Thousands of baby kangaroos to be clubbed to death in new Australian government ruling



Animal rights activists are outraged at a decision that will permit thousands of baby kangaroos to be slaughtered.

The regional government of New South Wales has announced a cull after a severe drought drove kangaroos into residential areas.

Up to 15 per cent of the population will be targeted, authorities say.

But animal welfare groups are horrified over guidelines that state orphaned joeys should be decapitated, shot or clubbed to death.

Culled: A new ruling will see thousands of orphaned joeys legitimately clubbed to death in New South Wales



Nikki Sutterby, of the Australian Society for Kangaroos, said four million kangaroos and hundreds of thousands of young were being killed in the country's commercial shooting industry every year.

'If we estimate that a third of the 150,000 kangaroos to be killed are females and half of them have a joey, that works out to 25,000 joeys to be decapitated, bashed to death or shot each year,' she said.

'There are already almost four million kangaroos commercially killed in Australia annually. Do the same sums and you realise hundreds of thousands of joeys are being killed horribly each year.'



Official guidelines for hunters say that hairless joeys should be decapitated or bludgeoned to death while older joeys should be beaten to death or shot.



A spokesman for the Department of Environment and Climate Change claimed that rescuing orphaned joeys would overwhelm animal welfare groups.



The number of adult kangaroos to be shot in the state each year has been described as a 'sustainable 15 per cent' of the one million eastern grey kangaroos.



Animal rights groups agree that kangaroo numbers have to be kept down so they do not suffer through lack of food but they say the manner in which the young are killed is 'sickening'.



Miss Sutterby added: 'They don't want to allow joeys to be rescued because it would expose the dirty secrets of the industry.'



The Australian arm of the Human Society International said: 'Clubbing and decapitation of joeys is one of the forgotten cruelties of kangaroo hunting.'



But the RSPCA said it reluctantly accepted the decapitation and clubbing of joeys after two thorough investigations of the commercial kangaroo industry.

The alternative would be to leave the young to be hunted down by predators such as dingoes and hawks. They would also perish from thirst and starvation, it said.



John Lyle, who with his wife Sandra cares for orphaned joeys at his home in the New South Wales outback, said he had asked the government if wildlife officials could be present when kangaroos were shot so they could check for joeys.



'They said they had tried it and it didn't work,' said Mr Lyle.



'More likely, they didn't want the public to see how many joeys are orphaned due to the shooting,' he added.

