Australian kangaroo cull prompts outrage

October 2, 2009

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A kangaroo is pictured in the Kiewa Valley in February 2009. The culling of some 140 kangaroos on one of Australia's most famous race car tracks prompted outrage Friday from environmentalists and animal rights activists.

The culling of some 140 kangaroos on one of Australia's most famous race car tracks prompted outrage Friday from environmentalists and animal rights activists.

The eastern grey kangaroos were reportedly removed from the Mount Panorama circuit, about 300 kilometres (185 miles) west of Sydney, to ensure the safety of drivers and spectators in the V8 Supercar Bathurst 1000 car race next week.

The bounding marsupials had created problems for drivers before -- in 2007 a kangaroo was filmed jumping between race cars travelling at almost 200 kilometres an hour and three years earlier one was hit and killed by a car.

But Greens politician Lee Rhiannon said the unpublicised cull was a harsh approach to dealing with the danger and came at a time when many of the animals would have had young in their pouches.

"The slaughter of 140 kangaroos and their joeys... for the sake of a motorcar race is a knee-jerk response that is not justified," she said in a statement.

"There are other more humane and ethical ways of managing the possible safety risks."

Local environmental consultant Ray Mjadwesch described the cull, which covered the racetrack and surrounding nature reserves, as cruel.

"It is ironic that Australia's iconic wildlife has been shot and its young disposed of in preparation for an iconic international car race," he said, adding that fencing could have been erected to keep the animals out.

(c) 2009 AFP

• paulthebassguy - Oct 03, 2009
  • Rank: 1 / 5 (1)
  my opinion on this is: "never mind, the kangaroos will re-populate and grow back".
  
  The funniest thing about this event is that because there is a limit on how much liquor you can bring into the grounds, people go up the hill the week before and bury their booze.
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• david_42 - Oct 03, 2009
  • Rank: 1 / 5 (1)
  140 out of 15,000,000 = great opportunity for envio-whining.
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• jerryd - Oct 03, 2009
  • Rank: 3 / 5 (2)
  
  I say eat them!! Much wildlife there and the US is out of control, destroying the environment.
  
  But they are a very green source of protein/meat that like deer, elk, moose need to have their numbers cut for their sake because they are overpopulating. We must take the place of predators that use to keep them in check. If they don't sell then give it to poor or populations that are starving as aid.
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