Australia should shoot surplus kangaroos before they starve to death, ecologists warn

Three years of ‘perfect growth’ conditions have led to a population boom among Australia’s kangaroos, with up to 60 million now roaming the outback

Ecologists say it’s kinder to cull them than let them starve if El Nino brings a drought, and warn of ‘catastrophic deaths’ if they’re left unchecked

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Each year, as many as 5 million kangaroos in Australia are shot as part of a home-grown industry, which harvests their carcasses for meat, pet food and leather. Photo: SCMP composite/AP

Published: 3:34pm, 10 May 2023Updated: 3:48pm, 10 May 2023

Australia’s kangaroos could die in “catastrophic” numbers if a population boom is left unchecked, ecologists have warned, while backing the industrial-scale culling of the marsupials.

To outsiders, the kangaroo is an instantly-recognisable symbol of the Australian wilderness, but within the country the native animal poses a major environmental headache.

Kangaroos have a “boom and bust” population cycle – when fodder is plentiful on the back of a good wet season their numbers can balloon by tens of millions.

Hopping mobs of kangaroos can rapidly strip paddocks bare, but ecologist Katherine Moseby warned they would starve to death in droves when food ran out.

A group of kangaroos near Canberra. Experts say Australia’s kangaroo population could soon rebound to as many as 60 million. Photo: Xinhua

“The last drought we estimated that 80 or 90 per cent of the kangaroos in some areas died,” she said.