ACT

The ABC is to screen a documentary about kangaroos. It is scheduled for television on ABC1 channel will this coming Tuesday evening 21st February 2012 at 8:30pm
It is set in Canberra, Australian Capital Territroy, alias the 'Taijin' of kangaroo slaughter.

The programme is entitled 'Kangaroo Mob'

Parks and Conservation Service Manager Daniel Iglesias says up to 3427 kangaroos will be "culled" in the ACT.  It's simply a matter of thinning out some of those nuisance and feral kangaroos to allow genuine natural ecosystems and native species to flourish, and of course a government department will want to be seen protecting endangered flora and fauna!  It appears to be based on sound science, but is it?

"The ACT Kangaroo Management Plan significantly, and disturbingly, fails society, the economy and the environment in the ACT and its contiguous region in numerous ways. In many respects it is a dishonest, unscientific, inconsistent, biased and unethical report that perpetuates ignorance of the place of humans in the natural landscape and fosters a culture of disrespect and harm." Professor Steve Garlick

After publishing articles about reports by auditor generals in Tasmania, Victoria and West Australia, on the state of threatened species protection, I sent emails to the Auditor Generals in the ACT, the NT, NSW and South Australia.
Today I received this email from the Auditor General's office in the ACT. This response tells us that no audit has yet been done in the ACT. To me this is an indicator that the ACT statistics are probably in the same poor order as those in other states. I am grateful to the ACT Auditor General for their prompt response. The ACT State of the Environment Report referred to seemed unhelpful regarding reliability of statistics in the mean time.

The role of biodiversity in climate change adaptation a report for the Office of the Commissioner for Sustainability and the Environment, August 2009, finds that maintaining biodiversity, notably kangaroos, reduces fire danger and makes the landscape more resilient. It criticises the culling of kangaroos in Canberra and notes the oddness of referring to them as if they are outside the eco-system, when talking about restoring damaged land. The report also suggests that kangaroos have their own ways of managing their numbers and that 'management' of kangaroo numbers, by interfering with them, is likely to cause population problems. The report contradicts policies defended by Dr Fletcher, ACT government zoologist, although Fletcher's own PHD thesis would support this report's findings, but his department doesn't.

Human Population growth impacts on wildlife: The endangered Earless Dragon is being used to justify killing thousands of Eastern Gray kangaroos in Belconnen and Majura, but the motive is really developers' profit. As grasslands are turned into building sites, as human population growth is encouraged.. Kangaroos are in the way, as is democracy, so both are being buried. See also:Kangaroo articles