THE ACT government has been accused of secretly butchering hundreds of kangaroos in Canberra nature reserves during its annual cull in July.

Save Canberra’s Kangaroos group says the information was revealed through a freedom of information request.

The community group’s FOI request was part of fact-finding for its protests against the more than 1000 kangaroos culled over four weeks during winter.  

SCK spokesperson Jane Robinson said the FOI had revealed that the ACT government approved the butchering of kangaroos and joeys, while shooting continued, under the cover of darkness at Ainslie/Majura, the Pinnacle and Mulanggari Nature Reserves. 

“ACT Environment Minister Rebecca Vassarotti’s ‘Kangaroo Management Program’ enables the hunting of kangaroos and joeys, but we are appalled and outraged it also allows butchering them into over 3400 meat baits,” she said. 

“The kangaroo and joey meat baits have commercial value as they are then injected with the highly toxic and painful 1080 poison to kill foxes and dingos. 

“The Minister and government has kept this hidden… It has only come to light because of the FOI documents. 

“They had already turned the Bush Capital into a slaughterhouse of Australia’s most iconic animal. Now we discover they’re wilfully misleading Canberrans by concealing the late-night butchery and breaching their own ban on the commercial killing of kangaroos. 

“Canberrans would be disgusted to learn the truth about what the ACT government and Minister Vassarotti have secretly sanctioned.”