Shooters hired to kill up to 15,000 kangaroos on Australian army base

Star Publications (Malaysia) ^ | 2002/5/20

[jedi150]

!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en"> Shooters hired to kill up to 15,000 kangaroos on Australian army base

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP): Shooters gathered Monday to begin killing up to 15,000 kangaroos on grasslands within an army base in southern Australia, after
the animals' population surged and they were beginning to starve.

The Defense Department hired nine shooters to reduce the kangaroo population on the 44,000-hectare (110,000-acre) Puckapunayl army base in the southern state
of Victoria, department spokesman Brian Humphreys said.

"Shooting will start in another day or so,'' he said.

Inspectors from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals will have access to the base to make sure the cull is conducted humanely. The animals
will be shot in the head, and their carcasses buried in mass graves on the base.

The killing will take an estimated three months and cost about 700,000 Australian dollars (dlrs 385,000).

The base's kangaroo population exploded to more than 80,000 -- from about 45,000 in 1999 -- after the removal of sheep flocks from the area allowed grass to
grow unchecked, providing fodder for hordes of kangaroos.

Ecologists recommended the cull after hundreds of kangaroos began starving and tangling themselves in wire fences in a bid to find new pastures.

Animal welfare activists have said they were prepared to stand between shooters and kangaroos if they deem that the animals are being unnecessarily killed.

Spokeswoman Rheya Linden of the group Animal Active said that only sick kangaroos should be shot, while healthy ones should be fed and released.

Several protesters were evicted from the base Sunday when they broke through a fence and attempted to feed bales of hay to some of the kangaroos.

There are over 60 different species of kangaroo in Australia. While it is impossible to determine the exact number in Australia, the population of the four most
common species is thought to be more than 50 million.
 
 

[in the Arena]

Dust off your Sharps they need you down under...

[RIGHT IN SEATTLE]

I'll buy the skins for these!

[gwynapnudd]

Kangaroo is excellent meat and is both expensive and popular in Europe. Reason - fear of Mad Cow disease, BSE, or CJD. Germany was the first country to allow them to be domesticated. I think you get 40 lbs of edible meat in 6 months with roos.

[shaggy eel]

,,, tenders would have been called to do the big shoot and when the sums were done, I bet contractors would have weighed in cheaper.

[scouse]

Any animal whose collective name is "A Mob" deserves to be shot.

[shaggy eel]

,,, Germans and Koreans have been longtime buyers of our farmed venison too. It's more than CJD that has determined the German export orders - it's a taste thing. I eat venison at any opportunity I get too.

[gwynapnudd]

[jedi150]

UMMMMMMMMMM!!!! MEAT!

[TC Rider]

I had something pithy to write, but after looking at the meat I can't remember what it was.

[gitmo]

Reckon it's sort of like quail hunting except they don't keep going up?

[Ditter]

Kangaroo hides are thin & a beautiful color & they can be cut in very thin strings & braided into bridles & reins & other stuff. They are the best. Texans hides are tough & thick & we have scars & warts & stuff on them & we are very apposed to giving our hides up. heh heh

[Big Bunyip]

Thanks for the ping, shag.

When I was a nipper, we thought roo meat was good only for feeding to the dogs. But about a month ago, the little woman and I were dining at an Oz restaurant, a joint called Eight Mile Creek, in fashionable SoHo here in Gotham, and they had it on the menu.

The wife's verdict: It tastes like venison -- which makes a pleasant change from everything else, which always tastes like chicken.

[cynicom]

I think we best be taking a close look at the "beef" those Aussies ship here.

[shaggy eel]

,,, on the basis of your wife's judgement, I'm even keener to try kangaroo meat than I was some hours ago. I thought I'd get around to it, now I'll hunt some down (supermarket hunting) and do some product familiarisation. Buffalo and crocodile will surely follow. Ostrich was the last non-standard tasting session!

[Kermit]

My Dad had a pair of kangaroo leather books, the softest leather ever. Wish I had a pair.

[Byron_the_Aussie]

Station: 3AW Date: 17/05/2002
Program: DRIVE Time: 1630
Compere: STAN ZEMANEK
Summary ID: M00006980494
Item: CULL OF KANGAROOS AT PUCKAPUNYAL ARMY BASE: INTERVIEW WITH DR.HUGH WIRTH, RSPCA

ZEMANEK: Is it true also that the land really can only take 40 or 50,000 kangaroos, but in actual fact there's over 100,000?

WIRTH: There is certainly over 100,000.  The estimates are guesstimates about what is sustainable.  The Army, up to date, has failed to produce a kangaroo management plan for their base. They have now promised a draft kangaroo management plan on Monday.  A copy will be given to the Department and to the RSPCA to approve or disapprove, as the case may be, and it will be then that they'll produce the facts on sustainability.

ZEMANEK: What do you think about the animal active protesters who have said, and I quote: they will put their bodies on the line to stop the cull?

WIRTH: Well, that's ridiculous.  It's not helping the kangaroos.  Look, we have a major crisis at Puckapunyal.  There is a great deal of suffering, and the Western cultural ethic is when you've got an animal suffering you put it out of its misery. Now, if they like to stand in front of the guns, so be it, but I hope that the Military Police attend to them.

[Byron_the_Aussie]

[snip] Hi fellow clear-thinkers. And thanks to John for this clarification. The roo cull is necessary/good for the environment, and for the overall roo population. Letting them lay to rot, or bulldozing them is a BLOODY CRIMINAL ACT. I'll bet that the volunteer service providers to the poor and homeless in Victoria would not turn up their noses at the opportunity to get their hands on a  hundred tonnes of high quality protein. Why can't the Federal & Victorian Govts. get off their collective arses and fast-track an approval arrangement with DNRE for Pucka - as an emergency measure ? XXX

---------- From: "John Kelly"
Reply-To: "John Kelly"
Date: Mon, 20 May 2002 13:51:45 +1000
To: XXXXXXXX
Subject: Re: Hugh Wirth on roo cull

Vic does not have a Federally approved management plan for roos so there is no possibility of them entering commercial trade, it will all be shoot and let lay

John Kelly
Kangaroo Industries Association of Australia
Email kiaa@bigpond.net.au
website http://www.kangaroo-industry.asn.au
----- Original Message -----
From: XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
To: YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
Sent: Monday, May 20, 2002 1:35 PM
Subject: FW: Hugh Wirth on roo cull

I wonder if the RSPCA will ask the Feds that they be paid for having their "inspectors" present. I would have thought, what with the reported potential closure of at least one animal shelter in Victoria, that the RSPCA could well use their resources in a more effective way than swanning around Pucka for three months. I hope that the roos are going to be processed and not "let lay". What is the story JK - any way to utilise the roos??[snip]

[sadimgnik]

Roo meat can be a bit 'stringy', but is quite tasty .. and is seriously low in cholesterol.

Best served with a bush-tucker style cumquat or plum sauce.

Regards

Sadim

[piasa]

You sure know how to make a girl hungry.

Why are they going to waste all of that meat by putting it in a 'mass grave?' Shooting them isn't an outrage but throwing away the meat is a little absurd.

[mamelukesabre]

I was going to ask why they don't have some kind of program where the meat is processed and used as food. But then I read the part about how they are starving to death and only the sick ones will be shot. The muscle tissue of a starving animal isn't the best thing in the world to eat. In fact, if you yourself are starving, eating the muscle of a starving animal will kill you. It's called protein poisoning.