Hundreds of kangaroos face cull in Australia - Singapore's Online Community

**Voodoo Vince** · 04-03-2008, 12:43 PM

Hundreds of kangaroos face cull in Australia

SYDNEY - MORE than 400 kangaroos living on Australian defence department land face being culled after a plan to relocate them was blocked, a report said on Tuesday.

The state government of the Australian Capital Territory has refused to grant export licences to move the eastern grey kangaroos to neighbouring New South Wales, The Canberra Times said.

As a result, the department of defence had abandoned plans to move them from the former naval station in Belconnen in Canberra, leaving a cull as the only alternative, the paper said.

There was an international outcry in 2004 when about 900 kangaroos were destroyed at the site of a dam supplying water to Canberra, and a new cull would spark 'significant national protest action", said Wildlife Protection Association president Pat O'Brien.

State Environment Commissioner Maxine Cooper said that while the kangaroos at the site were considered over-abundant, she had recommended against relocation because experts considered it inhumane.

'The advice I'm getting... is the amount of trauma that occurs to the animal in the first instance is something they feel is unacceptable,' Ms Cooper told ABC radio.

Relocation would reportedly involve darting and sedating the kangaroos.

Ms Cooper declined to say whether she had recommended culling the animals in a report to the state government on managing the territory's lowland grasslands.

A political row over kangaroo management in the state erupted last year and then defence department shelved its plans to cull kangaroos while it considered the proposal to relocate the animals from Belconnen. -- AFP

http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest%2...ry_213125.html

**Huaikong** · 04-03-2008, 05:03 PM

aussie infested with roos imo....

**Myra Jovan** · 04-03-2008, 05:06 PM

Come on, Kangaroos are the highlight of Australia!

**urawks** · 04-03-2008, 05:35 PM

australia is best known for kangaroos mans..they are so cute!!

**Idontknowyou** · 04-03-2008, 08:26 PM

WHAT'S WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE! IF I WAS OLD ENOUGH I WOULD DEFINITELY GO FLY THERE AND BECOME A KANGAROO HUGGER.

Not literally. Just in a sense. They have powerful kicks you know

**Voodoo Vince** · 05-03-2008, 10:07 PM

Too many kangaroos, just like what Australia used to face - Wild Rabbits.

**StompTrooper** · 07-03-2008, 12:01 PM

Hope they don't forget that the kangaroo is part of Australia.

**Voodoo Vince** · 07-03-2008, 01:13 PM

Australia military to cull kangaroos after row

CANBERRA - A CULL of hundreds of wild kangaroos from an Australian military base will go ahead following almost a year of debate after authorities on Friday ruled out a costly plan to move them.

The cull of up to 500 animals using tranquilliser darts followed by lethal injection would begin within two weeks, military spokesman Brigadier Andrew Nikolic said.

'There's an ecologist and two veterinarians (who) will be available to advise on animal welfare issues and supervise,' Brig. Nikolic told reporters.

The eastern grey kangaroos, which feature on Australia's coat of arms, are living on a military communications base in the nation's capital Canberra. Authorities say the mob of 'roos is endangering a species of local lizard and the threatened gold sun moth through overgrazing.

The marsupials have been on death row since May last year when a planned cull was deferred after an outcry by animal protection groups.

An original plan to cull kangaroos on a second base in Canberra was abandoned after a long drought threatening the animals with mass starvation began to ease.

But the military says the situation at the Belconnen Naval Transmission Station is critical and the aim is to protect native grasslands and reduce the population to about one kangaroo per hectare. Under the plan, about 100 kangaroos would be left on the base.

The local Canberra government this week refused to grant export licences to move the animals to neighbouring New South Wales state using air-conditioned vans, which was judged to be too expensive and inhumane.

Brig. Nikolic said that left a cull as the only option. Wildlife groups have been at odds over whether it was more humane to cull the kangaroos or move them.

Wildlife Protection Association President Pat O'Brien said protests were planned to try to stop the cull. A plan to shoot the animals was abandoned after police warned stray bullets could ricochet and hit nearby residents or protesters.

'We can promise Canberra will see serious protest action. There is a lot of public anger over this decision,' Mr O'Brien said.

In 2004 there was an international outcry over the shooting of 900 kangaroos at a dam supplying water to Canberra and which were causing erosion problems through grazing.

Mr Steve Garlick, a spokesman for the local Wildcare animal protection group, said relocating the kangaroos would not have been difficult.

'I think they would learn an awful lot before they start going for the default option of slaughtering these animals,' he said. -- REUTERS

http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest%2...ry_214339.html

**Twinkle** · 08-03-2008, 09:36 AM

Poor kangaroos.

**KongMing** · 08-03-2008, 12:45 PM

Don't worry. The kangaroos will KO the soldiers.

**Miss QQ** · 11-03-2008, 08:04 AM

OMG... Those poor kangaroos...

**winni12** · 11-03-2008, 08:06 AM

ya kangaroos represent australia
they should find other solution to solve this problem

**Voodoo Vince** · 12-03-2008, 07:59 PM

Australian minister defends planned cull of 400 kangaroos

The plan to cull the kangaroos is to shoot them with tranquilizer darts before administering lethal injections. -- PHOTO: AP

CANBERRA - AUSTRALIA'S environment minister defended plans on Wednesday to slaughter 400 kangaroos in the national capital because they are overeating the region's grass, but protesters vowed to prevent the cull.

The government's plan is a scaled-down version of an earlier proposal to eradicate about half of the more than 6,000 kangaroos at two military sites in Canberra because their numbers had grown too large and they were grazing themselves out of a habitat.

However, the proposed killing of Australia's beloved national symbol has triggered international protests from animal protection activists.

Wildlife Protection Association spokesman Pat O'Brien said on Wednesday he received legal advice that a court challenge to the cull was unlikely to succeed, so activists planned to block the site 'to anybody that wants to go in and kill them,' he told Australian Broadcasting radio.

Environment Minister Peter Garrett defended the plan and dismissed calls for the federal government to use its powers to stop the cull.

'Australians care a great deal about their environment and about their wildlife,' Mr Garrett told reporters. 'But when there are significant imbalances and the possibilities that you'll have conditions which don't benefit the environment and wildlife in the long-term, then programs like this - humanely and properly administered - are sometimes necessary.'

Authorities argue kangaroo overpopulation has caused overgrazing of rare native grasslands that also threatens species such as the grassland earless dragon, striped legless lizard, and golden sun moth.

Mr Garrett, a former rock star who is now a leading figure in the international campaign against Japanese whaling in the Antarctic Ocean, rejected comparisons between slaughtering whales and Australia's iconic fauna.

'Our views on whaling are clear and we will continue to resolutely oppose the killing of whales in the Southern Ocean,' said Mr Garrett, former frontman of the rock band Midnight Oil.

The Defence Department initially planned to cull the kangaroos with guns until police raised public safety concerns in the suburban environment. The plan now is to shoot the kangaroos with tranquilizer darts before administering lethal injections. No timetable for the cull has been announced.

Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon and the head of Australia's defence force, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, declined to comment on Wednesday.

Federal environment protection laws allow for harvesting of millions of wild kangaroos, which are killed by licensed hunters under a quota system. The meat is used for human consumption and pet food, and the pelts for soft toys and quality leather.

The vegetarian British animal welfare organisation Viva! this week launched an international petition to pressure Canberra's local government to allow the kangaroos to be relocated rather than killed. -- AP

http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest%2...ry_216001.html