Kangaroos face cull as drought hits New South Wales farms
AUSTRALIAN farmers were yesterday given permission to shoot kangaroos as the country’s most heavily populated state struggles with an intense and prolonged drought.
The wild animals have been competing with livestock for sparse pasture in New South Wales during the state’s most severe dry spell since 1965.
Farm reservoirs have dried up, crops are failing and, while state and federal governments are giving cash help, it is not enough for many farmers.
The state government said yesterday that 100 per cent of its land area of more than 309,000 square miles was in drought.
Niall Blair, the primary industries minister, said: “This is tough. There isn’t a person in the state that isn’t hoping to see some rain for our farmers and regional communities.”
With dry conditions forecast to last for three more months, farmers have had to choose whether to expensively and laboriously hand-feed their cattle and sheep or sell them.
The government has now lifted restrictions on the number of kangaroos that farmers are allowed to shoot and dispensed with the normal regulations which say they must keep a tally of the number killed.
Mr Blair said: “Many farmers are taking livestock off their paddocks only to see kangaroos move in and take whatever is left.
“If we don’t manage this, we will start to see tens of thousands of kangaroos starving and suffering, leading to a major animal welfare crisis.”
However, Ray Borda, the president of the Kangaroo Industries Association of Australia, which represents hunters who shoot kangaroos for meat and leather, said the government would have been better off using professionals to do a more humane job of reducing numbers.
He added: “We see this as probably the worst possible outcome for the kangaroo, but I’ve got to emphasise we do understand the plight that farmers are in.”