Controversial $350,000 nighttime plan for 16 Aussie parks
A $350,000 government splurge on shooting wild kangaroos roaming in parks surrounding an Australian city has opponents up in arms. They say it's time for the ACT government to get smarter about how it manages the native marsupials, rather than spending up big on bullets.
When darkness falls and walkers and picnickers return home from 16 grassy reserves that surround Canberra, shooters will move in. They're contracted to shoot thousands of kangaroos this year to manage what it says are 'environmental, economic and social impacts' caused by 'overpopulation'.
'Leading scientists and land managers with decades of experience in ecology, land management, and kangaroo management have calculated an operational target of 2,981 kangaroos to be removed,' an ACT government spokesperson told Yahoo News.
Related: 320 wallabies shot at sanctuary designed to protect wildlife
Culling kangaroos so close to a city is a complex operation, meaning the government has to pay for staff overtime, contractors, planning, monitoring and equipment.
Gwenda Griffiths from Save Canberra's Kangaroos thinks the money could be better spent on creating overpasses or underpasses. This would mean they aren't hit by cars when they leave the reserves and the grasslands they live on don't become denuded.
Since Canberra was established as a city, the reserves where kangaroos live have become surrounded by development, so the only way in or out for animals is via roads.
'It's not rocket science and we're not reinventing the wheel, these overpasses are used successfully elsewhere around the world,' Griffiths told Yahoo News. 'Sure, they're expensive, but they could benefit humans as well.'
Doing this would not only reduce the risk of conflict, it would allow kangaroos to naturally traverse the landscape so numbers don't build up in reserves.
This short-term expenditure could reduce any ongoing need for yearly culls, freeing up more money in future for important issues like health and education.
"We need to stop thinking the only solution is to shoot them. We need to get better at sharing the environment," Griffiths said.
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Griffiths doesn't believe there should be any need for culls in Australia, and that it's on planners to properly design cities that allow for wildlife movement.
"They talk about welfare concerns that when there's a drought, they starve, and when there's a rain they overproduce. But for thousands of years, kangaroos have lived in varying conditions and have regulated their own reproduction," she said.
While shooting remains the government's dominant method of control, it has also invested in fertility controls. So far this year, just 18 females have been treated with the GonaCon vaccine, but there are plans to expand its use.
'GonaCon contraceptive vaccine is currently being used at three nature reserves. To reduce population growth, we are aiming to treat between 60 per cent and 80 per cent of the adult females at these sites with GonaCon,' a government spokesperson said.
Females only need to be treated once so there aren't ongoing costs with this population control method.
'Most of the GonaCon treatments required at these sites were administered in previous years, so only a low number of additional treatments were required this year to maintain the desired number of infertile females in these populations,' the government said.
The government's use of the carcasses also remains controversial, because it's a rare jurisdiction where there isn't commercial harvesting of their meat and skins.
While some bodies are given to Traditional Custodians for cultural use, and some are used in baits to kill native dingos and invasive foxes, the majority are disposed of.
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