A family of northern quolls have been returned to their home in Far North Queensland after an unexpected journey to Melbourne.
The mother and four babies were found in a box of pumpkins at a Melbourne wholesale market in early December after it's believed they entered the box at a farm near Cairns.
Victorian wildlife officer Megan Hain said the animals were a little worse for wear but were captured and taken to Melbourne Zoo for rehabilitation.
"It was a delicate exercise because they were found hiding in a box of pumpkins; obviously they're quite small animals," she said.
"It was a bit of a surprise for us."
Dinouk Perera from the Queensland Department of Environment and Science said it was remarkable the animals fared so well on their interstate journey.
"They're primarily carnivorous, so that trip would have been a long trip without any food or water," he said.
"While they like the little critters that hang among the pumpkins — the farmers usually like having quolls around to catch the mice and the rats and stuff like that — quolls per se wouldn't have really enjoyed the pumpkins except for a bit of shelter."
Ms Hain said despite their long journey, officers were still cautious with the animals when transporting them from the markets.
"We are very well aware that they do have a bit of a bite, so we had our safety equipment ready."
Journey home
Mr Perera said while the quolls arrived in a relatively poor state, their rehabilitation at Melbourne Zoo brought them back to peak condition for their return journey.
"It was definitely more comfortable," he said.
"They travelled by air first from Victoria to Cairns, and then in Cairns we picked them up in our purpose-built wildlife response unit; it has the air conditioning and temperature regulation."
After a final check he said the family were released at a carefully selected spot.
"We identified a really good release location near a creek with a little timber burrow that they could run into and find shelter, which was in pretty close proximity to the farm where they came from," Mr Perera said.
"We didn't want to drop them back in too close to the farm because we might find them in Melbourne again."
Ms Hain said she had seen the images of the release and described it as a "fairytale ending".
"It was just such a fantastic outcome for animals which are federally listed as endangered."
