13 March 2008

Belconnen on the World Map

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Belconnen has made international news thanks to the proposed Kangaroo cull. UK based group Viva (Vegetarians International voice for animals) has started an online petition to stop the cull and has attracted signatures from people in over 25 countrys. Even Sir Paul Mcartney has spoken out saying that the “needless slaughter of kangaroos has to stop”. You can read the story here.

Seems to me another case of misinformed people butting in where they are not wanted. Any thoughts rioters?

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umm, why don’t they just open a gate at one end, head to the nearest school and get everybody to walk the site from the opposite end to the gate ?

No more roos, and kids have a fun day out not at school.

Qbn survivor9:17 am 14 Mar 08

I agree Ingee, but according to Wildcare the costs involved with both options (culling and relocating) are comparative. If this is the case, I think that the relocation would (and should) be the preferred option.
I’m not so sure the costs would still be comparative if they were looking at getting professional shooters in, but that’s a whole other issue….
🙂

Ingeegoodbee9:14 am 14 Mar 08

Fair call, but it can’t do them any good to be getting tied up with hair-brained ideas like this when there’s a humane, sensible, cost effective alternative – their position seems to be more driven by irrational idealism.

Qbn survivor8:39 am 14 Mar 08

Ingee, I’ve just got to pass comment on your obvious opinion of Wildcare. I’ve had to deal with them on a number of times before regarding injured wildlife, and I’ve found them to be reasonable and easy to deal with. I’ve also had the dubious pleasure of dealing with WIRES before, who really are nothing but a bunch of tree-hugging hippies with nonsensical ideas on how the world should run. In my experience, Wildcare are nothing like that. They do the job they are supposed to do – help injured wildlife and explore sensible options for maintaining harmony between urban life and wildlife. Nothing more, nothing less. In my opinion, they don’t deserve to be grouped with inflammatory and harmful ‘animal welfare’ groups like PETA and WIRES.

Ingeegoodbee8:19 am 14 Mar 08

Let’s look at some of the spin and hype that’s being pedalled here as so called fact:

Defence applied for and was granted a permit to kill the kangaroos in case this was necessary as the ACT has a culling season between the beginning of March and the end of July when the kangaroos can be killed. This became public knowledge and there was an outcry about the proposed killing.

There was no ‘outcry’ whatsoever. There was a small, loud and hysterical group of whingy troublemakers with no genuine interest in animal welfare who went the carry on – the Canberra Times, desperate for copy ran the story giving the confected outrage oxygen.

Wildcare prepared a report for Defence outlining a combination of translocation and reproductive interventions to reduce the kangaroo population to a sustainable level at the site.

A group with, by it’s own admission, no ability to deliver on it’s pie-in-the-sky proposals for sedation and relocation prepared a report that either deliberately ignored or failed to adequately consider the humane slaughter of the ‘roos as a sensible alternative.

The report was leaked to the media by someone in Defence and was subsequently lambasted by the ACT Government and the hastily formed Limestone Plains Group. Both of these, as well as the ACT RSPCA quickly attacked the credibility of the report and the decision by Defence to approach Wildcare to prepare the report.

It’s the primal fear of tin-foil-hat outfits like Wildcare – objective review of their cuckoo-land schemes. Considered examination becomes “lambasted” and timely consideration by independent experts becomes “hastily formed” while pointing out the patent sheer stupidity of the proposal becomes “attacked the credibility”. Enough said.

…the translocation had to be stopped as the ACT Government had refused to grant an export license to move these kangaroos out of the ACT and demanding they be killed instead.

So the sad reality is that the whole idea of sedation and translocation was never going to work in the first place, because of regardless of everything else Wildcare ran a political agenda rather than one based on what was the best thing that could be achieved within the established frameworks and management structures. If HLA had tried this … deliberately omiting the need to secure an export licence and instead hoping that holding their breath while stamping their feet was going to be enough to get the ACT Government to roll over … Defences lawyers would have been all over their professional indemnity insurers like a rash.

These are facts.

No they’re not, they’re spin with some observations about facts thrown in for colour.

Greg Tarlinton6:51 am 14 Mar 08

I just thought it worth addressing some of the comments in this thread. I set up the http://www.canberraroos.com website, not VIVA. VIVA placed a link to the site on their website and some sensationalist news services did the rest, I even saw one story claiming a spat between Peter Garret and Paul McCartney over the issue, I doubt the two have spoken about it.

Some history, this is fact, not hype. In early 2006, Defence commissioned HLA Consulting to prepare a report into kangaroo numbers at the BNTS site and was told that kangaroo numbers were too high and some kangaroos needed to be killed to reduce the population. Defence applied for and was granted a permit to kill the kangaroos in case this was necessary as the ACT has a culling season between the beginning of March and the end of July when the kangaroos can be killed. This became public knowledge and there was an outcry about the proposed killing.

Around the same time, a group of RSPCA employees led by ACT CEO Michael Linke attended the site and decided that the kangaroos were starving and needed to be killed to save them from starvation. They outlined to Defence the possibility of animal welfare charges being brought against them if they did not kill the kangaroos. It was proved this year in the grassland report prepared by Maxine Cooper that the kangaroos are not and never were actually starving.

Defence contacted Wildcare, a NSW based volunteer native wildlife rescue and care group whose area of operation surrounds the ACT to provide a report on humane alternatives to killing the kangaroos.

Wildcare prepared a report for Defence outlining a combination of translocation and reproductive interventions to reduce the kangaroo population to a sustainable level at the site.

The report was leaked to the media by someone in Defence and was subsequently lambasted by the ACT Government and the hastily formed Limestone Plains Group. Both of these, as well as the ACT RSPCA quickly attacked the credibility of the report and the decision by Defence to approach Wildcare to prepare the report.

As a result of this, Defence assembled a panel of independent experts to study the report provided by Wildcare and the expert panel came to the conclusion that a mix of translocation and reproductive intervention was the preferred course of action in this case.

Defence announced that they had accepted the report as the most humane solution to the overpopulation problem and put the process out to tender.

Wildcare did not tender for the project as it was beyond our financial resources as a volunteer group but did offer our expertise in dealing with wild kangaroos as well as a number of release sites from these animals to be translocated to.

In January 2008, Cumberland Ecology was appointed by Defence to carry out the translocation, as well as to euthanase animals that were sick, injured or too old to be successfully translocated, with a brief to leave 100 kangaroos at the site. This 100 includes 60 female kangaroos that are being used in a sterilisation experiment being conducted at the site, as well as 40 male kangaroos.

Cumberland Ecology began to prepare for the translocation project in January 2008 and was in consultation with Wildcare to organise the release sites as well as some volunteers to assist with the translocation.

Inspections of the release sites were underway and I was actually preparing to take some staff from CE to inspect a site on Monday, March 3. On Friday, February 29 we received a call from CE telling us that the translocation had to be stopped as the ACT Government had refused to grant an export license to move these kangaroos out of the ACT and demanding they be killed instead.

This decision was made based on the findings of a panel that decided that translocation was inhumane and it was far more humane to kill the kangaroos. The findings of the panel were based on very dated information, including the 14-year-old ACT Kangaroo management plan which ruled out translocation as being inhumane. This decision was made despite a lot of current data on translocation indicating it is very successful. A recent translocation of 250 kangaroos in Queensland had an over 95% success rate.

These are facts. The only thing stopping this translocation going ahead is the ACT government refusal to grant an export license. The infrastructure currently in place at the site is actually what is required for the translocation. The only difference is that as it stands now, the kangaroos will be killed with an injection of lethabarb once they are sedated rather than moved to pre-prepared sites, treated with long term medication to reduce stress and allowed to continue living. The cost of either process is very similar. The only difference is that as it stands now the result will be a very large hole full of poisoned kangaroos rather than these animals living out their lives in other areas where the landholders are happy to have them.

The only harm to come from translocation in this case is maybe a chief minister with a bruised ego.

Cheers,

Greg Tarlinton
Vice President
Wildcare.

Maybe if they just knock down a section of the fence, then herd all the ‘roos out the gap, then put the fence back up. Might cause some chaos on the roads/surrounding suburbs, but would solve all Defences problems, surely?

One things for sure. Roo’s don’t take stress very well at all and I would say more then 50% would die from being tranquillised and relocated.

A side note to the story: Listening to Hack on triple J this afternoon, and they had an interview ith Maxine Mckew(?) who is understandably for the cull, and she has said that the land will “never ever” be sold for housing and if it is, she will the first person out there protesting.

Also they spoke to a wildlife activist, whose name I forget, and he said that if they start tranquilsing roo’s that the protesters will throw themsleves in front of the tranquilisers. We can only hope, then maybe I can eat my roo steak in peace,

This has been a total cluster F*** they should have just got on with the cull 2 years ago with little fanfare and be done with it. Instead they have dragged it out and now looks what’s happening.

neanderthalsis4:37 pm 13 Mar 08

you forgot the extra 0, it is actually 6000 million / 6 Billion, Mael

Eat people then grubz, there’s 600 million or so of them.

Kill the Kangaroo`s.. kill the Whale`s… whos cares…. im hungry

They did use ‘fertility control’ on the roos at govt House a few years ago when they got bad media about culling them there.

They should just learn to say ‘no’

Its no doubt the thuggish male teen roos that are the problem. Maybe they should just go through the young offenders program

the “fertility” arguement brings back a memory of a feral dog population issue back home on the Monaro.

A local RSCPA rep attended the meeting held to discuss the issue and seriously asked if it would be possible to sterelise the dogs and would that solve the issue.

A local farmer stood up and responded… “Lady, we don’t care if the dogs f*ck our sheep, we more are worried about them eatin’ ’em.”..

IIRC, kangaroos can jump horizontally very effectively or they can jump vertically kind of effectively.
But not both at the same time.

Wasn’t the original “move along 80% and sterilise the other 20%” plan vetoed when this idea first came up?

CT’s letter section has a few bleeding hearts talking about how the gov is jumping on the cull bandwagon and not exploring the alternative options, like fencing and “fertility control”.

Fencing? I was under the impression kangaroos can… you know… jump. High. They certainly do when I see them. How much would it cost to fence off Belconnen? And fertility control? Isn’t sterilizing a population “inhumane”? It certainly is if you do it to other people, so I fail to see why it doesn’t apply if culling is “inhumane”!

Does anyone really think that Defence is going to fast-track cleaning up the toxins on this site for residential development?
Can’t imagine developers wanting to shell out for it either – would hurt the profit margin too much.

Could it be that the number of roos in a fenced off paddock is larger than the paddock can support. Hate to suggest the simplest reason might be the accurate one.

Even KerriAnne is going on about this now.

Ingeegoodbee12:01 pm 13 Mar 08

And you can bet that proposed development is why all these water melons have come out against the cull – they don’t give a toss about the poor cuddly little darlings – they’re worried about what might spoil their rural views. Hypocrits.

Getting land ready for development may be the real reason. I would not like to be responsible for the environmental impact statement now they have declared threatened plant species exist in this area. A lot of political double speak resulting in alot of dead roos.

The petition is linked to by the above VIVA! article already.

Most of the people adding names to the Petition claim to be from all around Australia and the world, but generally places far away from Belconnen.

Also, its an online petition. So long as you clear out your cookies you can go sign it as many times as you like.
So its representation will be skewed and able to be easily questioned.
Claiming “25 nations” isn’t all that hard, all I need to do is say I am a concerned resident of Nigeria (unverified) and suddenly the total is 26 nations ‘represented’.
Either log unique ips or unique signed up members, or have your petition shown as being a waste of data storage medium and bandwidth it really is.

Also, according to Google, RiotACT is the sixth best place to get information on Save Our Kangaroos, so they’re not a particularly strong online presence.

As for VIVA! and kangaroos (yes, its an industry site, but VIVA! are a bunch of wankers) :
http://www.kangaroo-industry.asn.au/morinfo/viva.html

stonedwookie10:56 am 13 Mar 08

they dont care about minorities or the roo’s just money as allways.
they really just want 2 get rid of the roo’s so they can start building lawson.
the suburb is planned to be opened for residential development in the near future, with 500 blocks to be released adjacent to the Belconnen Naval Radio Station

Ingeegoodbee10:40 am 13 Mar 08

Yeah and there really are Government bureaucrats sitting around on the shiny butts thinking up ways to really piss off wanker minorities – get real. It’s a simple fact that if Defence had come straight out and said we’re going to sedate and relocate these animals the exact same bunch of numpty butt-plugs would be screaming from the roof-tops about how cruel sedation and relocation was. These people aren’t basing their opposition on anything more than an overwhelming desire to be a royal pain in the backside.

Bring on the senseless killing!

stonedwookie10:35 am 13 Mar 08

anyway here’s there petition link
http://www.canberraroos.com/help.html

stonedwookie10:33 am 13 Mar 08

the suffering isnt happen its just some lame BS made up by the government.
the only time this paddock has ever got shorter then knee length high grass is when the government mowed it lastyear

So we shouldn’t bother managing overpopulation problems before theyhappens, but instead remain purely reactionary and put them out of their misery when the suffering gets too bad?

stonedwookie9:49 am 13 Mar 08

if you think these animals are starving go look at the paddock theres heaps of grass.
get your eyes and brains checked

misinformed people butting in where they are not wanted – brought to you by the RiotACT.

Ingeegoodbee9:36 am 13 Mar 08

I’m with Thumper on this. The proposed roo management has really flipped over a rock and all the cockroaches scurrying for relevance don’t have time to get their story straight before squealling for all the usual bleeding hearts to come out in support.

Paul McCartney—->fool on the hill.

The local ABC coverage of this issue has been an embarrassment. Their line has been ‘it’s our animals and our country stay out of it’.

Yet we don’t agree when other countries want to mistreat their animals (the asian sun-bears etc.)

What’s amusing is that if it wasn’t a defence ex facility with tall fences all those kangaroos would be all over Belconnen and the number of car accidents would be a lot higher.

The shame is they are not converting them to steak/kanga-bangas or metwurst.

I saw McCartney’s comment in the news yesterday and thought the same thing.

Do these fools not realise what we are actually doing and why?

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy8:50 am 13 Mar 08

I was speaking to someone overseas a couple of years ago, and they asked about this! They were under the impression that kangaroos were an ‘endangered species’. The only thing that has endangered kangaroos is the front of my car.

swissbignose8:50 am 13 Mar 08

McCartney wasn’t actually commenting on the Kangaroo cull in Canberra. He was stating that people shouldn’t slaughter kangaroos for meat and leather. I don’t believe that’s the reason the kangaroos are being culled in the A.C.T.

This is a tabloid (and yes, I’m talking about Ross Solly on ABC666 as well) beat-up.

Wish we could cull members of VIVA.

I’m with you on that one – save the animals from a bullet and let them starve instead.

I can’t understand how any informed person wouldn’t understand the need to cull roo numbers to prevent many more roo’s dying a terrible death through hunger. Whilo McCartney et. al’s. hearts seem to be in the right place both him and his followers need to do more research.

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