Roo devoid nature reserves to re-open

Points to note:

1) This is a story from 2010.
2) The headline refers to the completion of the cull, not the actual numbers of roos.

So, does this mean if we hit a kangaroo today near one of these parks, we can sue govco?

The pinnacle is absolutely honking with roos, I see at least 200-300 every morning when I walk my dogs there.

The headline is, like your other headlines on this, misleading as well as emotional. “Roo devoid”? Not at all.

I visit Callum Brae often and I know how wretched the place was before the first cull.

There are still roos in the reserve, and alarmingly there are unchanged(?) numbers of roos in adjacent private land. Since the roos can move between the two patches the cull is only partly effective. The culls are to reduce the number of roos, not eliminate them. Still plenty in Callum Brae to satisfy any tourists who happened to go there, though this is not likely as it’s not that sort of place.

I urge you or anyone who is despondent about the cull to read the ACT Government reports that examine why the cull is justified (at least one of which you’ve posted), and go out and compare roo numbers and the state of the habitat yourself. Note the tiny enclosures spread around the reserve used to quanitfy the effect of grazing on native grasses. While (hopefully) you won’t find the devastation that happened before the first cull, but you might be able to see patches of degradation due to rabbits and roos.

Note too that the report often quoted as evidence against the studies that recommend culling is in fact not that at all. As I mention in another post, it’s not science at all, it’s legal and moral argument, and in fact the local cull meets the document recommendations about whether to hold a cull.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/thinkk_production/resources/13/2597_UTS_policy_report.pdf

Living in close proximity to two of those culling areas. I cannot see any impact on the number of roos in the area. In fact on Sunday afternoon the Crace area was full again. Funny we kill farm more wild life with our motorvehicles than we ever do with a cull, yet the hue and cry is over the cost we must pay for vehcicle repairs.

Pork Hunt- To your comment, they are already on their way to extinction. What about Tasmanian tigers? What happened with them? The same thing, there was “too many” so they culled them and now they no longer exist! Yes there are plenty of kangaroos around australia but it all has to start somewhere for the numbers to start dropping. Not only is this wrong, but it’s done inhumanely, they don’t get a bullet to the head, they die slowly and some die even before they are shot from the stress. All I know is I would love to lock stanhope in a fenced of area and run around shooting him =]

It is now up to the Stanhope government to show the proof is in the pudding. To retain any justification for future slaughter of Kangaroo societies, if not any credibility regarding past slaughters, the Stanhope government now has to demonstrate the veracity of their claims that flora and fauna were endangered by overabundance of kangaroos. With the slaughters a fait accompli, they now will have to convincingly demonstrate that endangered flora and fauna are making a comeback. Failure of the Stanhope government to demonstrate such a nexus in a convincing way exposes them to claims of pandering to the redneck vote.

I know there’s no shortage and of course I wasn’t suggesting the roo CULL as a tourist attraction. There are places that are regularly brought to tourists attention, like the picnic area/campground (?) somewhere near the Blue Mountains and the golf course on the Great Ocean Road. But do they ever hear about how easy it is to find kangaroos in the Canberra area? And if they do is it only in the context of roo culls which is hardly enticing.

Isn’t the attraction to walk amongst nature including Kangaroos?

GardeningGirl said :

Apart from personally feeling sad about it, it seems to me to be a tourism opportunity gone to waste. Overseas visitors are always asking where to go to see kangaroos in the wild, this is something we could be promoting in addition to the museums/galleries to bring them to Canberra.

As much as the government might try, culling 1800s roos will hardly even make a dent in the number of roos in the wild. Tourists will still see roos, they just wont see them starving and fighting for what little food exists during the winter, or having to wander onto the roads trying to find food, right in front of the tourists car.