THE Bathurst Kangaroo Project has reacted angrily to the issuing of a private cull licence for kangaroo shooting in the Mount Panorama precinct.
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The Western Advocate revealed last week that the National Parks and Wildlife Service had issued a cull licence to a Hinton Road resident, and other residents were also seeking licences.
Kangaroo project co-ordinator Helen Bergen said the licence had been issued without reference to non-lethal means or the substantial decline of the population, as required under the National Parks Act.
She said landowners were being given carte blanche to shoot the remaining kangaroos that venture across the road from the Boundary Road nature reserve or the woodlands on the Mount.
Ms Bergen said the project and WIRES Central West had both confirmed that no- one had requested advice or help to remove any persistent animals not wanted on some properties.
“NPWS Bathurst has no expertise in kangaroos or their demographics and behaviour around the Mount, which the project’s scientists have been studying since 2014,” Ms Bergen said.
“Section 120 of the Act requires non-lethal means to be tried, and economic damage or safety issues to be proved, and we want the details and recorded outcomes of what has been trialled.
“Contrary to Councillor [Warren] Aubin’s panic that ‘numbers [of kangaroos on Mount Panorama] are just getting ridiculous’, the survey data shows a decline of some 45 per cent since 2011.
“This might be explained by the 50-plus kangaroos euthanased or relocated from the Mount each year. The science also shows unshot kangaroo populations reach equilibrium and the Boundary reserve mob seems to have remained steady at 80-100 kangaroos for well over 10 years.”
Ms Bergen said shooting kangaroos disrupted the demographic and behavioural stability of a mob, creating long-term risk in panicked behaviours and upsetting stable population numbers.
“How much of this stable population is now going to be shot as kangaroos venture across the Hinton or Boundary roads from the nature reserve to graze?” she asked.
“Not only this, but the project’s research confirms the published science that kangaroos do not venture far into open grasslands from their woodland habitat, and that mobs are firmly bound to their own home territories. They do not roam all over the landscape.
“The Bathurst Kangaroo Project and its community partners are working with other landowners around the Mount providing non-lethal answers to their concerns such as appropriate fencing, protocols and relocation.
“NPWS is legally bound to ensure such measures are trialled first before reaching for a gun instead of facilitating education and real solutions.”