A total of 1,505 grey kangaroos have been shot dead in several nature parks in Canberra in an ongoing annual efforts to control the population of foxes and rabbits.
The exercise which kicked off in May saw Mount Ainslie, Mount Majura, East Jerrabomberra Grasslands, Farrer Ridge, Goorooyarroo and Mulligan’s Flat Woodland Sanctuary being closed to give way to the culling.
All reserves are now fully open again, with the exception of Goorooyaroo, where culling is continuing during weekday evenings.
“Canberrans can be confident that we completed this cull as part of a broad program of land management undertaken throughout each year to manage Canberra Nature Park for conservation purposes,” said the director of the ACT Parks and Conservation Service, Daniel Iglesias.
“Nobody likes shooting kangaroos, however we accept it’s the most humane method of kangaroo population management currently available to the ACT Government in its role as a responsible land manager.”
This year, “a proportion” of carcasses from the ACT kangaroo cull were provided to a wildlife park in NSW to feed endangered species in a breeding program.
Mr Iglesias said at the beginning of the cull several hundred carcasses would be sent the park, which he declined to name.
“[There] has been the criticism which I think has been well-founded in that we weren’t using the carcasses, and it’s a resource, why not use them,” Mr Iglesias said.
“At least we’ve got a process now that we’re keen to develop over the coming years to get to 100% of carcasses used.”
The number of kangaroos culled in 2021 was lower than previous years, due to high rainfall levels which meant more feed for the animals and the kangaroo population reaching “sustainable levels”.
Parts of Namadgi National Park and the Molonglo and Murrumbidgee River corridors were also closed last month for a deer and pig cull.
