ACT Now: end the annual kangaroo slaughter

The government of the ACT has a lamentable record of kangaroo killing. The killing is unnecessary and cruel. Under the official Code of Practice, baby kangaroos in the pouch are to be battered to death by contracted shooters.

In some quarters, a myth is perpetrated: kangaroos are incorrectly regarded as pests which destroy native grasslands and the habitats of ground dwelling creatures. Each year scientifically-based lobby groups or farmers demand more and more Eastern Grey kangaroos be destroyed, and each year the reasons change: in dry conditions, they are starving, so must be 'humanely' killed; if wet, the myth is propagated that they they are multiplying out of control. The fact is that kangaroos are not in plague proportion in the ACT, nor are they starving. This propaganda serves the interests of those who profit from the death of wildlife.

When the grasslands are razed by development, or grazed by domestic stock, the lobbyists are silent.

Regardless of the myth perpetuated by some lobby groups that kangaroos are pests, the fact remains that they are native animals who have lived in harmony with the environment without the need for human 'management'.  They have substantially less impact on the environment than domestic stock, or human beings.

We appeal to the government of the Australian Capital Territory to halt the carnage immediately, and to reexamine the philosophy that perceives kangaroos as a commodity to be exploited and managed.

Ray and Carol Drew    Contact the author of the petition