Kangaroos To Be Killed in Australian Capital

Carolyn Barry in Sydney, Australia
for National Geographic News

March 11, 2008

An overabundance of kangaroos munching on native grasses near Australia's capital, Canberra, has left the government little choice but to kill some of the pesky marsupials, authorities say.

In Canberra and elsewhere in the island nation, kangaroos are overgrazing native grasslands and competing with domestic livestock for food.

This concern has led the government of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), which includes Canberra, to prepare for an April cull of 400 eastern gray kangaroos from an unused defense site just a few miles from the city's parliament house.

(Related news: "Kangaroos Invading Australian Cities as Drought Worsens" [July 18, 2007].)

The 287-acre (116-hectare) location is also home to endangered species of moth and grasshopper, which rely on the vulnerable native grasses for survival.

"We want kangaroos in the same environment, but just not in the same numbers," said Maxine Cooper, ACT's commissioner for the environment and author of a report that recommended the extermination plan.

"Culling any animal is a concern, but the real issue across the world is that we're losing species daily. The eastern gray kangaroo is not under threat—but there are threatened species on this site," Cooper said.

"If we don't take action, these species won't exist."

Mob Behavior

No one quite knows how the mob—the name for a group of kangaroos—came to live within the 8-foot-high (2.4-meter-high) confines of the decommissioned naval transmission site.

But in the past decade, numbers have risen from about 30 animals to more than 500, burdening the local ecosystem, according to the government.

The defense department shelved initial plans to kill the kangaroos last year so they could investigate a possible relocation into the neighboring state of New South Wales.

Sixty kangaroos were then sterilized as part of a study into population control methods.

(Related: "Birth Control for Kangaroos: Scientists' Population Control Plan" [September 6, 2006].)

But "the fertility program is not advanced enough to give on a large-scale basis," and it wouldn't solve the immediate problem at hand, Cooper said.

Experts advised Cooper that moving the kangaroos would be too stressful: Some kangaroos may die during the move as they wake and try to bolt.

In the end the scientists concluded that culling was the more humane option.

Harsh Reality

The preferred method of killing a 'roo is a shot to the head. Hunters must have a license and undergo target training.

Some 3 to 4 million of Australia's estimated 30 to 50 million kangaroos are killed this way each year, either for meat, or to a lesser extent, as pest control in agricultural rangelands.

However, because of the Canberra mob's proximity to residential areas and public safety concerns, the Australian police ruled that those animals cannot be shot.

Cooper has recommended that they instead be darted with tranquilizers, euthanized, and buried off site.

Opposition

Animal welfare groups are opposed to the cull.

"We believe there's an overpopulation problem [at this site]," said Greg Tarlinton, vice president of Wildcare New South Wales, a wildlife rescue group.

"We're not really arguing with that—just that there are other methods of control," he said.

"Obviously, we're concerned about the endangered species and the grassland itself. There just seems to be a goal to kill these kangaroos no matter what. I'm very disappointed."

Tarlinton said that while the most dangerous part of the process is darting the kangaroos, when done carefully and with experienced people, relocation isn't harmful.

He added it is the preferred method throughout Australia for dealing with kangaroos.

"Most other states are moving forward, whereas ACT is moving backward," he said.

Pat O'Brien, president of the late wildlife enthusiast Steve Irwin's Wildcare Protection Association in Queensland, is also averse to the cull.

"Not only do we think it's inhumane; we think it's totally unnecessary," he said.

"Killing them sends the wrong message to the world."

Free Email News Updates
Sign up for our Inside National Geographic newsletter. Every two weeks we'll send you our top stories and pictures (see sample).