ONGOING PROBLEM

Do you remember the 1960s TV series, 'Skippy the Bush Kangaroo',
or Maltida, the long eye-lashed mascot of the 1982 Commonwealth Games?
 

Or maybe you remember September 1983, watching the Boxing Kangaroo flag on the mast of the Ben Lexcen-designed yacht when it won the America's Cup?

 

Kangaroos feature on our currency,
our Coat of Arms,
the logo of QANTAS, our national airline
as well as lending their names to national sporting teams like
 the Hockeyroos,
the Wallabies (Rugby)
and the Kangaroos (Rugby League ). 

 

 

Kangaroos are considered simultaneously:

 a natural resource,

 vermin

 and a national icon that needs protection.

 

 

A kangaroo bounding across the Australian landscape is a wonderful sight to many of us,

 but for those trying to make a living on the land who are adversely affected by its adaptability and prolific breeding it can pose a threat to their property and livlihood.

 

 

 

Here is a recent news article from Weekly Times:

QUEENSLAND has more than double the number of roos than cattle, prompting calls for the re-establishment of a kangaroo industry.
Data released by the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection at the end of last year showed Queensland had 25 million kangaroos, up three million from 2011.

AgForce general president Ian Burnett said kangaroos already had a devastating effect on primary production, costing the industry about $75 million annually.

"In 2001 and 2003, 26 million kangaroos died of starvation as a result of feed supplies being depleted by animals in plague proportions.''

Mr Burnett said due to the high numbers resulting from a surge in breeding after the good seasons of the previous years and dry conditions this year it was likely the same thing would happen again.


Recently on Channel 9 National News:
Kangaroos have hit "plague proportions" across western Queensland, according to state MP Vaughan Johnson.

Mr Johnson, who has represented the outback electorate of Gregory since 1989, says numbers of the animals have skyrocketed.

"Everywhere you go in that inside central country, the roos are in plague proportions," he told ABC Radio on Thursday.
"(I have) never seen anything like it in my life. Out of control."

Mr Johnson said he'd struck six ( with his car ) in a single drive recently, and that the animals were creating a hazard for drivers of small cars in particular.

And so the debate continues.

To cull or not to cull.

The huge numbers of kangaroos are wiping out vegetation in drought affected parts of Queensland leaving no food for cattle and graziers, in desperation, are taking to "the long paddock".

While kangaroo meat is delicious, many Australians are loathe to buy it and the kangaroo meat market is apparently in a slump. ( Is their any difference to eating venison? )

Here is a Reuters photographer's report about his experience of a kangaroo cull.

It's a difficult problem.

An emotion filled debate that will never have a solution that pleases everybody.

* photos today from the Internet