Kangaroo newsletter Archives2Kangamail 18/8/04 We understand that a public comment document into the Review of the Commercial Kangaroo killing Code of Practice will be released later this week. It will apparently be featured on the web sites of the review participants. Animals Australia will also post it on their web site. The Public (that’s us!) will have around 6 weeks to comment on it. It is important to remember that apart from Animals Australia’s input, this document has been produced by the Industry, and by elements involved in the Industry. It has been developed “in house”, and as we all know, once these Draft documents have been produced by “government departments in isolation”, they are very hard to have changed. Be prepared to be disappointed. ******************************************
Kangaroo meat will be exported to Korea for the very first time this month. Southern Game Meats, based at Roma and Crows Nest, intend to ship 80 to 100 tonnes of high market cuts, rumps and topsides each month. Currently they ship 3000 tonnes of kangaroo meat annual to Europe, Russia, Singapore, China and South Africa. Research is also under way to develop sausages, rissoles, and smoked meats. The kangaroos are sourced from across southern Queensland and northern NSW. The factory employs 45 workers and process up to 1000 kangaroos a day. They hope to lift the processing to 1600 kangroos a day, but “rely on the availability” of workers. *QCL ************************************ At Viva! we read with some bemusement the recent claims that us “Poms” are “lapping up” kangaroo meat. This couldn’t be further from the truth. No British supermarket stocks kangaroo meat following Viva!’s successful campaign against it and just a few independents still persist in unsuccessfully trying to create a market but just last week, another chain of butchers dropped it. People here regard the clubbing to death of a million joeys a year as indefensible and as reprehensible as the clubbing to death of baby seals. There is a general incredulity that Australia’s national icon is seemingly held in such contempt that millions of kangaroos are blasted off the face of the earth every year. Ordinary Australians must ask themselves how much damage this bloody trade is doing to their international image and valuable tourist industry - and why the Australian Government ignores the fact that kangaroos are worth more alive than dead. Wildlife safaris, where mobs of kangaroos can be viewed in the wild, could swell income from tourism enormously but it has barely been tried. The message is clear: end the largest massacre of wildlife on the planet and we might then be able to see Australia “in a different light”. *VIVA! **************************** For the last 15 months, the Queensland kangaroo shooters have been trialling a bar-code system of recording kills. The system involves tagging al kills with a bar code, then reading the tag with a hand held reader, then transferring the information to QPWS via a phone link. Shooters believe that they will save many hours of manual writing and recording when they get home. *QCL ******************************* A campaign to promote Scotland as Europe’s number one destination for wildlife was due to be launched in North Berwick today. "Wild Scotland" was set to be officially launched by Tourism Minister Frank McAveety at the Scottish Seabird Centre. Wildlife operators from across Scotland have joined forces for the first time to promote Scotland through responsible and quality-led wildlife experiences as the concept of wildlife tourism grows. Wildlife tourism generates over £74 million for the Scottish economy annually from UK visitors alone. ******************************************* Australia's iconic kangaroos are being decimated by hunting and drought, and the largest of the species could be extinct within 10 years, wildlife activists warned Wednesday. The Wildlife Protection Association said that red kangaroos - the world's largest living marsupials - are in the greatest danger as a result of aggressive culling programs. "I think 10 years is going to see the red kangaroos out, unless we stop killing them right now," said association president Pat O'Brien. *Animal Planet *****************************************
In Solidarity with Animals on channel 11- tell Ziggy's to kick kangaroo off their menu! by In Solidarity with Animals Thursday October 02, 2003 at 02:35 PM
info@insolidaritywithanimals.com Tune in to 10:00 news tonight on KHOU Channel 11 as they cover In Solidarity with Animals' campaign to rid Ziggy's of Kangaroo. While your at it, check out Friday's edition of The Houston Chronicle for a full report. Come to ISWA's monthly meeting tomorrow, Friday October 3, at 7:00 pm to hear Dr. Anuj Shah speak about kangaroos. Undercover footage of the kangaroo massacre will be shown. Location: Houston Peace and Justice Center (1627 W. Alabama Street). Join us Saturday as we demonstrate our objections in front of Ziggy's "Healthy" Grill from 2-4 pm (At W. Alabama and Greenbriar). Dear Ziggy’s: We write with great concern regarding your practice of serving kangaroo meat. As a community of individuals concerned with health, as well as humane treatment of living beings, we find your serving this “exotic” meat questionable and disturbing and ask that you please stop selling kangaroo meat out of consideration for the health and well-being of the Houston community which has come to trust you. Health Hazards It is a clear misrepresentation to tell customers that kangaroo meat is a healthful food. Kangaroo meat harbors a vast array of parasites. Several species of grey kangaroos, for instance, may be infected by as many as 30,000 nematodes from 20 different species.[1] Dr. David Obendorg, Wildlife Veterinary Pathologist with over 20 years of experience in the parasites and diseases of Australian fauna, states: Kangaroos. . .can harbour a wide range of parasitic bacterial, fungal, and viral diseases and most of the infections are unapparent (i.e., the animal looks normal). Even meat inspection procedures are unlikely to detect some infections unless gross lesions are apparent or samples are taken for testing. Dr. Obendorg further says that of 35 newly-recognized human infections, 20 have been zoonotic in nature. In addition, he notes that Toxoplasmosis and Salmonellosis are two serious public health infections that are directly related to the handling, processing, and consumption of kangaroo meat, and research indicates that nearly 50% of kangaroos harbor Salmonella. Dr. Erika Cox, a clinical microbiologist at Australia’s Launceston General Hospital, has said: “People who eat kangaroos. . .are at risk of all kinds of parasites that are not normally studies because they don’t occur in livestock.” And Wally Curran, of the Australian Meat Industries Employees Union, has stated: “The only thing game about kangaroo meat is that you would need to be game to eat it.” Clearly, far from being a “health” food, kangaroo meat has the potential to do much harm to people who otherwise innocently are led to believe in its allegedly salutary effects. Cruelty to Kangaroos The cruel and suffering-inducing procedures that the “Industry” carries out in capturing kangaroos for their skin and their flesh would horrify even the most uncompassionate among us. Hunters commonly invade kangaroo habitats at night, miles from civilization and away from public scrutiny, shine blinding lights on the kangaroos, and insert sharp hooks in their legs to drag them away. Meanwhile, joeys (young kangaroos) attempting to hide in their mothers’ pouches are brutally pulled out and clubbed to death, often even by children who derive a perverse pleasure from the suffering of another creature. Each year, 1.3 million “worthless” joeys are clubbed to death, stomped on or left to die from starvation after their mothers are shot for meat and leather, in addition to the official kill rate for export, which exceeded 5.5 million animals in 2001. Adding non-commercial and illegal kills to this figure, the true number of kangaroos and joeys murdered approaches 10 million making kangaroo slaughter far and away the largest slaughter of wild animals on earth.
Sir Paul McCartney has himself stated: “There is an urgent need for action to protect kangaroos from a barbaric industry which slaughters them for meat and leather. Please do all you can to help. . .end this shameful massacre.” Because Ziggy’s serves concerned customers in the Houston area who value credibility, we ask that you do all you can to help end the massacre described above Sincerely, Rhea Green, Executive Director In Solidarity ******************************************** Kangamail 7/8/04 Approximately 15000 western grey kangaroos were illegally killed in Western Australia for the commercial kangaroo industry according to evidence given at an Administrative Appeals Tribunal hearing in Sydney last week. Reasons given were that there had been late and incorrect data entry. The evidence was given in action brought against the Commonwealth Minister for the Environment and Heritage by the Wildlife Protection Association of Australia Incorporated, on the grounds that the Minister should not have approved the kangaroo quotas for 2003 for Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia as he had failed to address concerns about animal welfare. “A blunder of this magnitude coming to light only because we initiated this court case makes a mockery of Government claims that the industry is well managed and Government processes environmentally sound and transparent,” said Pat O’Brien, President of the WPAA. “The commercial kangaroo kill is widely recognized as the largest slaughter of wild animals in the world, but in fact the kill is substantially greater that the official figures would indicate,” he said. Evidence was given that there is no supervision at the time and place of shooting and no records kept of numbers of kangaroos injured but not killed. However, it is estimated that 1% of wounded kangaroos escape and 4% of carcasses arriving at the chiller have been shot in parts of the body other than in the head. In a year when the total commercial kill is 3.5 million, this represents a total of 175,000 kangaroos where there has not been instant death. Moreover, given that approximately 40% of kangaroos shot are females, the majority with two dependent joeys, the actual kill numbers are greater than the numbers provided by 60-70% based on this factor alone. Council for the applicant submitted that the management plan for each state made no provision for the ex-pouch joeys through the code of practice. He also argued that the code of practice does not legally apply because the management plan applies only to those kangaroos taken for sale. In pouch joeys are routinely ripped from the pouch and decapitated, or bludgeoned to death. Occasionally they are shot. The joey at foot is normally left to starve or to meet death by predation. There is no record of numbers of joeys killed or left to starve. “The community as a whole is not aware of the callous cruelty involved in the commercial killing of kangaroos,” said Mr O’Brien. “Nowhere else in the world are the young of wild animals treated with such blatant disregard for their suffering. “With the support of other organizations we are fighting to end this suffering and the continuing disregard for the survival of this unique and beautiful species.” Mr O’Brien said that the Administrative Appeals Tribunal action was instigated by the National Protection Coalition, an alliance of 22 Australian wildlife and animal protection groups. It also involved the Australian Wildlife Protection Council, the World League for Protection of Animals, Animals Australia and the NSW Animal Societies Federation. ******************************************** The long-term future of kangaroos living in the Murray Darling Basin is looking brighter, after the release of a report into roo harvesting. The Kangaroo Management Option Report found harvesting of kangaroos should be based on a sex ratio as well as an overall quota. It suggests the yearly quota be increased from 15 to 20 per cent, with 70 per cent of numbers having to be male. The report's author, Dr Ron Hacker, says he hopes governing agencies along the basin adopt the recommendations. "It certainly would not mean that there would be any dramatic impact on the kangaroo population, it would probably be reduced slightly because of the increased harvest rate, but it would be protected in terms of over-exploitation by the fact that a larger proportion of males is taken and that reduces the impact on the kangaroo population," he said. *ABC Ed. Comment; This Mickey Mouse report was funded through the diversion of funds from the Murray Darling Basin Committee which was supposed to be looking at land management issues. We said when the Report was first commissioned that it would be biased and inaccurate. The report was deliberately designed to show support for continued commercial kangaroo killing, and to facilitate the Industry, nothing else. ******************************************** A legal challenge to kangaroo management plans in Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia will wrap up today. (5/7/04) More than 20 wildlife protection groups have appealed to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in Sydney to stop the commercial kangaroo harvest. Pat O'Brien, from the Wildlife Protection Association, says he expects an outcome in the next few weeks. "We've argued that the commercial kill should be stopped completely, not just on animal welfare issues, but on a whole range of other matters as well, including sustainability, better options for management, non-lethal management options and so on," he said. *ABC ******************************************** A couple of days ago, another woman was attacked by a kangaroo in Canberra, as she tried to rescue her dog from a large male kangaroo. The story featured on the front page of the Canberra Times. The dog chased a kangaroo, which then tried to defend itself. The woman hit the kangaroo over the head with a large tree branch, so the kangaroo kicked her over onto the ground. She rolled away, hit the kangaroo over the head again, then ran off calling the dog. Her clothes were torn incident the incident. The woman received scant sympathy from the Canberran community, with a flood of letters to the paper criticising her foolishness in allowing her dog to run loose where kangaroos where known to be grazing. WPAA ******************************************** Gold Coast Bulletin Yesterday Ross Eastgate suggested that kangaroos are a major part of the problem facing Australian agriculture and should be shot out. However Ken Vernon argues that far from that being the case, kangaroos are the salvation of the land, if only we open our eyes and learn to look at them correctly. For a start, let's avoid using that linguistic cop-out, the word 'culling'. Kangaroos are not being 'culled' in Australia in order to somehow better facilitate their long term survival on the land, as well as to protect the land itself. That is the big lie. The truth is that kangaroos are being slaughtered in their hundreds of thousands - in the most inhumane way, I might add - in order that a few callous individuals can make a few dollars more and in order to make the land available for exotic animals that will ensure the long-term devastation of the land. It is a distinct lack of vision that leads some people to suggest that kangaroos are a problem for Australia. With a little vision, they could easily become our saviour. First off, let me explain that I am not some furry-minded bunny-hugger - I am a devoted carnivore who sees mankind ensconced securely at the top of the food chain. Anyone with any knowledge of the evolution of humanity will know that we ascended to the top of the planetary pile only by learning to hunt, kill and eat our fellow animals, wear their skins and, eventually, farm them for our convenience (and their continued survival) so that we could devote more time to the advancement of our technological civilisation and create more time to devote to the finer things in life. Vegetarians are a separate, inferior, sub-species of humanity, most of whom have remained in the trees because of the need to be near their food source. That said, it is a truism that each advancement of humanity contains the seeds of its own destruction within it. In our case, the cause of death is the heart-stopping cow and its killer cousin the sheep. Beef and mutton are killing us not only because we eat too much of it, but because hundreds of generations of greedy farmers have bred the beasts into larders of killer fat instead of sources of healthy protein. At the same time, as the need to hunt down the once mighty beasts has receded, so we have become sedentary animals ourselves, eating our meat after a stroll from the television set instead of after a wild, heart-pounding race across the plains.
What's the answer? Well, it's hopping up and down right in front of you - the kangaroo. As my colleague admits, kanga-roo meat is lean and almost fat-free, with high levels of polyunsaturated fats and, perhaps best of all, it's plentiful. It is important to realise that it's not kangaroos that are destroying Australia, it is those terrible twin imports, cattle and sheep. Neither of these animals are suited to the Aust-ralian environment and the result is that they are killing the countryside just as surely as they are killing us. Kangaroos, on the other hand, have been designed according to the stringent laws of evolution as a per-fect match for the Australian environment - the two living in harmony. But are there too many kangaroos? The rangelands of Australia, at present levels, support 120 million sheep, 16 million cattle and sundry other feral animals such as brumbies, camels, donkeys, goats and pigs. Research from the Department of Primary Industries has found that each head of cattle eats as much as 16 kangaroos and a sheep as much as two roos. Get rid of these killer animals and Australia can support - at conservative estimates - approximately 496 million health-giving, aesthetically pleasing kangaroos. Yes, read it again - 496 million! At present the 'roo population is estimated to be between 25 and 30 million - and some dare suggest they are a plague and need to be 'culled'! At present around two million kangaroos are killed annually, but the truly horrifying thing about this figure is not that the animals are killed, but that instead of this abun-dant, healthy resource being used to make Australians healthy, the meat is often left to rot on the ground and skins taken to make knick-knacks such as golf gloves, soccer boots and soccer balls. Never has a national team been better named than the Socceroos, a team of blokes who are literally kicking the national symbol around. Then there is the method of 'culling'. Most Australians take comfort from the idea of a confused Skippy, blinded by a spotlight, being felled humanely by a single killing shot - but the truth is far from this self-serving myth. The truth is this description by Juliet Gellatley BSc (Zoology): "Imagine this. A mother kangaroo, grooming her beautiful joey at night in the vast wild outback, hears the sound of a four-wheel drive and stands transfixed, sensing danger. Searchlights are shone at her. A man takes aim, supposedly to shoot her in the head - but blows a hole in her neck. "She falls in pain, helpless to save her joey who retreats into her pouch. But there's no escape. "The hunter pulls the joey out of his mother's blood spattered body, tosses him to the ground and stamps on his head. "He writhes in agony and is left to die. (Older joeys who frantically hop away when their mothers are shot, have no chance of survival. They die a slow, lonely death from starvation or cold.) "The shot mother does not die instantly. She struggles as the hunter slits her leg open, thrusts a hook through it and hangs her upside down on a truck. "She is knifed, gutted, her head, tail and legs tossed aside." How dare we criticise the Japanese for killing a few whales when we slaughter millions of kangaroos in this way. Let me propose an alternative. Imagine this. Thousands of foreign tourists driving through Australia oohing and ahhing at millions of beautiful kangaroos grazing peacefully behind fences - instead of the cows and sheep they see every day in their own countries. Admittedly the fences would have to be higher, but that is hardly a stumbling block. Southern Africa has discovered that the way to save its once dwindling wildlife is not to try and close it off in inaccessible reserves, but to farm it. High fences keep graceful gazelles safe and secure, while science has come up with methods keeping the animals and their meat healthy and humane methods of slaughter have disarmed critics. The result - wildlife farmers reap the benefits of selling high protein, healthy venison for top dollar worldwide. This is the future of the Australian kangaroo and the Australian ecology and the Australian farmer and the Australian tourist industry and the Australian consumer - not an agonised, useless death in the dust. All it takes is a little vision. * Gold Coast Bulletin. Ed Comment. This guy started of on the right foot, but then he fell over towards the end of his story. The reality is the kangaroos will never replace beef and cattle. Our overseas markets want beef, lamb, and wool. They don’t want kangaroo meat! The economics don’t stack up either. There is far more meat on a bullock at two years old than there is on many dozens of kangaroos at 5 or 6 years old, and it’s worth a lot more money. Also kangaroos cannot be farmed or herded, at least without the use of stupifying drugs. Then there is the issue of branding, castrating, intensive lot feeding, and all the other horrors associated with meat production. Why would we want to inflict these horrors on our kangaroos? And what would we replace our billion dollar wool clip with? Bandicoot fur? Surely it makes more sense for farmers to stop overgrazing, plant more trees to stop erosion, stop broad acre land clearing, and learn to farm responsibly, in accordance with nature, and with the natural environment. Many farmers do this now, they use crop and animal rotation, contour banking and water retention systems, and don’t support killing the kangaroos and other wildlife. Many are using organic farming practices too. It can be done, progressive and informed farmers are doing this already and making a comfortable living. These smart farmers will also be in a good position market their sustainable farming operations to the tourism Industry, with wildlife watching operations that can enhance their incomes. Kangaroos are the second most well known tourism icon in the world, after the Statue of Liberty, and instead of capitalising on their potential to bring billions of tourism dollars into Australia, in wildlife watching tourism, we kill them in a largely unregulated and unmonitored feral industry, that is subsidised by us taxpayers! Australia can never claim to be producing “clean and green agricultural products” while we continue to destroy the land and it’s wildlife inhabitants by overgrazing, especially in arid and semi-arid areas. What we need is a network of continuous wildlife corridors, running east and west, north and south, linking the already protected conservation areas and National Parks. That would provide a network of vegetation for wildlife to move through. Unfortunately we also need a strong and environmentally committed Australian government to coordinate and support such a strategy. That’s not likely to happen in the foreseeable future.* ******************************************** It appears that a person called John Kelly from 'Lenah Consultancy' is writing reports such as 'Selling the kangaroo industry to the world (RIRDC Report) July 2004' that the RIRDC is publishing using the 'Commonwealth (Government) Coat of Arms' on the front. John Kelly owns the disgusting Tasmanian possum abattoirs in Lenah Valley, North of Hobart. This establishment has long history of gross cruelty to possums. I have video footage showing possums writhing around on the floor in agony after attempts have been made to kill them with a captive bolt pistol. He also used to be the President of the Kangaroo Industry Association of Australia. He has also recently inveigled Environment Australia to allow a “development” Tasmanian wallaby kill without going through an open public consultation process. He then took a number of skins to China, in an attempt to curry up a market for the skins. As cat and dog fur are now not permitted to be imported into Australia on garments (fur collars etc) he has seen an opportunity to market wallaby skins in China instead. We wonder who paid for his trip? The RIRDC report that he wrote has KIAA material all through it, and uses the KIAA logo frequently. In small print is "The views expressed and the conclusions reached in this publication are those of the author and not necessarily those of persons consulted. RIRDC shall not be responsible in any way whatsoever to any person who relies in whole or in part on the contents of this report. This publication is copyright. However, RIRDC encourages wide dissemination of its research, providing the Corporation is clearly acknowledged." The use of 'consultants' by Commonwealth Government is supposed to suggest independent expertise. We don't think it's appropriate that reports that are so commercially biased are produced and distributed with the 'Commonwealth (Government Coat of Arms)' on the front - regardless of the fine print. An extract from these guidelines regarding use of the Coat of Arms suggests that: The Commonwealth Coat of Arms is the pre-eminent symbol of the power and authority of the Commonwealth Government. The Coat of Arms is used by the Commonwealth to identify its authority and property. The Arms belong to the Commonwealth and, in general, are for official use only. Use of the Arms by private persons and organisations is seldom permitted since it is contrary to their essential meaning, may constitute a possible debasement of the Arms and may give rise to indiscriminate use. The RIRDC has a very long history of unsavory and inappropriate use of public funding, and promotion and support of unviable and publicly unpopular Industry development. It’s time the RIDC was made accountable, or even better, closed down. * ******************************************** Kangamail 29/7/04 Roo in Sights, Kangaroos Killed Inhumanely, court is told. Kangaroo meat and skins are being exported onto world markets without verificatin that that the animals were killed humanely a court has heard. Under cross-examination by counsel for Wildlife Protection Association of Australia, a key Queensland wildlife official has conceded that the States kangaroo culling plan was approved in the absence of evidence that any shooters complied with a Code of Practice governing humane killing. There was no evidence that marksmanship had improved since the RSPCA estimated four years ago that the scale of inhumane killing was 112,578 animals a year across Australia. Sally Ann Egan, of the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service admitted they could not police the cull that rigorously. “We follow everything up and monitor as best we can, but we cannot and never will have someone standing there watching every animal as it is dispatched.” After reported legal challenges to modify or stop the kill-set at 4.4 million wild kangaroos this year. Animal welfare groups are using new legal tactics under Australian environmental law to defeat moves to liberalise the Code. They are trying to stop the cull on grounds that animal welfare has not been adequately addressed. Egan defended the cull saying the allowable take was based on the most up-to-date scientific advice and was ecologically sustainable. Random vehicle checks, processing plant inspections, shooter licensing and training, and a handful of prosecutions were a disencentive to illegal killing Egan said. Guy Healy, BBC Magazine. * ******************************************** Our Appeal against the Queensland, South Australia and West Australia Kangaroo Management Plan resumes in Sydney next week. * ******************************************** There have been many letters to the Canberra Times and other newspapers opposing the kangaroo kill at Googong Dam. Below is just one of them. “I am appalled at the slaughter of 800 roos and hope that tourism does suffer with the adverse publicity this is producing. When Canberra was decimated by bushfires many people, like myself, sent donations to wildlife shelters coping with the disaster. Whasn't that stupid of us! Obviously a good bushfire is what Canberra needs to cope with its surviving wildlife. Shame on you Mr Stanhope!” * End Both ACT and NSW RSPCA have come out supporting the kill. Shame on them too. * ******************************************** The Forester Kangaroo (Macropus giganteus tasmaniensis) has been rejected from being nominated to the threatened Species List. is a geographically isolated subspecies of the Eastern Grey Kangaroo. Before European settlement, the Forester Kangaroo occurred over parts of eastern, central and northern Tasmania. It has contracted in range since that time and is currently considered to be restricted to north eastern Tasmania and small areas in the Tasmanian Midlands, occurring in the flatter and drier areas in the eastern half of the state below 1000 metres. Forester Kangaroos now occur in three core areas: two in the Midlands area of Tasmania (Ross and Nile areas) and one in the north east corner of Tasmania. In addition, there are four locations in Tasmania where Forester Kangaroo, following live trapping in the 1970s, have been relocated. They include two island locations (Maria Island, Three Hummock Island) and two locations on the Tasmanian mainland (Kempton and Narawntapu National Park (formerly Asbestos Range)). Most of the Forester Kangaroos' current range occurs on private land. Traditionally conflicts have occurred, and continue to occur, with agricultural landholders in areas where Forester Kangaroos are implicated in the damage of fence lines and in feeding on crops and improved pastures in competition with domestic stock. Since the late 1970s, Forester Kangaroos have been culled under state Crop Protection Permits issued by the Tasmanian Director of Parks and Wildlife. The Forester Kangaroo is not listed under the Tasmanian Threatened Species Protection Act 1995. The Forester Kangaroo is classified as 'protected native wildlife' under the Tasmanian Nature Conservation Act 2002. The estimated total population size of Forester Kangaroo is approximately 26 000 individuals. 30% are considered to be yearlings. The number of mature individuals is approximately no less than 18 200 (i.e. greater than 10 000). The estimated total number of mature individuals is not low, nor does the Forester Kangaroo population have a sufficiently restricted area of occupancy to qualify under this criterion. *HSI ******************************************** Kangamail 28/7/04 The Googong Dam protests continued all this week, with protesters accessing the dam site at night. The ACT government has told us that they had to finish the shooting before the end of this month, we are not sure why, whether the permit expires then, or whether the start of our Administrative Appeals Tribunal Appeal on the 2nd of August has influenced them. Picture this incident. Two shooters are in a 4WD truck with the heater going full bore. The night is black, and like most nights at the Dam, the temperature is below zero, and some nights with rain and sleet, and snow on adjacent mountains. The shooters spotlight and shoot female kangaroos. They have been told by a wacko South African scientist, who has funding links with the kangaroo Industry, that the best way to control kangaroo populations is to target the females. They shoot a female, drag a joey out of the dead mothers pouch, cut it’s head off or bash it’s head in, then throw it aside. Any ex-pouch dependent joeys leap in panic into the night and die of exposure. The kangaroo is gutted and hung on the side of the truck. They jump back into the warm truck and drive on looking for more kangaroos. Suddenly out of the dark night, a handful of protestors screaming “Stop the Shooting” appear in front of the truck. Our two well-armed heroes flee in panic, knocking over two of our people as they go. When they are clear of the Dam area and their tiny hearts stop trembling, they decide they need to justify their hasty departure by saying they had some rocks thrown at them. I wasn’t there that night and I don’t know if anyone did throw rocks, but as Animal Lib protestors have a long record of non-violent protests, it’s unlikely. However it did give Chief Minister Jon Stanhope the opportunity to call the protestors thugs and hooligans. Shooters apparently are okay! For the first week of the protest he wouldn’t talk at all, but now he is saying things like “I have been told by my Department…..” and “my information is…..”. It looks as though heads will roll over this mess, and he appears to be trying to ensure his is not one of them. We are quite sure they have not killed anywhere near the 800 to 1100 they wanted to, thanks to the protesters. On Tuesday night half a dozen police cars were at the dam gates, and one protester was arrested for trespass. One protester was arrested for trespass, and a we understand a couple were removed from the dam site by police. On Friday, 30 July 2004, a Requiem Memorial Service will be held for the kangaroos and joeys that have been killed at Googong Dam. Please come along to peacefully pay your respects to the animals that have been needlessly killed by the ACT Government over the past 3 weeks. The memorial service will be accompanied by music and hymns. when: 12.30pm, Friday 30 July 2004 where: ACT Legislative Assembly - in the square outside the Canberra Theatre (London Circuit, Civic) bring: flowers or wreaths to place on the headstone dress: black clothes We urge everyone to attend as a show of strength so we can ensure this kangaroo massacre is never repeated. If you cannot attend please wear a black arm band on Friday in memory of the dead kangaroos and joeys. Today Tonight have done a story about the campaign which may go to air Thursday or Friday night, or early nest week. Hopefully this high media profile ACT campaign will convince other regional governments in Australia not to follow the same path. It used to be that VIVA! had the only website dedicated to the kangaroo killing, at www.savethekangaroo.com and we understand that VIVA! will have another kangaroo web site up shortly. We now also have two of our own Australian sites, www.kangarooslaughter.com and www.kangaroo-protection-coalition.org And of course the www.awpc.com.au website has lots of kangaroo info too. We can now direct people to all these web sites for information about the kangaroo kill, and they can subscribe to our newsletter Kangamail from the last site. ** ******************************************** NSW Police will increase their patrols inside and outside the Googong Dam foreshores zone at the behest of Environment ACT, in a bid to prevent a repeat of the confrontation on Saturday night between a roo shooter and animal liberation protesters. Two trespassers, believed to be protesters, were ejected by police from the fenced zone around the Googong water catchment on Saturday night. Also a complaint was lodged that a rock had been thrown at the shooter's 4WD vehicle. The shooter has been contracted by the ACT Government to cull 800 kangaroos from around the Googong foreshores. Police suspended the cull and questioned protesters about the rock-throwing incident but took no further action. Two people were reported to have sustained slight injuries when forced to scramble for safety as the contractor left the area by driving up the same access road used by the group of protesters. Inspector Neil Grey, from Queanbeyan police, would not be drawn about specifics of the next few nights' operations but confirmed that extra patrols would be added. "There are a number of police that can be called upon if required; we'll just address that as needed," Inspector Grey said. "We're not going to station officers out there [at Googong] but we'll respond to any calls we get from Environment ACT as well as conducting our regular patrols." The Australian Federal Police also held discussions with Environment ACT yesterday at the request of the ACT Chief Minister, Jon Stanhope. However, police jurisdiction for the Googong area falls to NSW. ACT Animal Liberation described the suspension of the cull on Saturday night as a "win for the kangaroos" and believed no shooting took place around the dam foreshores on Sunday night, either. "We were out there all night on Sunday and heard no gunshots; to our knowledge," Animal Liberation spokeswoman Simone Gray said. "We will continue our peaceful protests through until midnight on Saturday, which is when we understand the cull permit lapses." Ms Gray was displeased with Mr Stanhope's "colourful language" in describing the protesters' actions. "We [the group] have a strict policy of non-violence; we think Mr Stanhope is conducting desperate politics in an effort to detract attention from the real issue, which is the unnecessary killing of the kangaroos." *Canberra Times ******************************************** Biologist and award-winning author Tim Low says kangaroos are degrading fragile land and there is no option to culling. Mr Low says he is becoming more concerned about the animals over-populating regions of temperate Australia. His comments come amid a debate over the killing of kangaroos disrupting the environment at Googong Dam, in southern New South Wales, which is a main water supplier to the ACT. He says if populations are not controlled the animals will be sentenced to a cruel death by starvation. "I have seen the problem in the parks around Canberra," he said. "Last time I was flying into Canberra the kangaroos were really hammering the hillsides but in a lot of the national parks and state reserves kangaroos are wiping out ground orchids and lillies and things. "It's just getting out of hand in some places." *ABC Ed Note. Low has always been a supporter of wildlife exploitation and commercial consumptive use. As far as hammering the hillsides go, does he really think the thousands of sheep are NOT responsible for that? It's a shame because Low is a very clever man, and we woudl have thought he'd be smart enough to see through all the misleading propaganda from the Industry. ******************************************** Acording to Simon Tadd, Executive Officer of the RSPCA ACT Inc., the RSPCA NSW claim to have been given access to the data and methodology used by ACT Environment and they have reached the same conclusion as Env. ACT, - the cull is appropriate given ALL the facts . They also claim they are involved in the audit of carcasses and have been allowed to spot check the actual shooting on the ground at the dam . RSPCA should be hanging it's head in shame! The RSPCA should stay out of wildlife issues. They are a cat and dog outfit, and know nothing about wildlife. They have made similar statements in other kangaroo campaigns, notably Pukapunyal, and the ADF site at St Mary’s in Sydney. ** ******************************************** Kangamail 24/7/04 We understand that a NSW RSPCA inspector was taken into the Dam site by Environment ACT, and he claimed the kangaroos were starving because they were eating in the middle of the day, and were not afraid of people. Dr David Croft refuted the claim, saying that kangaroos often fed in the middle of the day in winter, and the kangaroos at Googong were used to people and unafraid of them. That makes it much easier for the shooters to kill them too, they can get up real close, almost put the gun up against the head of tame kangaroos and shoot them. It’s a slaughter, nothing else. The RSPCA should stay out of wildlife issues. They are a cat and dog outfit, and know nothing about wildlife. They have made similar statements in other kangaroo campaigns, notably Pukapunyal, and the ADF site at St Mary’s in Sydney. I’m off to Canberra again tomorrow. * Pat OBrien Claims that burying dead kangaroos in a "mass grave" at Googong Dam will cause erosion and contaminate the catchment have been rejected by ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope. A radio poll has also revealed 93 per cent of respondents are in favour of the kangaroo cull at Googong. Environment ACT also denied yesterday it should have given approval a week earlier for wildlife carers to retrieve joeys left motherless by the ongoing cull of eastern grey kangaroos at the dam. The agency said its plan to cull 800 of the kangaroos by the end of July was on track but it was not issuing any details about how many animals had been killed so far. The Internet poll on Mix 106.3 was started yesterday morning and asked the question: "Do you support the Googong Dam kangaroo cull?" By late afternoon, 93 per cent of respondents had answered yes and 7 per cent no. Mix 106.3 assistant program director Mike Armstrong said about 1250 votes had been cast and the poll would continue over the weekend. Opposition environment spokeswoman Vicki Dunne attacked Mr Stanhope over the cull yesterday, claiming he was "behaving like a kangaroo in the headlights" in reacting to pressure from protesters and international media coverage. Mr Stanhope said it was "disappointing Mrs Dunne couldn't resist the temptation to seek to make political gain from a difficult and highly emotive issue". Mrs Dunne was commenting on a statement by Mr Stanhope that if necessary he would instruct Environment ACT to dig a pit at Googong and bury kangaroo carcasses on site. "For weeks now, the Stanhope Government has said it is conducting the cull to avert soil erosion and stop organic matter getting into the dam and causing algal blooms," she said. "Now the Chief Minister wants to use a bulldozer to create a mass grave on site - a recipe for more erosion, and putting vastly more organic matter into the catchment than he was trying to keep out in the first place." Mr Stanhope said Mrs Dunne was "once again demonstrating a lack of understanding about environmental issues and land management". Erosion control measures would be carried out. The grave would be a deep pit, and it would be fenced off. He asked people to "keep perspective" on the issue. "We are culling 800 kangaroos. Last year, more than 6.5million kangaroos were commercially culled in Australia." Meanwhile, it is understood the NSW Government indicated eight days ago it would approve a request to amend the shooter's licence to allow wildlife carers to retrieve joeys. But it is understood the ACT Government did not ask until Thursday for the licence change and the request was approved the same day. Guy Wilmington, a representative of the local wildlife rescue organisation that will retrieve the joeys, was frustrated the ACT took so long to act and wondered how many joeys could have been saved. Environment ACT said before making a final decision on the joeys, it "sought information and advice and examined the practical implications of allowing such a process to take place". "Environment ACT agreed to allow it as assurances were received that it would not interfere with the culling program." *Canberra Times ******************************************* Australia's international tourism reputation was not being damaged by a kangaroo cull in the national capital, the Federal Government said yesterday. The debate intensified in Canberra yesterday after animal rights activists delivered a dead joey to the ACT Government, claiming it had been bashed to death after its mother was shot. In an effort to protect Canberra's water supply and prevent further starvation of kangaroos, the ACT Government last week announced the cull of about 800 kangaroos at Googong Dam. ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope said the cull was the only practical, humane solution to preserving Canberra's "extremely vulnerable" water supply. The RSPCA has supported the cull after it found hundreds of kangaroos around Googong Dam were starving and in distress. "Culling of this number of kangaroos is reasonable and in the interests of the welfare of the entire kangaroo population in the region," RSPCA deputy chief executive officer Steve Coleman said. "Unfortunately, unless humane culling of the animals is conducted, the land will not sustain the current kangaroo population." Yesterday's dead joey stunt came as reports of the cull made international news, with an internet search finding reports of the cull in more than 40 countries. Under the code of practice, kangaroos are killed by a single shot to the head, but Animal Liberation ACT spokeswoman Simone Gray said she expected about 1000 joeys to be bashed to death. "Unfortunately, Australians get very upset about Koreans eating dogs or cats and baby seals being clubbed, but they really now need to look at how we're treating animals in our own back yard," Ms Gray said. Protesters have camped on the Googong foreshores every night since the cull was announced. Federal Tourism Minister Joe Hockey denied Australia's global reputation was being damaged. Mr Hockey's spokesman said his office had been in touch with Tourism Australia and so far there was no evidence of harm to tourism. *Canberra Times ******************************************** Kangamail 23/7/04 Googong Kangaroo Kill The new kangaroo web site is online and can be found at www.kangarooslaughter.com There are photos of the "so-called" starving kangaroos, lots of kangaroo photos and info about the continuing protests. You can read all about the secret agenda that the ACT and NSW government are pursuing to allow them to kill kangaroos in National Parks. Please re-distribute these web site addresses to your email lists, and to any interested persons. There is more kangaroo information at www.kangaroo-protection-coalition.org and you can subscribe to our Kangamail newsletter from that site, and also access the Archives that have lots more info. It would also be helpful when you are writing or emailing the government (or anyone) about this matter to quote the kangaroo slaughter website address. Canberra radio stations are now starting to side with those who want to kill the kangaroos. Callback and radio voting appears to favor the kill, although we know that many Canberrans are against it. Some callers have wanted to kill all the kangaroos. There have been a few good letters in the CT opposing the kill, but quite a few more wanting to kill them. It’s fairly obvious that the radio media especially, want to keep this issue alive. * ******************************************** CANBERRA TIMES 23/7/04 A dead baby kangaroo, its skull bludgeoned so that its eyes popped out, was laid out on a pale blue blanket at the entrance to the ACT Legislative Assembly yesterday. This is what the war between passionate animal rights activists and the ACT Government over a cull of kangaroos at Canberra's Googong dam has come to. Animal rights groups say the Government has not provided any hard scientific evidence as to why the cull of up to 1100 kangaroos at the nature reserve is necessary. But Environment ACT says the kangaroos are poisoning Canberra's water supply by eating nearby grasses, which leads to increased salinity in the catchment area, and that the presence of their faeces in the dam could cause an outbreak of blue-green algae. ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope yesterday weighed into the debate for the first time said saying the kangaroos were drought-starved and that there was an urgent need to protect Canberra's diminished water supply. Last night the ACT Government said it had now told the contractors to shoot female kangaroos and give the joeys to NSW Wildlife to care for them. Earlier, Animal Liberation ACT president Simone Gray had questioned the killing of joeys left orphaned by decapitation or a blow to the head. The baby kangaroo outside the Legislative Assembly was allegedly found inside the nature reserve early yesterday. *CT ******************************************** LETTER to Canberra times. I find it interesting that the subject of whaling is now being compared to the killing of kangaroos. The international interest in this issue should surely be telling the government something. It is especially disturbing that the joeys are not being cared for and relocated. It's just cruel, and again arrogance of the humans thinking they own the planet. The true arrogance comes out in Mr Miles (should he be a butler??) "it's just another media interview". What an arrogant w*nker!!! What goes around comes around!!!! I fear for the repercussions of the ACT region, but I also hope that those who have made these decisions suffer (maybe have the joeys hanging off their necks in the etheral (sp?) world!!!!) ******************************************** THE Indianapolis Zoo announced today that four of its red kangaroo "mob" have died after contracting toxoplasmosis, a common infection caused by a single-celled parasite called Toxoplasma gondii. According to Zoo Senior Veterinarian Dr. Jeff Proudfoot, another kangaroo is hospitalized with the disease. Four other red kangaroos have exhibited no signs of the illness and remain on exhibit. According to public health officials, although the infection is nearly always fatal in kangaroos, they do not spread the disease. The most likely source of the infection is contact with the contaminated feces of all cats, particularly feral cats, the primary carriers of toxoplasmosis. The Indianapolis Zoo said it does not own or keep any domestic cats on its property. The Toxoplama gondii parasite is found throughout the world, and the Centers for Disease Control estimates that more than 60 million people in the United State have been exposed to the parasite, but are asymptomatic. James F. Howell, D.V.M., Veterinary Epidemiologist with the Indiana State Department of Health, has told the Zoo staff that the zoo-going public is at no greater risk of exposure than they would be in their own backyards and the same precautions to prevent infection would apply. ** ******************************************** Kangamail 22/7/04 They call it the sniper's test, and plenty of applicants fail. ACT farmers applying for a licence to cull kangaroos on their properties must pass a compulsory marksmanship test on a rifle range, hitting a bullseye the size of a 20c piece on four targets at a range of 100m. The final score must be 100 per cent. "It's a tough test. One missed shot and that's it - you're out," one of several farmers who agreed to speak to The Canberra Times said yesterday. All agree that seasonal culling to keep kangaroo numbers to a sustainable level is necessary, but none particularly like the job. "It's hard, physical work and it can be depressing, dangerous and bloody unpleasant," one said. "You're working at night, it's freezing cold and if you're working on your own, you're shooting and picking up animals-- which can weigh over 60 kilos - as you go." According to ACT government figures, local farmers will cull just over 3300 kangaroos this shooting season, which started in March and finishes at the end of July. One of the first steps in the licensing process is an assessment by Environment ACT of a farm's carrying capacity. This involves counting kangaroos on the property and calculating grazing pressure to determine the cull quota. For most ACT farms, the quota is usually about 90 animals. Farmers must correctly identify kangaroo and wallaby species from a folio of 30 to 40 photographs. "It's much harder than it sounds - there are photos of animals at night, some lying down, some taken from a distance, and you've got to answer pretty quickly," a farmer said. Farmers also need an ACT firearms licence and a high-calibre rifle, which costs upwards of $4000. ACT law requires farmers to bury carcasses and a burial pit costs upward of $500 to dig, unless a farmer has his own equipment. All carcasses must be tagged, shooting reports filled out for each animal and the location of the pit must be approved by government inspectors. Police inspect and approve the area where shooting will occur. "Dealing with the joeys is something you never get used to, but it's a very, very quick process," a farmer said. "... You hate doing it, so there's no way you want the animals to suffer." ACT farmers are concerned that the Googong Dam cull of 800 kangaroos may jeopardise the licensing process. "The environment is under tremendous pressure from the drought and that's affecting both livestock and kangaroos," they say. "... If we can't manage kangaroos on our farms, it will be disaster for the environment." Canberra Times ******************************************** The ACT Government has been accused of stalling on an offer by a local wildlife rescue organisation to relocate up to 60 orphaned joeys from the Googong Dam kangaroo cull. The NSW Government has already agreed to amend licence conditions to save the joeys, but the ACT Government has not responded. "It's not something we've accepted as yet. We don't know whether it's feasible," an Environment ACT spokesman said. Under the NSW and ACT commercial kangaroo harvesting codes of compliance, joeys are killed by decapitation or a blow to the head. Greens MLA Kerrie Tucker said the Government's delay was incomprehensible and the use of commercial operators to shoot 800 kangaroos at the dam raised questions as to whether "the profit motive might influence the nature of the cull". The rescue offer was made at a meeting last Wednesday between animal-welfare groups and Environment ACT, prior to the cull being called off for two days. "We offered to take orphaned joeys, so that instead of being bludgeoned to death, they could be raised by licensed carers and relocated to suitable properties. It certainly is feasible, it's something we've been doing for 10 years," a spokesman for the rescue organisation said. "We initially appeared to receive a positive response from the ACT Government, but it's now a week and no decision has been made." He said the NSW Government had responded to the rescue offer "within hours" and a written agreement to vary the licence conditions was received last Friday. A Japanese television news crew arrives in Canberra today to film the kangaroo cull protest. The shooting of Australia's national symbol - in the national capital - has received prominent media coverage in Japan. * Canberra Times ******************************************** Radio stations are now making the point that over 2000 overseas newspapers have picked up this issue, and headlined it. Media outlets are now making the point that the issue is very damaging to Australias reputation overseas, and is expected to impact heavily on our tourism Industry. *WPAA ******************************************** Last night kangaroo defenders were again at Googong Dam to stop shooters who are killing over 1,000 kangaroos and joeys at Googong Dam (NSW). In the early hours of this morning they found a dead joey who had been bashed to death. The dead joey will be taken to the Legislative Assembly today to confront Jon Stanhope, the Minister responsible for this brutal massacre of kangaroos. "The way this joey died is barbaric. It has been bashed to death after its mother was shot. About 1000 joeys are being killed this way at Googong," stated Ms Simone Gray, spokesperson for Animal Liberation ACT. The ACT Government has instructed shooters to target female kangaroos as a means of reducing the population. This means for each female killed there is one joey killed. Joeys are killed either by decapitation or by a blow to the head - this normally means their heads are bashed against the side of the shooter's truck. These methods are approved under the Code of Practice for the Humane Shooting of Kangaroos. "Jon Stanhope approves the bashing of joeys to death - he is allowing all joeys at Googong to be killed in this way. Bashing is approved under the Code of Practice but it doesn't't make it right. We are pleading with Jon Stanhope to find another way and stop killing the wildlife. "We have asked Jon Stanhope to look at alternatives but all he and the ACT Government seem to want is to bash the life out of these animals. We are supposed to be a humane society so how can we allow baby animals to die in this way."This massacre of joeys is as sickening as the clubbing of baby seal in Canada. We are calling on the international community to pressure the ACT Government to stop this bloody slaughter. "Australians get upset about the clubbing of baby seals and the eating of dogs. We should now look in our own backyard to see the atrocities happening to joeys." Googong Dam is a nature reserve and wildlife refuge that has been used by local wildlife carers as a release area for kangaroos they have hand reared. It is heart breaking for the carers who have spent months and years rearing joeys to now have them shot by the ACT Government. The ACT Government has stated they want to kill the kangaroo because of water quality issues and because the kangaroos are starving. "The kangaroos at Googong are definitely not starving. If they were Anima Liberation would be the first group to urge for a cull. Also the ACT Government has not released any scientific evidence on how the kangaroos affect water quality. If they have the evidence we would like to see it," concluded Ms Gray. MEDIA CONFERENCE AT 11.30 AM TODAY (Thursday) OUTSIDE THE MEMBERS ENTRANCE OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY. Animal Lib ACT Media release ******************************************** The ACT Government has been accused of stalling on an offer by a local wildlife rescue organisation to relocate up to 60 orphaned joeys from the Googong Dam kangaroo cull. The NSW Government has already agreed to amend licence conditions to save the joeys, but the ACT Government has not responded. "It's not something we've accepted as yet. We don't know whether it's feasible," an Environment ACT spokesman said. Under the NSW and ACT commercial kangaroo harvesting codes of compliance, joeys are killed by decapitation or a blow to the head. Greens MLA Kerrie Tucker said the Government's delay was incomprehensible and the use of commercial operators to shoot 800 kangaroos at the dam raised questions as to whether "the profit motive might influence the nature of the cull". The rescue offer was made at a meeting last Wednesday between animal-welfare groups and Environment ACT, prior to the cull being called off for two days. "We offered to take orphaned joeys, so that instead of being bludgeoned to death, they could be raised by licensed carers and relocated to suitable properties. It certainly is feasible, it's something we've been doing for 10 years," a spokesman for the rescue organisation said. "We initially appeared to receive a positive response from the ACT Government, but it's now a week and no decision has been made." He said the NSW Government had responded to the rescue offer "within hours" and a written agreement to vary the licence conditions was received last Friday. A Japanese television news crew arrives in Canberra today to film the kangaroo cull protest. The shooting of Australia's national symbol - in the national capital - has received prominent media coverage in Japan. * Canberra Times Ed. Comment: It's our opinion that such a change to the Code of Practice, while desirable, is probably illegal. The COP is a legally enforcable document. ******************************************** Canberra's image as a tourist destination is taking a battering around the world because of the controversial Googong Dam kangaroo cull. An Internet search yesterday revealed almost 2000 news reports in more than 40 countries on the cull of the 800 eastern grey kangaroos which the ACT Government says is needed to protect water quality in the dam, Canberra's main water source. Dozens of international environmental and animal-welfare web sites are also calling for tourists to boycott Canberra and are urging people to e-mail and fax letters of protest to the ACT Government. Barely two months ago, the ACT Government committed $28.3million in its 2004 Budget to help promote the region and boost international tourism. International Fund for Animal Welfare chief executive, Mick McIntyre, said a recent survey in the US ranked the kangaroo as the world's second-most recognised tourism icon - ahead of the Eiffel Tower and just behind the Statue of Liberty. "They are a huge attraction, and we believe in placing a value on them as an eco-tourism asset," he said. Yesterday, a television crew from Tokyo Broadcasting System arrived in Canberra to film interviews and footage of kangaroos at the locked entrance gates to the Googong Dam. The news report was broadcast last night in Tokyo to an audience of 2million viewers. The crew spent more than an hour filming at the dam, capturing footage of an eastern grey kangaroo and young-at-foot joey lazing under a gum tree near the entrance gates. They also interviewed Animal Liberation spokeswoman Simone Gray, who was filmed describing the ACT Government's cull of 800 kangaroos at the dam as "brutal and unnecessary". Japanese viewers also learned - if Ms Gray's subsequent comments weren't edited - that kangaroo joeys were to be killed during the cull by decapitation or a blow to the head. However, given that the television crew specifically asked Australian media yesterday about the method of dispatching joeys, it seems likely that Ms Gray's comments will be aired. Meanwhile, the Government has still not accepted an offer from a registered wildlife care group to hand-raise and relocate 60 orphaned joeys from the cull. "We are still gathering as much information as we can," an ACT Government spokesman said last night. The cull, which started late last week, is continuing despite pleas from conservation groups to explore alternatives. It is not known how many kangaroos have been killed. Federal Tourism Minister Joe Hockey was not available for comment last night and Australian Capital Tourism did not return phone calls. "There is a lot of interest in this kangaroo story in Japan, it's already big news in the newspapers there for over a week," Tokyo Broadcasting television presenter Horoki Iijima said. The national Shimbun media network - which reaches several million people - has carried lengthy reports of the cull, and the country's leading international newspaper, Japan Today, urged readers to post comments about the cull on its web site news discussion page. A member of an Australian delegation to the International Whaling Commission, currently meeting in Italy, also told The Canberra Times that Japanese and Norwegian delegates were unofficially using reports of the cull to bolster arguments to support resumption of commercial whaling. Iijima and camera operator Satoshi Naraki also interviewed Environment ACT media adviser David Miles yesterday - who, over the past week, has been acting as a government spokesman on the controversial issue in the absence of comment from ACT Environment Minister Jon Stanhope. The Japanese TV crew was whisked inside the locked gates by Mr Miles, who refused to allow Australian media access to the locked site to report on his comments. "It's just another interview as far as I'm concerned. We've done heaps of them and this one is no different," he said. News web sites in more than 40 countries, including China, Britain, Switzerland, Ireland, the US, Italy, Slovakia, Turkey, Sweden, South Africa, Hungary France, India and Bhutan have carried lengthy reports on the kangaroos. Chinese television and Hong Kong radio reported that welfare groups were calling for a tourist boycott of Australia and the South African Independent newspaper carried a report of the protest against the cull, headlined, "Greenies act as kangaroo human shields". French television and radio news reports of the cull went as far afield as Angola, Senegal and Algeria. The news was also picked up by dozens of international web sites devoted to environmental news, tourism, animal welfare, science, vegan activism and wildlife issues. Web sites giving prominence to lengthy reports on the kangaroo cull ranged from the International Ecology Fund (one of the world's most popular charity web sites), the Discovery Channel's Animal Planet web site, Animal Concerns (a US animal welfare web site) and the BBC's kids web page. *Canberra Times ********************************************
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