By Thomas Evans
A couple of weeks ago, my family and I went to dinner with one of my brother’s friend’s family in France. Throughout the evening we talked about many things, but the main topic of conversation was their mother’s recent holiday to Australia. During her trip, she caught a bus through the middle of Australia from Adelaide to Darwin. This was more than a day’s ride, and so she slept on the bus during the night part of the journey. Now, before I go on with this story, I will take the time to explain Australia’s main wildlife problem: kangaroos.
Kangaroos are just as likeable to most Australian farmers and ranchers as rats are to a westerner: they are pests that break down their fences, frighten their animals, and eat their crops; real vermin. The main problem is that kangaroo populations are massive: in just the rangeland of the four states their numbers are monitored in, their population outnumbers that of Australia’s human population. According to The Washington Post’s William Branigin, Australia’s three main types of kangaroo (the red kangaroo and the eastern and western grey kangaroos) have reached plague proportions. This poses a bit of a problem for some Australian nationals; the kangaroo is an officially protected species and a national icon, and is found everywhere from the back of a coin to the tail of a plane. A video emerged in the 1990s of some hunters shooting kangaroo from a jeep for sport and this was seen very badly by locals who spoke out angrily at such behaviour. And yet, kangaroo meat seems to be appearing more and more often on menus and in some shops, and images of professional “roo shooters” seem to be multiplying. There are even some accusations of kangaroos being bred and slaughtered like cattle, which would be quite blatant law breaking due to the fact the animals are officially protected. Animal rights activists are also unsure; they generally oppose killing kangaroos for profit, but agree that farmers may have a point. After all, it’s difficult to imagine that an endangered animal is also considered a plague. In order for there to be such an extent of kangaroo overpopulation now, then in the past their numbers must have been completely ignored, right? Wrong: In 2003, authorities ordered the killing of 6’500 eastern grey kangaroos at the Puckapunyal military base (north of Melbourne). A year earlier, a similar shooting operation killed more than 20’000 kangaroos on the base. And this is just in one area…
Now that we know the two sides of the kangaroo problem in Australia, it will be easier to have an opinion about my friend’s trip experience. She was asleep on the bus when she was woken by a thud and the bus rocking. At first, she was only slightly troubled, but all through the night the noise became more frequent and she decided to go and see the driver to ask if there was anything wrong. When she asked the driver, she didn’t really understand what he was saying as he spoke with a strong accent and her English was only average, but he said something about there being too many kangaroos.
When the sun came up the next day, she could see the handiwork of previous drivers that had come by: the bodies of kangaroos were spread out across and by the road.
She met up with a local friend in Darwin and when she told them of her journey, she was told that the kangaroos were attracted to the headlights of the coaches and some drivers took the opportunity to whittle down the kangaroo numbers on their journey.
Writing this article and sitting talking with Mme Perret about her trip was a very saddening experience as I think there is a serious difference between shooting a kangaroo that is slashing up your land and killing 20’000 of them living in the wild or deliberately running them down with a bus. Would we do that to other humans? Well recent activity shows that we would. I cannot think of a less bloody way to deal with Australia’s kangaroo problem, but if shooting each other is considered alright, then why not a wild animal?
