Guest guest Posted July 29, 2004 Report Share Posted July 29, 2004 Original Messenger: TeresaAfW [teresa_afw] 29 july 2004 23:51 URGENT: MASSACRE of kangaroos on Canberra's doorstep (Australia) PLEASE ACT URGENTLY Dear friends I have been away for about 2 months. Unfortunately I have learned on my return that hundreds of kangaroos have been murdered on Canberra’s doorstep. Many of you are aware of this already but for those who are not, here is a brief introduction. On Sunday night, the 11th of July 2004, Environment ACT sent commercial kangaroo shooters into the Googong Dam catchment area, a Fauna Reserve. Shooters were instructed to kill between ‘800 and 1100’ Grey Kangaroos. Chief Minister, Jon Stanhope, claims the water supply at Googong is at risk of being contaminated by the large number of kangaroos gathering there. NSW National Parks and Wildlife provided permits for the shooting to take place as Googong is in NSW. The ACT Government conducted NO community consultation before deciding to shoot the animals. They also did not attempt any other methods of trying to prevent the animals from using the dam. Environment ACT has given a number of reasons to try to justify the kill, but none are able to be substantiated. First they claimed the kangaroos were the cause of erosion, when livestock from properties adjoining the dam are clearly the real culprits. However, when we pointed this out, Environment ACT claimed the kangaroos were starving, and so needed to be slaughtered. These kangaroos are NOT starving. There is plenty of dry feed on un-stocked properties and road reserves within easy reach of the dam. The dead animals will be used by the commercial kangaroo industry - to be sold as meat, pet food or used for leather. This will be the first time the commercial kangaroo industry has 'harvested' animals from this region. The industry has be trying to open its operations up in the region and this appears to be the first sign they have succeeded. The Googong Dam protests continued all this week, with protesters accessing the dam site at night. Picture just one of the scenes: ...Two shooters are in a 4WD truck with the heater going full bore. The night is black, and like most nights at the Dam, the temperature is below zero, and some nights with rain and sleet, and snow on adjacent mountains.The shooters spotlight and shoot female kangaroos. They shoot a female, drag a joey out of the dead mothers pouch, cut it’s head off or bash it’s head in, as required by the Code of Practice, then throw it aside. Any ex-pouch dependent joeys leap in panic into the night and die of exposure. The kangaroo is gutted and hung on the side of the truck. They jump back into the warm truck and drive on looking for more kangaroos.... This shooting is a cruel and gruesome blood bath. The ACT government has told us that they had to finish the shooting before the end of this month, we are not sure why. For more information please visit www.kangarooslaughter.com Please make sure to make comments in the guestbook of this website. We will use your feedback in our campaign. Please email and call Chief Minister Jon Stanhope urgently. EMAIL: stanhope PHONE: (02) 6205 0104 international +61+2+6205 0104 FAX (02) 62050433 international +61+2+62050433 MAIL:Chief Minister Jon Stanhope ACT Legislative Assembly PO Box 1020 Canberra ACT 2601 Ask Mr Stanhope to: * stop the shooting because it is cruel and unsustainable * use humane non-lethal methods for kangaroo management * Do not allow the commercial kangaroo industry to use the dead kangaroos for commercial profit. By doing this they increase the demand for kangaroo products and the industry gets a foot hold into the ACT/South NSW region. * Develop cooperative strategies with adjacent landholders to prevent erosion from overgrazed rural properties reaching the dam. Questions you may like to ask the Minister include, *Does the Googong Dam have a written Management Plan? *Why haven’t adjacent farmers been required to have settlement ponds to stop sheep manure, chemicals, and effluent reaching the Dam? *Why was the kill started in secret? *Why was the community not consulted? *Does he support the recommended method of killing the joeys as outlined in the Code of Practice? As NSW National Parks issued the Permit please also email Minister Bob Debus on bob.debus and request to cancel the permit. If you live abroad, please contact the Australian Embassy in your country and register your complain. http://www.ausmaps.com/embassy.htm and www.ausmaps.com/embassy2.htm Just recently Australia launched push for visitors with hundreds of millions dollars on promotional campaign advertising Australia as a tourist destination and ironically using the image of a kangaroo as a draw card! For more info on press releases abroad please visit http://www.savethekangaroo.com/newsarchive/20040722.shtml If you have your own website it would be great if you could include some info on this alert. Please act now. Every moment is crucial. " your silence = your condonence " - for kangaroos Teresa __________________ Dr Teresa Buss-Carden Australians for Wildlife Subcommittee of WLPA www.wlpa.org ******************************************************************************** For more info on kangaroo please visit http://www.awpc.org.au http://www.savethekangaroo.com http://www.kangaroo-protection-coalition.org Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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