Maria Island wallaby cull: Australian Society for Kangaroos offers humane Maria Island wallaby solution
UPDATED: An animal conservation group wants to stop an annual wallaby cull by offering a humane solution involving vets with tranquilliser darts.
Politics
Don't miss out on the headlines from Politics. Followed categories will be added to My News.
AN animal conservation group says it has volunteer vets on standby to tranquillise male wallabies on Maria Island, so they can be sterilised to help control animal populations on the island.
The Australian Society for Kangaroos group says it has written to Premier Will Hodgman to end the controversial cull of wallabies and kangaroos, which is due to start tomorrow.
Society president Nikki Sutterby said the group had been offering the longer-term solution to the overpopulation of macropod species on the island since 2010.
“We have written to the Premier and called today but have not had a response yet,” she said.
“We have free voluntary veterinarian and wildlife darters ready to sterilise the male wallabies on Maria Island before it starts its annual shoot fest on Maria Island.”
Ms Sutterby said the animals could be tranquillised in the field and then a vet could perform a simple vasectomy to sterilise the males.
“We want to stop this barbaric slaughter which happens every year,” she said.
“If they’d done this years ago, we wouldn’t have the problem today.”
She said the innovative and humane program could have created a stable population of macropods.
The East Coast island will be closed to the public for seven days from tomorrow night as the Park and Wildlife Service conducts the annual cull.
A Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment spokeswoman said the department had considered a range of short and long-term population control options, but many of them were impractical or not feasible.
“Relocation and other options that require individual capture and intervention have significant animal welfare issues given that large macropods are particularly susceptible to adverse physical effects in captivity, including fatal injuries,” the spokeswoman said.
“PWS has examined various alternatives to population control and has found that the most humane method to control populations is shooting by highly trained, accredited and experienced wildlife management officers for whom animal welfare is a major priority in their work.
DPIPWE earlier this week defended the cull, saying population control on Maria Island was an animal welfare issue.
“When the macropod populations are too high, animals become sick and distressed and this is what we are aiming to avoid,” a spokeswoman said.
“PWS has a responsibility to conserve the island’s biodiversity while also maintaining a viable and healthy animal population and has been actively managing the island’s macropod species.
“The decision to remove these animals is based on a scientific monitoring program of three key indicators: pasture condition; animal condition and fecundity; current and predicted rainfall and therefore available food.”
MORE OF TODAY’S NEWS
HOW TO NAVIGATE WATERFRONT ROADWORKS
HOW A MURDERER TRACKED DOWN AND KILLED HIS VICTIM
ANGER AS ANTI-DOG CAMPAIGN ESCALATES
Archie’s gift: Teesdale blesses kind act
A simple, instinctive act of kindness from a small boy has underlined the importance of caring and of human connection for new Bass MP Jess Teesdale.
Former Governor Sir Guy Green dies
Former Tasmanian Governor and the state’s longest-serving chief justice Sir Guy Green AC, KBE, CVO has died aged 87, Government House announced on Friday.