Australian Society for Kangaroos
Activists halt roo shoot in Canberra
11 June 2011:
Animal activists have disrupted a government contracted cull of kangaroos in the Mount Painter region in Canberra last night after a member of the public spotted an ACT ranger escorting a 4WD vehicle into the reserve around 6pm.
Activists were alerted and entered the park after shooting began about 7pm. The shooters were seen using night vision equipment. A group of activists approached the shooters in darkness, while another group used spotlights to disrupt the shooting. Activists encountered two men in a 4wd vehicle parked on a hill. They had been shooting downhill close to the suburbs. When the men were disturbed they called the police. A large contingent of ACT police searched the area for activists without success. The cull was called off for the night.
The ACT government has ordered the slaughter of 3,500 kangaroos in ACT Nature Parks over the coming weeks. This represents 3/4 of the estimated population of kangaroos in the parks and will see the brutal death of around 1,000 pouch joeys. ACT Parks and Lands staff say the cull is to stop starvation in case of a drought.
Nikki Sutterby from Australian Society for Kangaroos said,
“Around 10,000 kangaroos and their joeys have been killed on public land in the ACT in the last three years alone in the name of science, yet the ACT government has failed to provide any science to show this is
necessary. During this current kill, we’re looking at around 1,500 joeys being decapitated, shot and orphaned, on top of 3,427 kangaroos. So in fact the ACT government will destroy close to 5,000 kangaroos in public nature parks in Canberra this month in the name of science, but in the absence of science,” said Nikki Sutterby today.