"It was obvious I was not going to be able to catch him as he was still quite mobile. "I called the police who came immediately to assist." Ms Balch took to Facebook to explain the situation after Stanthorpe resident Jamie Folkers wrote to animal welfare groups' Facebook pages, describing the incident as "disgusting". "Nothing like having your daughter watching a kangaroo and next minute stanthorpe police came running in with a pistol and shoot the kangaroo 6 times," he wrote.

"The police officer shooting, was only standing 1 meter (sic) away from it. But continued shooting it 6 times. "We were standing no more then (sic) 50 metres away. Absolutely disgusting." But Ms Balch defended the police officer's actions and said it was not practical to go around to each house informing them there was going to be shots. "The officer who did the shooting did an extremely good job as far as I am concerned ... it was quick and humane," Ms Balch wrote. "I have always been very grateful to the constabulary in Stanthorpe for the assistance we receive when we have to dispatch injured macropods in the town area, or on the surrounding roads."

Stanthorpe Senior Sergeant Mark Ireland said there are quite a lot of kangaroos and wallabies in the area and it was fairly common for police to be called out to assist wildlife carers. "It was difficult circumstances for the officer involved, he was acting in the interest of the animal," Sen Sgt Ireland said. "The officer had to be extremely careful in the way he discharged the firearm and he did the best he could under the circumstances." Sen Sgt Ireland said the officer involved was a firearms instructor and said it was an "unfortunate" situation. "It was one of those circumstances; due to the terrain and the environment in the area it was very difficult to get shots to dispatch the animal," Snr Sgt Ireland said.

"Even though it was on an acre of land, the houses around aren't on such large blocks, he had to take that into account. "Six shots were fired and that is unfortunate but it is just one of those things." RSPCA Queensland spokesman Michael Beatty said calling police was standard procedure if an animal needed to be euthanised in areas not frequented by RSPCA staff. "Unfortunately in those situations if the animal does need to be euthanised, if we don't have an ambulance or inspector in the area, which we basically wouldn't in Stanthorpe, then we have to call the police," Mr Beatty said. "If police assess the animal is in pain, then the best practice is to shoot it.

"They help us out a lot in cases where animal have been badly injured." Mr Beatty said the most humane thing to do was shoot a wallaby or kangaroo if they were badly injured, especially if they were injured in their legs. "It's unfortunate if people have to see it, but you have to think about what is best for the animal," Mr Beatty said. "Kangaroos and wallabies with leg fractures, it a major problem for them, more so than other wildlife. "They stress very badly, often you will find in cases like that they stress so badly, they will die anyway."