“The government plans to expedite its kangaroo extermination program with fertility control. Under such pressure, kangaroos will soon follow other local species into extinction in some areas of Canberra,” says FRANKIE SEYMOUR, of Save Canberra’s Kangaroos. 

THIS year the ACT government will slaughter more than 1042 kangaroos on six nature reserves. 

The kangaroos being targeted are on Mt Ainslie, Mt Majura, Red Hill, Mulanggari Grasslands, The Pinnacle and Molonglo River Reserve (Kama section).

“Environment Minister Rebecca Vassarotti is the minister responsible for a program that has already killed nearly 30,000 adult kangaroos, bludgeoned or decapitated about 10,000 pouch joeys, and orphaned thousands of older, dependent joeys,” says Frankie Seymour, of Save Canberra’s Kangaroos.

“Ms Vassarotti recently made the following claim which is worthy of the torturers employed by George Orwell’s ‘Ministry of Love’: ‘Culling operations are undertaken with the deepest respect to the animal’s welfare and their connection with the land’.

“In fact, many of these kangaroos will not be killed instantly. They will die in agony. 

“Many others, fleeing in panic, will impale themselves on barbed wire fences or collide with traffic. 

Ms Seymour says hundreds of struggling, terrified pouch young will be bludgeoned to death or decapitated. 

“Uncounted older joeys will be orphaned to die of cold, hunger, thirst and the painful form of stress known as myopathy,” she says.  

An open letter published this year by 32 ACT medical specialists describes the scale of the cruelty witnessed during last year’s slaughter. These specialists are trained in the methods of scientific evaluation, critical thinking, and empathy. 

They conclude: “There is no science, no compassion, no accountability and no transparency in this annual kill – and it is time the ACT government and the Environment, Planning, Sustainable Development Directorate were called to account.”

Last year, the government was exposed as vastly overestimating the number of kangaroos on the reserves, says Ms Seymour.

“Despite these overestimates, the number to be killed is legislated under a calculating program which has been popularly dubbed ‘Robo-kill,” she says.

“Ms Vassarotti and her predecessors claim that kangaroo grazing is a threat to other native species. Nothing could be further from the truth. 

“A CSIRO analysis of the government’s own data shows that kangaroos are present on Canberra reserves in numbers that actively benefit other native species.” 

Kangaroos have long been recognised as a keystone species – a species without which other species cannot survive.A topical example of a species that cannot survive without kangaroos is the Earless Dragon who thrives in areas with a more open structure, characterised by small patches of bare ground between the grasses and herbs. 

“This is exactly the kind of habitat that is maintained by kangaroo grazing,” says Ms Seymour. 

“In the absence of kangaroos the ACT reserves are now covered in head-high overgrowth. It is scarcely any wonder that the Earless Dragon has recently been promoted to the ACT’s critically endangered list.

“As we move from a long, wet, high-growth period into another long, hot, dry spell, the overgrown reserves invite a repetition of the 2003 fires. “Such fires would pretty much guarantee the promotion of the Earless Dragon and other species from the “critically endangered” list to the “locally extinct” list.

“The government now plans to expedite its kangaroo extermination program with fertility control. Under such pressure, kangaroos will soon be following many other local species into extinction in some areas of Canberra.”

Ms Seymour urged people to email their objection to the cruel treatment of Canberra’s kangaroos to:

• ACT Chief Minister at barr@act.gov.au
• ACT Greens Leader at rattenbury@act.gov.au
• ACT Environment Minister at vassarotti@act.gov.au

Save Canberra’s Kangaroos, canberrakangaroos@optusnet.com.au, PO Box 6090 Conder, 2906. Facebook #savecanberraskangaroos