Spiny mammal stolen from Australia park by visitor returns home months later
A visitor to a national park in Australia stole a spiny mammal and kept it in captivity for several months as its health deteriorated. Now, after a “lengthy” recovery, the legally protected animal is back home.
“A member of the public” visited Mount Archer National Park in February and took a juvenile short-beaked echidna with them, the Queensland Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation said in a Sept. 1 news release.
Echidnas are a type of egg-laying mammal native to Australia, according to Bush Heritage Australia. Short-beaked echidnas’ spiny brown-black bodies can reach 15 inches long and weigh up to 15 pounds. They are generally solitary and feed on ants and termites.
The echidna stolen from Mount Archer National Park was “kept in captivity for three months without a permit, licence or authority,” Leigh Deutscher, a senior wildlife official with the department, said in the release.
“After a concerned member of the public became aware of this and tipped us off, we were able to rescue the echidna,” Deutscher said.
At the time of its rescue, “the echidna was underweight, humanised, and unable to forage for food on its own,” officials said.
Officials placed the animal in the care of a “specialist volunteer wildlife carer” where it underwent “three months of intensive care.” Eventually, the echidna “began foraging on its own for food and avoiding human interaction.”
After a “lengthy rehabilitation,” the echidna was “released into the wild in Rockhampton,” an area near Mount Archer National Park, in August, officials said.
“It immediately began foraging on small insects and disappeared into bushland,” Deutscher said.
Under Australian law, “a person must not take, use, keep or interfere with a native animal, and could face a maximum penalty of $500,700 (AUD) or two-years imprisonment,” the department said. Officials did not say if any penalties were imposed in this case.
“Taking or interfering with a native animal without relevant permits is illegal,” Deutscher said. “If this is not enough deterrent, it is also important to consider the very specialised needs on native animals like echidnas and that keeping an animal without the appropriate skills and knowledge can be to the detriment of the animal.”
Mount Archer National Park is along the northeastern coast of Queensland and a roughly 900-mile drive north from Sydney.
This story was originally published September 1, 2025 at 12:53 PM with the headline "Spiny mammal stolen from Australia park by visitor returns home months later."
