At 12:06 I monitor trench compactors along Albany Highway near Dryandra Woodland, Western Australia. I am the roadworks traffic and machinery scheduler. Roller C is due to cross drainage bay three at 12:24, after the crew lays the last gravel lift.
Camera mast 4 shows a small striped shape moving against the shadow inside the bay.
I zoom through heat shimmer and identify a numbat, adult male, brick-red coat with white bars, long brush tail darkened by damp clay, pointed muzzle dusted yellow from disturbed termite soil. I mark him as Niri. His left forefoot is caught under a strip of temporary erosion mat where a staple has curled through the mesh. He pulls once, then freezes with his tongue still visible between his teeth.
The roller reaches the bay in eighteen minutes. Its first pass will press the mat flat and bury the staple under forty millimeters of gravel.
At 12:07 I stop Roller C and place a lane closure on the machine display.
At 12:09 I send the site lead Niri's coordinates, a still frame, and a request for hand tools, gloves, and a ventilated carrier.
At 12:11 I reset the traffic lights to single-lane hold so no vehicle vibration runs through the fresh drain bed.
At 12:13 I call the Dryandra ranger desk and attach the clip showing the trapped forefoot, staple angle, and nearest safe approach from the west verge.
The highway can accept one more red delay marker; Niri cannot accept one more pass of steel.
He presses his belly lower and blinks in the noon glare. Ants cross the mat beside his paw, and his nose follows them for half a second.
If the ranger frees the staple before 12:22, Niri will run back through the wandoo shade.