Canberra kangaroos...a very sad story....of bureaucratic manipulation......political incompetance...and more.....

Introduction. The ACT government wants to slaughter thousands of kangaroos around the Australian Capital Territory, including the Majura kangaroos. Below are some media reports the ACT government used to try to garner community support for this monstrous act.*

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Officials in the Australian capital of Canberra say they will regularly kill off kangaroos around their city to control numbers of the animals. The local government of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), where Canberra is situated, says the kangaroo population has exploded in recent years. It needs to be reduced, officials say.

They have released a draft kangaroo management plan that recommends keeping kangaroo numbers below 1.5 animals to each hectare of land in some sensitive areas. That is well below current levels. It also recommends that orphaned baby kangaroos - joeys - should be euthanased rather than hand-reared or moved to another area.

The ACT chief minister says many of the report's recommendations are controversial and he expects it will provoke a strong reaction from many Canberra residents. But he says the ACT has been too keen to avoid kangaroo culling in the past and the government has to take action to reduce the creatures' impact. *Aust. Network News

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The RSPCA says it will closely examine the ACT Government's draft plan to manage the territory's booming kangaroo population when it is released today. The animal welfare group says if the Government decides to cull kangaroos it must only do so when it is strictly necessary. The RSPCA's Michael Linke says the culling of kangaroos must only happen when the animals are suffering, or when there is scientific evidence supporting the move. He says his organisation supports culling, but only in the right circumstances.

"It is appropriate to cull kangaroos when there is a proven scientific need or if the species is going to suffer in some way, we have a policy on this," he said. He says any kangaroo culling program would need to be examined closely. "Most people, as was seen last week by the survey that the ACT Government ran, are in favour of culling in appropriate circumstances, and the broader population agrees wholeheartedly with the RSPCA's position on animal welfare. "A proper management plan can be put in place, and if that management plan involves culling, it's something the RSPCA would consider necessary." *ABC

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ACT Commissioner for Sustainability and the Environment Maxine Cooper has called for urgent kangaroo culls across Canberra to save threatened plant and wildlife species. Dr Cooper presented her report on ACT lowland native grasslands yesterday, which found 20 per cent of the territory's grasslands were in a critical condition, and a further 40per cent were ''approaching a critical threshold''. The rest were in good condition.

''Of those 20 per cent of sites, the key threatening process that's occurring is due to our own eastern grey kangaroo,'' Dr Cooper said. ''The kangaroos are overgrazing all the sites in critical condition to the degree that species on those sites are very much threatened, so there is the need to undertake a reduction program on the numbers of kangaroos on all those sites.'' The affected grasslands are on ACT and Commonwealth-owned lands, and land held under rural leases.

Of greatest concern were grasslands in the Majura Valley and in the Belconnen area near the ACT-NSW border, where kangaroo numbers were severely threatening fragile ecosystems. Dr Cooper's call for urgent culls follows mounting concern about kangaroo overpopulation at the Department of Defence-owned Majura Training Area, and last year's controversial cull of 514 kangaroos at the Belconnen Naval Transmission. ACT Environment Minister Simon Corbell said Dr Cooper had the Government's support in principle with respect to kangaroo culls, but it would assess the broader implications of the report's 32 recommendations before responding to them.

Canberra's grasslands are home to several endangered species including the grassland earless dragon, the golden sun moth, the striped legless lizard and the Ginninderra peppercress. Earlier this week, the ACT Government published its draft long-term kangaroo management program, which recommended shooting kangaroos as the most humane and practical way of reducing overpopulation. Mr Corbell said Commonwealth cooperation was needed to preserve the grasslands, particularly with respect to kangaroos.

''The Commonwealth must take proper responsibility for its lands and manage its lands accordingly,'' Mr Corbell said. ''It must make sure that kangaroo numbers are appropriately controlled on their land, and this report confirms the absolute vital nature of doing so if these ecosystems are to be properly protected.'' As well as controlling roo and rabbit populations, Dr Cooper recommended that grasslands in the Majura and Jerrabomberra valleys be declared reserves. *Canberra Times

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The Federal Government has vowed to act urgently on recommendations for a kangaroo cull at the Department of Defence's Majura Training Area. Parliamentary Secretary for Defence Mike Kelly said yesterday he would order Defence to act immediately on ACT Sustainability and Environment ACT Commissioner Maxine Cooper's report on ACT grasslands, published on Thursday, which found the overpopulation of kangaroos at the Majura site threatened the survival of native grasslands.

''Today I will be directing the department to crack on with actioning that report, and taking the appropriate measures, which really need to be taken in light of the balance that we have to achieve in protecting the natural environment in the area,'' Dr Kelly told the ABC yesterday.

Dr Cooper said action to reduce kangaroo numbers in the Majura Valley was needed this year, and culls should be conducted between March and July. Mr Kelly said he was confident this deadline would be met. ''We are within the specified period when culling is permissible, and we will do that for the benefit of the animals themselves, and the natural environment on the site.'' *Canberra Times

Ed Comment; Note that the Report had only been released the day, before, was still in "draft" form, and Kelly speedread all 190 pages overnight? And Labor are supposed to be the "good guys"???? Another big disappointment is the lack of action from the four newly elected Canberran Greens. Presumably these four came from an environmental background, yet they have accepted the ACT Governments dodgy and selectively written Kangaroo Mangement Report as gospel, and appear to support the killing of hundreds if not thousands of ACT kangaroos. Where did these "Greens" come from anyway? What is their background? Did they have links to the previous ACT government? Are they Labor clones? Very interesting questions indeed, and voters will need some answers before the next ACT elections!!

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Stories about the kangaroo killing around Canberra has made world headlines.

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The conservation group Wildcare Queanbeyan is taking the ACT Conservator of Flora and Fauna to court in a bid to get a licence to export eastern grey kangaroo joeys to New South Wales. Wildcare Queanbeyan filed an application in December for a review of a decision made by the conservator, which refused to issue the group an export licence for the small kangaroos. Former President Steve Garlick told the ACT Civil and Adminstrative Tribunal that he wanted the matter resolved, as every day that went past healthy joeys in the ACT were being put to death. The matter will go back before the tribunal in May. *ABC

Ed Comment; The ACT government hate kangaroos so much that any orphaned joeys found in the ACT have to be killed!!

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The 190 page Draft ACT Kangaroo Managment Plan is available as a pdf for download at

http://www.tams.act.gov.au/live/environment/local_wildlife/kangaroo_information/draft_act_kangaroo_management_plan

The comment period is 8 weeks and closes on 11 May. In our humble opinion the document is long on words and short on hard data, uses some previously discredited Government claims about kangaroos, and reaches a number of erroneous conclusions..but that's only to be expected. This whole unhappy scenario has been very well planned, to attempt to gather community support for a kangaroo wipeout.

Nothing in the media until a couple of days before the start of the "culling season", then a sensationalist story in the Canberra Times to give people the idea that thousands of kangaroos have already died and more need to be killed to stop them from suffering. No sources were ever available, and Defence denied the story but it got the ball rolling. Probably a controlled leak by an interested party.

Then some hand wringing from the Limestone Plains group.

Then the release of the ACT draft kangaroo management plan.

A story in the media about the evil ninja kangaroo bursting into a house and assaulting a hero and his family.

Some hand wringing from the ACT rspca.

The release of Maxine Coopers report demanding the killing of an afwul lot of kangaroos.

Mike Kelly speed reading the report which was only released the day before he accepted it's recommendations and seemingly agreed to implement them.

Honestly, if these people are ever out of a job they should start selling Amway, Kirby vacuum cleaners, or second hand cars, it is the ultimate hard sell and in reality once again we are trying to stop something that's very well planned. This whole disgraceful mess has been a very well co-ordinated plan by the ACT government and their lackeys to kill thousands of kangaroos that stand in the way of "development", and a few subsistance farmers.

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A new killing zone has been opened in NSW, a huge area that has never been commercially shot before!

An environmental group called the Australian Society for Kangaroos is speaking out about the commercial kangaroo industry around Dubbo and the central west, describing the practice as the “world’s largest wildlife massacre”. In a letter to the editor, Nikki Sutterby from the Australian Society for Kangaroos said the decision to extend the commercial kangaroo industry into the last part of NSW including Mudgee-Merriwa, Young, Orange, Bathurst, Forbes, Parkes and Dubbo, would see the loss of wildlife tourism and the ability to see large mobs of kangaroos in the wild.

“It will see the cruel killing of another 150,000 kangaroos each year in this area alone, and the killing of all large alpha males, leading to the destruction of mob social order,” Ms Sutterby said. “It will see another 20,000 pouch joeys bashed to death or decapitated and 20,000 at foot joeys orphaned each year.” Fighting back in defence for farmers around Dubbo, Matt O’Leary said the “Green groups” don’t understand the extent of the kangaroo population out west. “If the Greens had their way we would be over-run by Kangaroos,” Mr O’Leary said. “I think control killing is fine.”

Mr O’Leary said he didn’t see why the commercial kangaroo industry should be attacked when it provides jobs. “I don’t see a problem with utilising the culled kangaroos instead of leaving their dead carcasses around the paddock, especially if it is providing jobs for people and supporting families,” he said. “I don’t think the Greens understand the enormous issues farmers would face if control killing of kangaroos didn’t take place.” Ms Sutterby believes the reason the industry is opening up into new areas is because they are running out of kangaroos. “The truth is they are running out of kangaroos, we know it, kangaroo shooters know it, and they know it,” she said. “Don’t support this cruel industry, don’t let them onto your property, and don’t buy their products, because kangaroos are worth more to us alive than dead.” *Daily Liberal

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There is a petition at Care2 that you may have already signed, but if not, please sign (and comment) and pass it along! http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/kangaroo-shootings *****************************************************************

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Majura Kangaroo Protest Starts Wed 15th April!!

We are led to believe such equipment is sensitive to night ground movement including movement from kangaroos. In other words, they upset the night war games of the lollipop soldiers! And just on the outskirts of Canberra, and adjacent to many small landowners. What are they thinking?

Another conflicting land use proposal for Majura is Capital Airport Group, (owned by the Spice family) who purchased Canberra Airport from the Commonwealth Government's Federal Airports Corporation in May 1998. At the time, the Airport consisted of the airport terminal, general aviation precinct and the RAAF Fairbairn base. It was bought by Terry Snow in 1998 for $66.5 million. It is now worth more than treble that based on recent valuations of world airports. Snow, who is valued at more than $600 million on BRW's Rich 200, has built a large business park ( Brindabella Business Park) next to the runway, as well as a discount retail outlet and other properties through the city of Canberra.

Today, (according to the Airport website) ten years later, Canberra Airport has evolved into a multi-modal transport hub, business and retail destination. The multi award winning Brindabella Business Park (Ed. comment, mostly leased to Federal Defence Force offices...think about that....!) is arguably Australia's greenest business centre. It is home to approximately 5,000 workers and encompasses 18 A-grade commercial buildings totalling 100,000m2 NLA. The former RAAF base at Fairbairn (Ed. just across the from the Airport runway) is now our largest commercial precinct, and represents the second stage of the Airport's business hub and is currently occupied by approximately 2,000 workers. Majura Park is our newest multi faceted precinct, with an exciting combination of factory outlet retail (Brand Depot), "big-box" retail and commercial office accommodation (26,000m2 NLA). *From the Airport website.

However we know that Canberra Airport has huge expansion programs planned, including a three lane highway and huge storage depots right on top of the Earless Dragons grassland habitat, that the Government claim the kangaroos are wrecking, and including some of the Majura Army base! So thousands of ACT kangaroos will be killed to make way for development ...again......

So the Protests in Canberra start this week!

Wed. 15 April 2009. 12 noon. First Protest activity, Square between Canberra Legislative Assembly bldgs and Canberra Theatre (organisers at 11am). Anyone wishing to attend the ongoing and rolling protests will need to contact the ACT Animal Lib offices for further details. We will pass protest info on as it becomes available.....Posted 13/4/09

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4/5/09....Majura Culling Starts in Secret

The culling of kangaroos on Defence land at Majura is already underway, it started in secret on Tuesday 5th May, 6 days before the ACT "Kangaroo Management Plan was due for final comments. They didnt even wait until the process wwas finished to start killing the kangaroos. The Defence Department says there are 9,000 kangaroos on the site, but then after the kill started and the shooting was reported to the media by neighbors, Defence claimed there were 11000, which of course was a deliberate lie. Media statements claim Defence wanted to kill 6000 kangaroos to reduce numbers to a sustainable level. In an ABC media report Defence said contractors started the kill on Tuesday in the presence of vets, and expect to be finished by July.

Photos taken a couple of weeks ago of these so-called "starving" kangaroos can be seen on this page. However on the 11th of May it seemed the shooting was being wound up. Protestors watching the site from a distance took photos of the spotlighting, and during the last day vehicles were seen driving around the Majura site which they presumed were finishing off and collecting wounded kangaroos.

Presumabley the shot kangaroos were buried onsite. As there is no way there were 11000 kangaroos on the Majura site, and they couldnt have killed 6000 kangaroos in 6 nights, we are not sure why the kill was called off....unless they ran out of kangaroos to shoot. More details will gradually follow as more info is leaked from Defence, who at this stage are not saying anything.

What many people would like to know is where has the Australian Labor Party gone to? The plastic bag fiasco, the Climate Change Greenhouse reduction fiasco, the confiscation of illegal whaling evidence from the vessel Steve Irwin, the confiscation of illegal kangarooo Industry activity from the NSW Animal Lib office, the Belconnen and Majura kangaroo kills, with all the ACT and Federal government lies and media manipulation.....what's happened to the caring, environmentally aware Labor Government that the people of Australia elected on the 4th of December 2006? Or did it ever exist anyway?

Below, a Dark Moon watches over the Majura killing fields as the slaughter continues......