Ecologists say Australia should cull its kangaroo population. Know why

One of Australia's most prized possession, the kangaroos could suffer 'catastrophic'consequences if their numbers are not kept in check, ecologists have warned.

Three years of perfect growth conditions have led to a population boom among Australia's jumping mammals. Their population has swelled up to 60 million which has left the ecologists worried, according to an AFPreport. They say it will be kinder to cull them than let them starve if El Nino brings with it another bout of a devastating drought.

According to experts, during the last drought in Australia, kangaroos across the outback suffered a fate worse than death, dying in the most 'fateful' ways.

“The last drought we estimated that 80 or 90 per cent of the kangaroos in some areas died.They are starving to death – going into public toilets and eating toilet paper, or lying on the road starving while their joeys are trying to feed,”ecologist Katherine Moseby was quoted as saying by the news agency.

She said the hopping mobs of kangaroos are capable of rapidly clearing the vegetation of any area. Thus, when the food runs out in the unforgivable heat of Australia, they could starve to death in droves.

The kindest way to save them from such a fate would be to shoot them, harvest the meat and keep numbers in check.

“It keeps the numbers down so that when we do get drought, we don’t get these welfare issues,” she said. “If we saw them as a resource and managed them like that, we wouldn’t get the catastrophic deaths that we see.”

Proponents of the move argue that compared to traditional beef or other livestock, kangaroo meatproduces much less methane than farm animals and is low in fat.

Opponents of the move

Meanwhile, those who are against human beings playing the role of god and culling the kangaroo population, argue that it is more inhumane to kill the animal before nature does its job.

Animal rights organisation PETA says the claims made by activists that kangaroos damage the land they graze upon was 'simply laughable'.

"To say kangaroos are damaging the land they’ve lived on for 4 million years is simply laughable. Overgrazing by introduced sheep and cattle is the real culprit behind land degradation," said PETA.

The kangaroos have a boom and bust population cycle - meaning when food is plentiful on the back of a good rainy season, their numbers can increase exponentially by tens of millions.

(With inputs from agencies)

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