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Argument: Translocation of Kangaroos threatens integrity of their new habitat

Issue Report: Kangaroo culling in Australia

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Emeritus Professor Gordon Grigg – University of Queensland. “Kangaroos on defence lands – another view”. March 18th, 2008 – “Translocation is fraught with practical difficulties (the stress involved with capture, post-capture myopathy which is a serious issue in kangaroos, finding a suitable release site/s) and ethical and legal issues (foreign genetic material and possibly disease introduced at the release site/s; translocation contravenes the policies of most wildlife conservation agencies).”

Kangaroo Culling on Defence lands – Fact Sheet” – “Why not take the kangaroos and release them where they are not a problem? The ACT government policy against translocation is based on expert understanding, and has been explained in detail on the internet for ten years in the Kangaroo Advisory Committee. Translocation might shift the problem but would not solve it and could lead to greater suffering. There are two main kinds of kangaroo population in the ACT. The first kind is where high-density populations of kangaroos are in balance with the amount of grass. Every year some of the sub-adult kangaroos starve, which is how the system keeps its balance. If more kangaroos are added, the balance is lost, and natural processes restore the balance by more starvation. The other kind of kangaroo population is where the system is kept off that balance by shooting, or some other process that kills kangaroos. If kangaroos are added to these populations, farmers would need to shoot more, to reach the kangaroos allowed on the property. Again, nothing would be gained. The logistics of moving a large number of animals would also be problematic and the event would be extremely stressful for the kangaroos. Hence the ACT Government policy against translocation.”