cousin is the Tasmanian devil. Mr Ross said the largest tiger quoll he had seen was sadly dead by the side of the road near Kiama and weighed nearly four kilograms. “That’s the kind of animal that would even take on a brush tail possum,” he said. “That’s something even I’m reluctant to do.” People who see a spotted-tail quoll are asked to report it to the National Parks and Wildlife Service for mapping purposes.
There's a short video of the errant tiger quoll here. You may need to unmute it.
“It started sleeping in my sink,” Miss Stowe said. “We said ‘come on, mate, here’s the window, you can leave now.” A good Samaritan offered to rescue the tiger quoll but it left of its own will at about 7.30am. The carnivorous species is considered vulnerable since its habitat has dwindled across the state. “They’re hunting at night and it may well have been after a mouse or rat,” National Parks and Wildlife Service quoll guru Geoff Ross said. “Or it might have just liked that bathroom. For those people to have one in their home is quite a privilege.”
Carnivorous marsupials are a rarity. The eastern quoll is all but extinct and the tiger quoll can sometimes be found on the urban fringes. It’s next biggest cousin is the Tasmanian devil. Mr Ross said the largest tiger quoll he had seen was sadly dead by the side of the road near Kiama and weighed nearly four kilograms. “That’s the kind of animal that would even take on a brush tail possum,” he said. “That’s something even I’m reluctant to do.” People who see a spotted-tail quoll are asked to report it to the National Parks and Wildlife Service for mapping purposes.
There's a short video of the errant tiger quoll here. You may need to unmute it.
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