A great escape for the cute and cuddly residents of Denmark Animal Farm as mega storm lashes WA’s south coast

Alpacas, Scottish Highland calves, kangaroo joeys and lambs were among the cute and cuddly residents of Denmark Animal Farm that received one “hell of a fright” but made a lucky escape during WA’s “once-in-a-decade storm”. About 9pm on Sunday, as the storm set in across the region, winds uprooted a huge karri tree in the farm’s main paddock and sent it crashing into the main shed. “That karri’s been there for a very long time and I’m sure many visitors to our farm over the last 30 years will have that tree in their photos,” owner Debbie Maddams said. “There are quite a lot of animals that had a very lucky escape.” Dozens of animals, from guinea pigs to goats, were housed inside the shed when the tree smashed into the roof. Somehow, the shed was not flattened and no animals were hurt at the Kordabup property, which is also home to the Pentland Alpaca Stud. “We did have some escaped rabbits because the tree fell on the top of their pen and the gate flicked open, but I think we’ve managed to get them all back inside,” Ms Maddams said. “I’m sure the animals would have gotten a hell of a fright but thankfully nobody was injured. Just a very big clean-up ahead of us. “We were fortunate it missed the pigeon cage. It did quite extensively damage the shed, but it didn’t collapse the roof in.” Only two Scottish Highland calves were inside the paddock when the tree was uprooted. The paddock is usually home to many of the farm’s favourite residents, but they were moved to lower paddocks when COVID-19 restrictions forced the business to shut its doors. “And the thing is, because of the weather, the animals would have all been sheltering under the tree,” Ms Maddams said.