Protesters descend on Australian army base as marksmen slaughter kangaroos to protect other species

This article is more than 11 years old

This article is more than 11 years old

Australia's army has started shooting 6,000 kangaroos to thin their population on an army training ground near the capital, Canberra, an official said today, outraging conservationists, who have vowed to protest.

The killings are intended to protect endangered plants and insects that share the grassy habitat with the kangaroos. A much smaller slaughter, of 400 kangaroos, on another defence department site in Canberra last year was disrupted by protesters.

Civilian marksmen contracted by the department began shooting the kangaroos on Tuesday night at the Majura training area, where an estimated 9,000 kangaroos roam, Brigadier Brian Dawson said.

"The culling is intended to reduce the kangaroo population to sustainable levels," he said, describing the action as that of a "responsible landowner".

The night-time shooting is expected to continue intermittently until August. The training ground covers more than 3,000 hectares (7,400 acres) and includes grenade and artillery firing ranges.

Bernard Brennan, president of Canberra's Animal Liberation conservation group, said protesters would gather at the site tonight and many more would arrive from around Australia next week. "We're not going to sit back and let it happen," he said.

The kangaroo slaughter follows a government environmental report that the common eastern grey kangaroos are too numerous in Canberra's parkland and grassland, eating scarce native grass, which is the habitat of endangered insects such as golden gun moths and perunga grasshoppers.

The kangaroo overpopulation was also threatening endangered reptiles, the grassland earless dragon and the striped legless lizard, the report said.

Kangaroos are slaughtered to control their population throughout Australia, but government agencies have been reluctant to kill the national symbol around Canberra in the last 20 years because of public protests.