AUSTRALIA: Kangaroo Plague
January 2003 750
Suggested Link: ROO PLAGUEKangaroos. They're one of Australia's most recognisable symbols. But throughout Large areas of the country's east they are now becoming the latest casualties of a crippling drought. They're already dying in big numbers as they compete with stock for dwindling feed. Before this drought struck, the kangaroo population had increased enormously after a string of good seasons. Now they're over-running many outback properties and desperate graziers are calling for a mass cull -- not just to save their farms, but to spare the roos an agonising death from starvation.Some experts argue that if we'd learn to treat the kangaroo as a resource instead of a pest, we'd avoid such gruesome problems. Paul Lockyer reports.
VO: Farmers are calling it a kangaroo plague.This is just a fraction of the numbers on Oxley Station in the Macquarie Marshes of western New South Wales. 20:3020:36
PHIL WOODHILL Manager, Oxley station Well, I suppose this was one of the last areas that had available feed and so, as the kangaroos have moved in from the west, well, they've pulled up here and there's nowhere else for them to go now. 20:45
VO: Oxley covers 35,000 hectares. The kangaroos have moved into every corner of the property. Kangaroos can adapt to drought conditions, but they're in such big numbers this time that nature has intervened. 20:55
TERRY KORN,New South Wales Parks & Wildlife Service Well, under this drought condition they'll die. They'll run out of feed and they'll die in huge numbers, and that's what's happening now. They're starting to fall over out in western New South Wales. 21:09
VO: Receding dams become death traps for stock and native animals that must negotiate the grasping mud to get a drink. 21:24
PAUL LOCKYER: So how long would this one have been in the dam here, Phil? 21:32
PHIL WOODHILL: It would be maybe 24 hours. That would be the most. 21:36
PAUL LOCKYER: So they're coming down to drink, they're too weak, they get stuck in the mud and that's it? 21:41
PHIL WOODHILL: That's it. They'll perish there. It's a dreadful way to die. 21:45
VO: Drought has reduced the Macquarie marshes to a string of boggy waterholes. The huge wetlands area usually supports an abundance of wildlife.Eric Fisher set aside part of his property in the marshes as a conservation area.It's now inundated with kangaroos. 21:52
ERIC FISHER, New South Wales farmer This area has been severely degraded by kangaroos here since the surrounding country has really dried out.If I shut the paddock up to restore it back to some semblance of grassing, the kangaroos would only eat it out, so it's a pointless exercise. 22:12
VO: Professional shooters are on course to take a record kill of almost 2 million kangaroos in New South Wales this year out of an estimated population of 13 million.Sound Up These are only little ones tonight.Farmers claim the quota won't make a dent on the kangaroo problem. 22:3622:4722:49
PHIL WOODHILL We have four professional shooters that come in, and I would estimate they would be taking around 300 kangaroos a week. 22:53
PAUL LOCKYER And it makes no impression on the numbers? 23:00
PHIL WOODHILL No, nowhere near -- they make no impression at all. 23:02
VO: As the drought intensifies, so does the competition for the last of the ground cover.It's already a very costly exercise keeping breeding stock alive. Handfeeding is an essential part of drought management on most properties.And, as the feed in the paddocks runs out, the pressure from the farmers for a mass cull of kangaroos grows. 23:07
ERIC FISHER Oh, I think two-thirds of the kangaroos were off this property and there was a third left here it would be equitable. 23:32
PAUL LOCKYER That's hundreds of kangaroos. 23:41
ERIC FISHER That's hundreds of kangaroos, but there's hundreds of kangaroos here too. 23:42
PROFESSOR MIKE ARCHER, Director, Australian Museum It's nuts to leave them suffering. I mean, there's no point in that. They should be culled, and they should be culled to the point where the numbers that remain will be able to reproduce when conditions improve, and that's what kangaroos do very well. 23:46
VO: Mike Archer, the director of the Australian Museum, has long argued that harvesting wildlife will help its preservation.He contends that kangaroo numbers would have been better controlled going into this drought if landholders had been farming them for meat and skins.It would have also provided farmers with another source of income when they needed it most. 23:58
PROFESSOR MIKE ARCHER When you think about it, there are more kangaroos in Australia than cattle and sheep, and yet we insist on focusing our attentions on harvesting cattle and sheep when in fact there's a natural resource doing better. They're more efficient at converting sunlight and vegetation into consumable and edible products. 24:19
VO: Drought-affected farmers are now keen to cash in on the kangaroo. They want to be able to shoot the animals for their skins - something that's been banned in New South Wales since the mid-'90s. 24:39
PHIL WOODHILL A lot of people have absolutely no income and probably there are a number that have no stock left, so at least that will put some food on the table, if they are able to, you know, get some income. 24:51
Premier Carr with farmers VO: Buttonholed by farmers back of Bourke, the New South Wales Premier promised to press for skins shooting to be reintroduced, but Mr Carr's own National Parks and Wildlife Service is cool on the idea, as is the kangaroo industry. 25:01
TERRY KORN The kangaroo industry is saying they have kangaroo skins in store and they can't sell all the product, so they don't want any more skins.If any more skins came on the market, it would continue to drive down the market. 25:17
VO: Instead, farmers are being invited to apply for licences to carry out their own kangaroo culls. Every animal that's shot must be tagged and left in the paddock. Numbers will be determined by the National Parks and Wildlife Service. 25:29
ERIC FISHER If we're going to just shoot and lie them, I think that's a terrible waste of a resource.I'd much prefer to have the animals culled humanely and a dollar be made out of it, whether it be made - some of it passed back to the farmer or the pro shooter take it -- I don't care which, but we've got to manage the animals. 25:44
VO: Those promoting kangaroo harvesting hope that the problems produced by this drought will encourage farmers to finally start experimenting with the idea, despite the objections of animal rights groups. 26:06
PROFESSOR MIKE ARCHER They claim that sustainable utilising kangaroos is impossible and that utilising them is going to lead to their extinction. Biologists have shown for a long time that's utter nonsense.This is the most abundant large mammal in the whole world. 26:18
VO: But those charged with managing the kangaroo population remain sceptical about the success of wide-scale harvesting. 26:33
TERRY KORN The bush is littered with good ideas - the carcasses of these ideas about schemes that will work well. And, unless this is driven from the market end, I think this one will fail too. 26:40
VO: Preoccupied by the drought, farmers are more concerned about how to deal with the kangaroo occupation of their properties, wondering where they'll find the time and the resources to cope with the problem.On Oxley station, a cull of enormous proportions would be necessary to bring kangaroo numbers down to sustainable levels. 26:56
PHIL WOODHILL Well, that would be a frightening figure, simply because, if I mentioned a figure, it would send shivers down people's spines.But I wouldn't be surprised if we had over 20,000 kangaroos on the place. 27:17
VO: One way or another, it seems that this drought will exact a huge toll on the kangaroo population. 27:29
Credits: Roo PlagueReporter: Paul LockyerCamera: Peter SinclairSound: Dav VerrecchiaEditor: John McElhinneyHelicopter Pilot: Richard Howell
January 2003 750
Suggested Link: ROO PLAGUEKangaroos. They're one of Australia's most recognisable symbols. But throughout Large areas of the country's east they are now becoming the latest casualties of a crippling drought. They're already dying in big numbers as they compete with stock for dwindling feed. Before this drought struck, the kangaroo population had increased enormously after a string of good seasons. Now they're over-running many outback properties and desperate graziers are calling for a mass cull -- not just to save their farms, but to spare the roos an agonising death from starvation.Some experts argue that if we'd learn to treat the kangaroo as a resource instead of a pest, we'd avoid such gruesome problems. Paul Lockyer reports.
VO: Farmers are calling it a kangaroo plague.This is just a fraction of the numbers on Oxley Station in the Macquarie Marshes of western New South Wales. 20:3020:36
PHIL WOODHILL Manager, Oxley station Well, I suppose this was one of the last areas that had available feed and so, as the kangaroos have moved in from the west, well, they've pulled up here and there's nowhere else for them to go now. 20:45
VO: Oxley covers 35,000 hectares. The kangaroos have moved into every corner of the property. Kangaroos can adapt to drought conditions, but they're in such big numbers this time that nature has intervened. 20:55
TERRY KORN,New South Wales Parks & Wildlife Service Well, under this drought condition they'll die. They'll run out of feed and they'll die in huge numbers, and that's what's happening now. They're starting to fall over out in western New South Wales. 21:09
VO: Receding dams become death traps for stock and native animals that must negotiate the grasping mud to get a drink. 21:24
PAUL LOCKYER: So how long would this one have been in the dam here, Phil? 21:32
PHIL WOODHILL: It would be maybe 24 hours. That would be the most. 21:36
PAUL LOCKYER: So they're coming down to drink, they're too weak, they get stuck in the mud and that's it? 21:41
PHIL WOODHILL: That's it. They'll perish there. It's a dreadful way to die. 21:45
VO: Drought has reduced the Macquarie marshes to a string of boggy waterholes. The huge wetlands area usually supports an abundance of wildlife.Eric Fisher set aside part of his property in the marshes as a conservation area.It's now inundated with kangaroos. 21:52
ERIC FISHER, New South Wales farmer This area has been severely degraded by kangaroos here since the surrounding country has really dried out.If I shut the paddock up to restore it back to some semblance of grassing, the kangaroos would only eat it out, so it's a pointless exercise. 22:12
VO: Professional shooters are on course to take a record kill of almost 2 million kangaroos in New South Wales this year out of an estimated population of 13 million.Sound Up These are only little ones tonight.Farmers claim the quota won't make a dent on the kangaroo problem. 22:3622:4722:49
PHIL WOODHILL We have four professional shooters that come in, and I would estimate they would be taking around 300 kangaroos a week. 22:53
PAUL LOCKYER And it makes no impression on the numbers? 23:00
PHIL WOODHILL No, nowhere near -- they make no impression at all. 23:02
VO: As the drought intensifies, so does the competition for the last of the ground cover.It's already a very costly exercise keeping breeding stock alive. Handfeeding is an essential part of drought management on most properties.And, as the feed in the paddocks runs out, the pressure from the farmers for a mass cull of kangaroos grows. 23:07
ERIC FISHER Oh, I think two-thirds of the kangaroos were off this property and there was a third left here it would be equitable. 23:32
PAUL LOCKYER That's hundreds of kangaroos. 23:41
ERIC FISHER That's hundreds of kangaroos, but there's hundreds of kangaroos here too. 23:42
PROFESSOR MIKE ARCHER, Director, Australian Museum It's nuts to leave them suffering. I mean, there's no point in that. They should be culled, and they should be culled to the point where the numbers that remain will be able to reproduce when conditions improve, and that's what kangaroos do very well. 23:46
VO: Mike Archer, the director of the Australian Museum, has long argued that harvesting wildlife will help its preservation.He contends that kangaroo numbers would have been better controlled going into this drought if landholders had been farming them for meat and skins.It would have also provided farmers with another source of income when they needed it most. 23:58
PROFESSOR MIKE ARCHER When you think about it, there are more kangaroos in Australia than cattle and sheep, and yet we insist on focusing our attentions on harvesting cattle and sheep when in fact there's a natural resource doing better. They're more efficient at converting sunlight and vegetation into consumable and edible products. 24:19
VO: Drought-affected farmers are now keen to cash in on the kangaroo. They want to be able to shoot the animals for their skins - something that's been banned in New South Wales since the mid-'90s. 24:39
PHIL WOODHILL A lot of people have absolutely no income and probably there are a number that have no stock left, so at least that will put some food on the table, if they are able to, you know, get some income. 24:51
Premier Carr with farmers VO: Buttonholed by farmers back of Bourke, the New South Wales Premier promised to press for skins shooting to be reintroduced, but Mr Carr's own National Parks and Wildlife Service is cool on the idea, as is the kangaroo industry. 25:01
TERRY KORN The kangaroo industry is saying they have kangaroo skins in store and they can't sell all the product, so they don't want any more skins.If any more skins came on the market, it would continue to drive down the market. 25:17
VO: Instead, farmers are being invited to apply for licences to carry out their own kangaroo culls. Every animal that's shot must be tagged and left in the paddock. Numbers will be determined by the National Parks and Wildlife Service. 25:29
ERIC FISHER If we're going to just shoot and lie them, I think that's a terrible waste of a resource.I'd much prefer to have the animals culled humanely and a dollar be made out of it, whether it be made - some of it passed back to the farmer or the pro shooter take it -- I don't care which, but we've got to manage the animals. 25:44
VO: Those promoting kangaroo harvesting hope that the problems produced by this drought will encourage farmers to finally start experimenting with the idea, despite the objections of animal rights groups. 26:06
PROFESSOR MIKE ARCHER They claim that sustainable utilising kangaroos is impossible and that utilising them is going to lead to their extinction. Biologists have shown for a long time that's utter nonsense.This is the most abundant large mammal in the whole world. 26:18
VO: But those charged with managing the kangaroo population remain sceptical about the success of wide-scale harvesting. 26:33
TERRY KORN The bush is littered with good ideas - the carcasses of these ideas about schemes that will work well. And, unless this is driven from the market end, I think this one will fail too. 26:40
VO: Preoccupied by the drought, farmers are more concerned about how to deal with the kangaroo occupation of their properties, wondering where they'll find the time and the resources to cope with the problem.On Oxley station, a cull of enormous proportions would be necessary to bring kangaroo numbers down to sustainable levels. 26:56
PHIL WOODHILL Well, that would be a frightening figure, simply because, if I mentioned a figure, it would send shivers down people's spines.But I wouldn't be surprised if we had over 20,000 kangaroos on the place. 27:17
VO: One way or another, it seems that this drought will exact a huge toll on the kangaroo population. 27:29
Credits: Roo PlagueReporter: Paul LockyerCamera: Peter SinclairSound: Dav VerrecchiaEditor: John McElhinneyHelicopter Pilot: Richard Howell