Mystery Illness Blinds, Kills Australian Kangaroos

SYDNEY — It is one of the saddest sights in the Australian outback. Thousands of blind kangaroos infected by an unexplained eye disease are slowly dying in the bush.

The outbreak is confined to South Australia, where country folk and wildlife officers have been shocked by the scale of the epidemic, for which there is no known cure.

The affected kangaroos, mainly western grays, have been spotted hopping headfirst into tree trunks and falling into rivers as they forage for food. In the tiny outback community of Morgan, some have crashed into windows of stores as they career blindly through the township. Most simply starve to death, unable to locate new grazing areas.

Wildlife officers have yet to establish the cause of the blindness, although they suspect a virus. Even post-mortem examinations of some of the victims have failed to shed any light on the problem.

“We just do not know what’s causing it,” admitted Peter Alexander, wildlife management officer of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. “Something is causing lesions to the optic nerve in the brain and it appears to be spreading rapidly.”

He believes a combination of factors is responsible, including the exceptionally dry conditions and an increasing kangaroo population. “This creates stress in the animals and makes them more susceptible to disease.”

Not that the animal conservation lobby needs to be too alarmed just yet. The western gray, which represents about 25% of South Australia’s kangaroo population of nearly 3 million, is clearly not threatened with extinction. Nobody is sure how many kangaroos inhabit Australia as a whole, but the most recent estimates put the figure at 20 million, so they are hardly an endangered species.

But the Australians cannot help feeling sorry for these normally lithe and agile marsupials that are reduced to stumbling through the outback in a blind panic.

Wildlife experts remain optimistic that the puzzling condition may soon disappear.