Canberra opts for skippy slaughter

The Brad said :

If that was the case, I would expect to see a lot more carasses on the roads, unless they get cleaned up….which they don’t seem to.

Aren’t the carcasses left in order to mark potential “roo hazard” spots?

GB said :

Farming them for sustainable meat harvest, even better./quote]

We could do with cheaper roo meat for human consumption in Canberra, and more promotion of it as a healthier alternative to the hormone/chemical-drenched beef and lamb that we’re stuck with.

chrispy said :

While I’m on the subject, what’s the deal with those roo whistles you can put on your car. Are they supposed to emit a high frequency or something. What happens if you come across an older roo that’s a bit hard of hearing, or are we just worried about not running into the healthy young ones. Jesus, if you cant hear a car coming on an open road at dusk you’re not going to hear a f*****g whistle.

The problem is that they don’t see you, it’s that they don’t know the danger of standing infront of a car. The problem is compounded at night when they get dazelled by the lights and thus distroys their night vision. They don’t quite know where they can go (as they can’t see) so they sit there.

Greys are semi-nomadic.

chrispy said :

…I have always assumed that Kangaroos were nomadic.

Eg, see here.

Its strange, but they seem not to move to a new range, even when severely malnourished.

But they will expand their range (to include my garden) during a drought.

Correct me if I’m wrong but I have always assumed that Kangaroos were nomadic. I have never seen them build a house or plant a flag or anything to indicate that they will fight humans for a particular block of land. So why would you waste money culling Kangaroos in Canberra. We have excellent nature strips that they can use to move to a different location. If you did cull your local roos is likely that other roos will move in a short time later. It’s a bit like those morons who kill all the sharks around their particular beach and assume that it’s then safe.

While I’m on the subject, what’s the deal with those roo whistles you can put on your car. Are they supposed to emit a high frequency or something. What happens if you come across an older roo that’s a bit hard of hearing, or are we just worried about not running into the healthy young ones. Jesus, if you cant hear a car coming on an open road at dusk you’re not going to hear a f*****g whistle.

Very appropriate to the roos, if they are dying of starvation. We fenced them out, we fed them, in some cases we have fenced them in, so we have to take responsibility. We could just let them die, or let them eat everything else out. Killing them seems more humane to me. Farming them for sustainable meat harvest, even better.

Now, just hoping a little bit of data won’t interrupt the discussion too much…

Using the technically challenging method of following the link provided by johnboy, the expanded text on the survey reads:

“76% of respondents supported kangaroo killing under certain circumstances (the most prominent reason being if the population was too great)”

So “appropriate circumstances” was not what was actually reported by the survey. The question asking “is appropriate under certain
circumstances’ was the closest actual wording to this.

On collisions:

The Brad said :

1 in 6 (rounded up) have been involved in a collision with a roo. Really?
And 1 in 3 results in a major injury to Skippy?
If that was the case, I would expect to see a lot more carasses on the roads, unless they get cleaned up….which they don’t seem to.

If you glance at the pdf TAMS provide, it is clear that this is people reporting their lifetime experience. So, for a 50-year old, they may have been involved in a collision with a roo at any time in the last 30-something years.

Regarding carcasses, using 30 seconds and a well known search engine, I found this – I’m sure there are more recent figures out there:

“2001 average = 2.07/day, 14.5/week, 63/month, 756/year
2002 average = 2.2/day, 15.4/wek, 67/month, 804/year
2003 average = 3.1day, 21.7/week, 94.3/month, 1132/year
2004 YTD (end June *) 3.1/day, 21.6/week, 93.5/month, 1122 year (est)

[Start sanctimonious mode] {sanctimony deleted} [End sanctimonious mode]

Pommy bastard said :

“In appropriate circumstances”? Appropriate to whom? Not the roos, obviously.

Perhaps appropriate if they are starving to death

Of those who did not support culling, 19 per cent were unsure and only 6 percent were opposed to the practice.

Bloody noisy 6%.

>And 1 in 3 results in a major injury to Skippy?

self-correction – Maths tricky – that’s 1 in 12, isn’t it?

1 in 6 (rounded up) have been involved in a collision with a roo. Really?
And 1 in 3 results in a major injury to Skippy?
If that was the case, I would expect to see a lot more carasses on the roads, unless they get cleaned up….which they don’t seem to.