EDUCATION RATHER THAN CULL THE KANGAROOS

The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) has told Mid-Western Regional Council and Mudgee Police that it about to conduct an aerial survey to establish the population of kangaroos across the area. The three parties recently met in light of a kangaroo attack on a Mudgee woman that has led to calls for a cull.

The NPWS said the aerial survey was coincidental, however “it was agreed at that meeting that no action or decision on dealing with Mudgee’s kangaroo situation should take place until we have better details on the numbers and distribution of kangaroos across the area,” a report to Wednesday night’s council meeting said.

In the meantime, council, along with the NPWS and police want to focus on community education.

“While attacks by kangaroos are rare occurrences, we felt it was important the community received information about interactions with kangaroos,” the report said.

Research from University of New England Professor Peter Jarman indicates, for example, that kangaroos that live in close proximity with people seem to be no longer able to distinguish between a human walking up to them and another kangaroo.

“Thus in situations where the normal kangaroo reaction would be to attack the intruding kangaroo, that is the behaviour they project towards humans.

“Professor Jarman believes it is up to humans to change their behaviour towards kangaroos.”

Some helpful tips:

Learn to recognise when a male kangaroo is making threatening gestures: when’s he’s standing up tall, showing off his muscle and fighting strength, it’s well worth backing off.

When a female kangaroo has got a young at foot that she has just evicted from her pouch, she doesn’t like other kangaroos, or humans, coming close to her.

Mudgee Guardian: Friday, August 8th, 2008