Bruce in West Oz
July 8, 2003, 10:53 PM
$1.8m to shoot Army base kangaroos
By_Fia Cumming
October 6 2002
The Sun-Herald
The Defence Department paid $1.8 million for kangaroos to be shot on its Puckapunyal Army base, equivalent to $120 a head.
While the Army has plenty of crack shooters in its own ranks, the department brought in outside professionals to cull 15,000 kangaroos.
The six-week cull, which began late in May, was supervised by the RSPCA but it has attracted strong criticism from animal welfare groups.
Ten professionals were hired to shoot up to 100 kangaroos a day, but averaged only half that.
The Defence Department has suggested that the kill could become an annual event. But Denise Garratt, director of Help for Wildlife, said the massive cost would be far better spent on contraception programs.
She said the killing involved great cruelty to joeys, many of which were left in their mothers' pouches to die.
Kangaroo numbers had exploded at Puckapunyal, a 42,000ha property in central Victoria, with estimates of up to 80,000 animals.
Labor MP Anthony Byrne has also attacked the expensive cull, saying taxpayers should not have footed the bill.
Mr Byrne said managing the kangaroos was part of the responsibility of the company which holds the maintenance contract for the base.
Mr Byrne, the MP for Holt, said SSL Asset Services became responsible for managing the kangaroos under a last-minute addition to the contract signed in March 2000.
He said the addendum was added after three enviromental officers from the Defence Estate Organisation were sacked as a cost-cutting measure.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/10/05/1033538811752.html
By_Fia Cumming
October 6 2002
The Sun-Herald
The Defence Department paid $1.8 million for kangaroos to be shot on its Puckapunyal Army base, equivalent to $120 a head.
While the Army has plenty of crack shooters in its own ranks, the department brought in outside professionals to cull 15,000 kangaroos.
The six-week cull, which began late in May, was supervised by the RSPCA but it has attracted strong criticism from animal welfare groups.
Ten professionals were hired to shoot up to 100 kangaroos a day, but averaged only half that.
The Defence Department has suggested that the kill could become an annual event. But Denise Garratt, director of Help for Wildlife, said the massive cost would be far better spent on contraception programs.
She said the killing involved great cruelty to joeys, many of which were left in their mothers' pouches to die.
Kangaroo numbers had exploded at Puckapunyal, a 42,000ha property in central Victoria, with estimates of up to 80,000 animals.
Labor MP Anthony Byrne has also attacked the expensive cull, saying taxpayers should not have footed the bill.
Mr Byrne said managing the kangaroos was part of the responsibility of the company which holds the maintenance contract for the base.
Mr Byrne, the MP for Holt, said SSL Asset Services became responsible for managing the kangaroos under a last-minute addition to the contract signed in March 2000.
He said the addendum was added after three enviromental officers from the Defence Estate Organisation were sacked as a cost-cutting measure.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/10/05/1033538811752.html
