19 March 2009

Draft Kangaroo Management Plan available for your consideration

| johnboy
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[First filed: March 17, 2009 @ 11:14]

Our Chiefly Leader, Jon Stanhope has announced the release of the Draft ACT Kangaroo Management Plan.

From the ES:

    Culling of kangaroos on rural leases has been undertaken under a licence system since 1998. The plan provides for the continuation of this along with the strict requirements for a shooter’s licence.

    Kangaroo–vehicle collisions remain an intractable problem as no technique has proved effective in significantly reducing incidences. The plan outlines the three main categories of mitigation techniques: modifying road attributes; modifying animal behaviour; and modifying driver behaviour. The plan proposes more consideration of fencing and underpasses along high-risk roads. The plan gives close consideration to the question of commercial kangaroo harvesting in the ACT, but concludes that due to a range of significant constraints this will not be pursued in the foreseeable future.

    The plan notes that there are entrenched conflicts over kangaroo management in Australia, especially with regard to commercial harvesting. There is a belief, on the part of some, that kangaroos (i.e. the harvested species) are on the brink of extinction.

    However, the latest edition of The Mammals of Australia (2008) shows that all of the harvested species are assessed as being common or abundant.

Both the policy, and the CM, appear to be trying to have their bets each way on this.

Submissions on the Plan will be accepted up to close of business 11 May 2009. Comments should be forwarded:

    by Post to:
    Senior Strategic Planner
    Research and Planning
    Parks, Conservation and Lands
    Department of Territory and Municipal Services
    GPO Box 158 Canberra ACT 2601

    via Email to: ParksConservationAndLands@act.gov.au
    Ensure ‘Kangaroo Management Plan’ is entered in the subject field of your email.

UPDATED: The RSPCA’s ACT CEO, Michael Linke, has noted that it’s a very long document which they need to take some time reading, but his initial comments are:

    RSPCA believes the document to be comprehensive in nature and appears to have explored all of the issues associated with kangaroo management.

    RSPCA is pleased that the government has shown a clear commitment to animal welfare throughout the document.

    RSPCA scientific staff will review the document in more detail over the coming weeks and prepare an appropriate submission to the ACT government.

FURTHER UPDATE: The ABC brings word that the Greens are supporting the plan, leaving the anti-cull lobby quite isolated. No mention yet on the Greens’ web site.

ANOTHER UPDATE: It doesn’t matter how well you consult, research, and deliberate the issue. If you’re going to put a bullet into skippy it’s going to upset all the world’s media. Even The Times (the real one in London, not our local offering) is running with it and leading with the Wildlife Protection Association of Australia’s lonely opposition.

Kangaroos

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In my view there are three central issues associated with kangroo culling/harvesting:

Sustainability – The question in managing any faunal population is, at what level does reducing the population become unsustainable, ie when would numbers of deaths exceed births? The population of the eastern grey kangaroo, one of several roo species harvested in Aus, is immense; as other people in this forum have pointed out, the population is artifically high due to over 200 years of us intensly modifying the Australian landscape by providing more watering points such as dams, and providing additional food resources such as broadacre crops. Skippy is in heaven with food and water aplenty! Their numbers figure in the tens of millions. Also, the roo is much adapted to the harsh climate in Aus and can reproduce magnificantly. The population can sustainably withstand much reduction in numbers, far more than is currently set under the various state culling quotas.
Animal welfare – any form of animal harvest must strive for consideration of animal welfare. Kills should be quick, as pain free aspossible and not prolonged. There are animal welfare codes of practice that should be adhered to at the minimum, and these codes should be reviewed regularly in line with current science.
Environmental impact – the traditional meat industry in Aus (beef, lamb) with hard hooves (or is that hoofs?) has higher impact on the environment when compared to the soft footed roo that has evolved with the Aus landscape.

It just makes darn good sense to use a sustainable, low impact food resource to meet our meat needs, so long as it is done in line with good animal welfare practices.

And to add to the list, roo leather is another option – a brand of running shoes (adidas i think?) has used roo leater.

Anyway that’s my 5 cents worth.

ant said :

…people would rather a gang of men with guns were sent out to blast away at the roos, for their driving convenience.

Yes. My car and my busy life are far, far more important than a few dumb animals.

I agree we shouldn’t waste them – maybe we can render them down to a high-protein cake we can send to third-world countries as aid?

Some people have a problem with two basic concepts:
– animals don’t have rights
– it is perfectly natural for animals to kill other animals

and people with this problem are loonies.

Clearly a good resource. Farm. Sell. No more hooves in oz.

Its good to see a comprehensive draft plan. A lot of the opposition to the Googong cull was based on the government lieing about its motives and scientific evidence. The Belconnen cull confused me when the animals where buried. Weeks later the story broke about the heavy contamination of the soil. Guess someone already new the roos might be contaminated. Its worth questioning what’s going on with this track record.

I’m all for harvesting access protein from the land as long as we do not waste it.

There are so many roo carcases on William Hovell Drive at the moment.

seems to me so many people are supporting the roos being slaughtered because they are worried about hitting them with their cars, and damaging their cars.

I notice the collision thing is canvassed in the article, and the option of modifying driver behaviour is mentioned. But that won’t happen, people would rather a gang of men with guns were sent out to blast away at the roos, for their driving convenience.

Tea and cuddles FTW!!

Kill em all

Pommy bastard said :

Why bother with a cull, just take some road side fences away.

And also heavily subsidise roobars.

proofpositive said :

To save people a lot of reading here is the summary of available options:

* steak
* roast
* sausages
* mince
* pet food

Add Roo Wellington. Had some at Bite to Eat at Chifley last week, and it was delicious.

Ooh, I’m a protagonist! That rocks!!

I voted for tea and cuddles and marmalade.

Was driving behind a Volvo once when they hit a roo. Don’t know who came off best, as they both died (the car and the roo that is, the driver was ok).

Two birds with one stone I thought…

Gungahlin Al1:23 pm 18 Mar 09

If you’re going to put a bullet into skippy it’s going to upset all the world’s media.

FFS this isn’t a question of protecting nature (at least from the roo perspective). The artificial farming landscape has created perfect breeding conditions for certain native species, to greater or lesser extents in different locations. Roos in lots of places, noisy miners just about every damn where, even wombats in some places.

And the explosions in population are just as artificial as the conditions that lead to them.

But the damage to the natural environment that results from these artificial situations is often serious, and entirely warranting of an artificial management solution.

The problem is that certain groups and individuals, aided and abetted by sectors of the media that relish anything with polar positions, can’t see past the fact that roos are large and furry, therefore making them apparently far more important than any other living thing that is either smaller, more scaly, or doesn’t take an “aw gosh” photo.

Farmers all over Australia cull thousands and thousands of roos every year in order to maintain sustainable populations, more often than not sacrificing significant proportions of their business’s production to keep roo populations present. But we hear nothing about that. What the hell is so different about it happening in Canberra??

Pommy bastard said :

Why bother with a cull, just take some road side fences away.

And then we can have some beef and lamb with our roo steaks.

Yum-o.

This thread is making me hungry.

Pommy bastard10:48 am 18 Mar 09

Kangaroo–vehicle collisions remain an intractable problem as no technique has proved effective in significantly reducing incidences.

Why bother with a cull, just take some road side fences away.

Oh, and the rogue apostrophe in the word “Hit’s” in my previous post was my error, not the Sun’s.

Skidbladnir said :

Sweet jesus.
I try to avoid reading The Times normally, but this article (“Activists hopping mad over plan for kangaroo cull in Canberra) is all over the place in terms of content, shows a lone kangaroo in a location which is clearly not Canberra,

LOL, Skid. Last time I was in London there was a pic of a roo on the front page of the The Sun newspaper under the headline ‘Roo Plague Hit’s Australia’. The caption under the headline said the pic was of a roo sitting on the green of a Perth Golf Course. I had to laugh as Campbell Offices was clearly visable in the background, and from the angle the pic was taken in the paddock near the airport.

On topic – I know of a few ACT locals who carry knives under the seats of the 4WDs in case they hit a roo while driving. They then carve off a leg or two from the dead animal for fresh dog meat.

Sweet jesus.
I try to avoid reading The Times normally, but this article (“Activists hopping mad over plan for kangaroo cull in Canberra) is all over the place in terms of content, shows a lone kangaroo in a location which is clearly not Canberra, and then they go on to how there aren’t enough kangaroos in Western Australia, which is in a completely different climatic zone.

Apparently Canberrans all at risk of being terrorised in our beds by the roaming legions of home-invading kangaroos on our streets (using the lone example of last week), instead of hitting the ones on the roads with out cars which happens nationally at fairly regularly, and according to the same survey this article is based on, happens to 17% of Canberrans in a year.
It also goes on to imply that all Australians should be having a say in how Canberra manages its kangaroo population.

johnboy said :

Fortunately for all of us, kangaroos are crap at lunatic ninja training.

Yes, they have always been better at boxing.

What about sheep, or fish?

what i don’t get is why you would call the plural of deer, “deer”.
not deers.

re the cull, problem that we will have is the numbers of roos that won’t be used for consumption, pets or anything else vaguely meat related.

they could always market roo fert, 100% australian made…

Fortunately for all of us, kangaroos are crap at lunatic ninja training.

I hope lunatic ninja trained Kangaroo’s jump through your bedroom windows and jump all over your house, f*%king things up and giving you hell.
I just hope it is you all, not the kangaroo that comes off second best this time.

tktktk

what’s that skippy? you don’t want to end up as steak sandwiches? oh..

Well they are stocked at Coles, Woolworths, IGA and Supabarn just to name a few.

And most butchers stock them nowdays as well.

proofpositive said :

To save people a lot of reading here is the summary of available options:

* sausages <——–!!!

Whatsup said :

Kanga Bangers… yummmmm !

Guys, are you serious in saying that there are roo snags??
If so I’d LUV to try one.
Where does one get them?

baueran said :

In Germany it is common to tie Compact Discs (yes, CDs!) with short, invisible cords to the branches of trees and bushes along the road. In the night, these reflect the car’s lights long before the car is near the reflecting CDs and keeps the deers off the road, or rather alerts them to move before it’s too late. It is amazingly effective and I would guess it would work with Kangaroos as well. At least, I see no reason why it shouldn’t. However, I have not seen this on Canberra roads before.

Whilst it may be decrease the number of wildlife related accidents, I think it would actually increase the number of accidents occuring. It doesn’t take much to distract a Canberra driver.

“Hey! Look, something shiny.”

That sounds interesting.

Unfortunately Kangaroos have a natural defence mechanism of doubling back when they are being chased, to confuse whatever is chasing them. When they are hopping away from a car, this often means they jump right in front of it.

In Germany it is common to tie Compact Discs (yes, CDs!) with short, invisible cords to the branches of trees and bushes along the road. In the night, these reflect the car’s lights long before the car is near the reflecting CDs and keeps the deers off the road, or rather alerts them to move before it’s too late. It is amazingly effective and I would guess it would work with Kangaroos as well. At least, I see no reason why it shouldn’t. However, I have not seen this on Canberra roads before.

Kanga Bangers… yummmmm !

We should regard Kangaroos as eco-terrorists. Get the Army out to sharpen up their snipers and reduce their numbers to manageable levels before they take over, leap through our bedroom windows and eviscerate us with one swipe. From my observation they have been getting bigger and more stroppy every year. And it won’t be long before they turn on us. Perhaps even become carnivorous.

‘Roos eat grass, so the more ‘roos the lower the grass fire risk.

But, ‘roos are tasty.

It is a conundrum.

Is there any cross-over in this with the Grasslands Inquiry?

Clown Killer2:58 pm 17 Mar 09

I love Kangaroo’s! I just don’t think I could eat a whole one …

proofpositive2:37 pm 17 Mar 09

To save people a lot of reading here is the summary of available options:

* steak
* roast
* sausages
* mince
* pet food

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