More dingos needed to control Kangaroo populations!

caf said :

And then of course we will need Leopards to control the Dingos.

+1 best idea yet, they may even help with the dingoes with the roos!

IrishPete said :

at least the roos will be eaten by another (semi-)native animal, instead of their carcasses buried.

Are soil microbes fussy eaters? I’m sure they’d be happy to hoe into a bit of skippy.

johnboy said :

very, very sensitive hearing.

I’ve heard there are assistance dogs that can detect a forthcoming epileptic seizure, and dogs that can sniff out cancers. A dog that can sense a weak heart could be medically useful. Unless it eats you.

IP

johnboy said :

Generally dingos harass the roos until they have heart attacks. Using their hearing to identify the weak hearts.

Are you taking the micky ? Do they follow them around with stethoscopes or can they tell their heart rates from 20 paces ?

And then of course we will need Leopards to control the Dingos.

tim_c said :

Because getting dingoes to tear the excess kangaroos to bits is so much more humane than just shooting them?

at least the roos will be eaten by another (semi-)native animal, instead of their carcasses buried.

I see they are now seriously considering relocation http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/rattenburys-push-to-relocate-roos-over-culling-20130816-2s0xv.html.

IP

The local sheep farmers will be ecstatic …

Because getting dingoes to tear the excess kangaroos to bits is so much more humane than just shooting them?

Might not mix too well with the cows:

[From a local newspaper]

“Updated: A JOKE IF IT WEREN’T TRAGIC
July 20, 2013 · by District Bulletin ·

The ACT government’s nature reserve director and advising ecologist have again demonstrated their low regard for the intelligence of the ACT public when it comes to their lethal kangaroo management approach.

This may appear justified in an arena of misinformation and scientifically debatable ‘facts’ accepted by the ACT mainstream media and offered to members of the public via the Territory and Municipal Services (TAMS) website. ACT residents have been persuaded to accept miraculously rebounding kangaroo populations, debatable auto crash data and alleged impact on endangered species not replicated elsewhere.

Now that the ACT Administrative Appeals Tribunal has (again) sided with the local bureaucrats against outside scientific criticism of the program, some 1200 kangaroos are being shot in urban nature reserves for 2013.

The mechanical goal is a density of about half a kangaroo per hectare, which in normal grassland terms in very low. It takes no account of family structures or viability of survivors. In the case of weed-infested Mt Painter reserve it is likely that no kangaroos will be left for visitors to enjoy if the set quota is achieved, given a disputed total count.

Once again the formal reason given has been about protecting endangered species and grasslands from “too many” native herbivores. So what do we see at the Mullangarri grasslands surrounded by new suburbs in outer Gungahlin? We find a series of new paddocks across one side of the grassland marked out by shiny five-strand barbed wire.

Quite apart from the ugliness and animal unfriendliness of criss-crossing a nature reserve with barbed wire, here’s the main irony that perhaps TAMS thinks the ACT public is too on-side to notice.

While 25 Mullangarri kangaroos (native grass-eaters) face a bullet in this latest cull, TAMS has acknowledged it plans to put stock ­– almost certainly cattle — behind the fences for “fuel hazard reduction” in late spring and early summer.

Reserve managers have previously said they prefer stock to kangaroos to reduce the grass in the scarce native grasslands for fire management, because well, stock are more manageable! They haven’t said whether they have studied the impact of cattle on endangered species or whether there are even any of these species demonstrably present.

Update
MORE COWS APPEAR ON KANGAROO KILLING FIELDS

“On Saturday 20 July a herd of cows were seen grazing within the grassy box woodlands at Mt Painter Nature Reserve, along William Hovel Drive.

This is the same reserve and area where 80 kangaroos plus their dependent young are being killed to supposedly protect the same grassy box woodlands from overgrazing. This is hypocrisy.

“Cows have not been seen in this area before the announcement of the cull in June 2013. But now the cull is underway cows have miraculously appeared where the kangaroos live.

“The same at Gungaderra Grasslands Nature Reserve. Cows have been seen recently grazing in these native grasslands ecosystem. There is evidence of cows grazing and cow dung in Mullangarri Grasslands Nature Reserve across the road from this reserve. New cattle 5-strand barbwire fences were installed in the reserve recently.

“During the kangaroo cull 2012 at Crace Grassland Reserve community members saw rangers and shooters vehicles on the grasslands ecosystem there next to the busy Barton Highway in broad daylight just before dusk

“A dozen shots were heard as the kangaroos where being shot. There were no cows in this reserve at that time. Following the shooting of the kangaroos at Crace, cows were seen to be grazing in this reserve. There is still clear evidence of vehicle tracks and cow pats in this Reserve today.”

—-Sent by an ACT community member 20 July 2013.”

IP

I thought dingos had been replaced in large areas of Australia by a new apex predator that has the benefit of not preying on as many sheep, but unfortunately does take out quite a few humans.

Aren’t motor vehicles the modern dingo?

culling may be necessary to restore the natural balance

Interesting use of the term “natural”. Does this mean, if we wait long enough, that at some point in the distant future there will be a debate about reintroducing the cane toad to help restore the “natural” balance?

bundah said :

The dingo got my joey..

Politically very incorrect.

And very funny!

bundah said :

The dingo got my joey..

]

In bad taste and not funny

The dingo got my joey..