SIX hundred marsupials will be shot on Maria Island over the next two weeks.

Parks and Wildlife says the operation is in the interests of animal welfare but kangaroo advocates say it is backward and cruel.

The Parks and Wildlife Service said the island’s forester kangaroo, Tasmanian pademelon and Bennett’s wallaby population had increased 30 per cent since 1994 and the cull was based on monitoring by a consultant ecologist.

But the Australian Society for Kangaroos, which has also condemned kangaroo slaughter in Canberra and Bathurst, said natural selection would thin population numbers in times of low feed.

“This slaughter is happening on an island which uses these animals as part of its lure as a tourist destination,” society co-ordinator Nikki Sutterby said yesterday.

“Some of our members visited Maria Island in 2008 after a cull removed almost 500 marsupials and they reported there were very few left.

“Where is Tasmania’s long-term solution to stop this annual slaughter?

“What about a sterilisation program involving the alpha males?

“Joeys at foot will be orphaned through this process and those in pouch are decapitated or bashed to death.”

Parks and Wildlife said the cull was conducted in line with a national code of practice and pouch young were euthanised in a swift and humane way by a vet or experienced wildlife management officer.

The Parks and Wildlife Service said the island’s marsupial population needed to be culled to stop animals becoming sick and distressed.

Two teams carry out the cull. One team shoots while the other checks that the animals die quickly.

An acting Southern Region manager, Shane Breen, said 600 animals would be removed from the island during the two-week operation which had begun yesterday.

The island will be closed to the public until July 23.

“The decision to remove these animals is based on biological monitoring directed by a consultant ecologist,” Mr Breen said.

The kangaroo society recently condemned the ACT Government’s decision to kill another 1890 kangaroos in its nature reserves and has filed a formal complaint over allegations the Bathurst Council killed 88 joeys illegally at Mt Panorama in preparation for the Bathurst 1000 car race.

Ms Sutterby said Tasmania was the only state that did not use professional shooters to cull kangaroos.

“Parks and Wildlife has used the cheapest and most brutal method of wildlife management in the form of annual massacres using in-house staff and causing horrific suffering and cruelty,” Ms Sutterby said.

She said dozens of kangaroos died inhumanely in the 2006 cull because many were shot in the body instead of the head.

Mr Breen said Maria Island was a unique environment which had been significantly altered by human use and the past introduction of species including kangaroos and wallabies presented ongoing management challenges.

At the same time, an investigation into setting up an insurance population of Tasmanian devils on Maria Island continues.

The Maria Island Translocation Project will be carried out over the next 12 months.

Baseline surveys will be conducted first to ensure it is appropriate to release devils on Maria Island.

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