Fed: Vet warns of dangers of drugging and moving roos

AAP General News (Australia)
04-02-2008
Fed: Vet warns of dangers of drugging and moving roos

CANBERRA, April 2 AAP - Moving 500 kangaroos from a defence property in Canberra to
another site could mean the deaths of half the animals if it is not done properly, a wildlife
expert has warned.

Defence contractors had been preparing to cull the kangaroos on a former naval site,
after the ACT government rejected a plan to relocate them.

Now the Department of defence wants to trial moving the kangaroos to another site after
first drugging them with tranquiliser darts.

Dr Jon Hanger, a senior vet with the Steve Irwin-founded Wildlife Warriors at Australia
Zoo in Queensland, said he had successfully moved 25 kangaroos from a Gold Coast development
site to bushland 20 kilometres away.

There were substantial risks, but if done properly it was a humane approach.

"There is certainly a risk of trauma," he told ABC Radio.

"There is always a risk with a darting exercise as there is with any veterinary intervention
that requires an anaesthetic.

"That risk is much higher if it's done by people who are not very experienced.

"You can potentially have up to a 50 per cent mortality from either darting injuries
or myopathy or overheating if the thing is not managed very well."

Dr Hanger said he would not accept a mortality rate greater than five per cent.

Translocation costs from $500 to $2,000 per animal depending on the time taken and
other circumstances.

"There's no two ways about it - it is an expensive process," he said, adding that defence's
initial plan - tranquilising the roos then killing them by lethal injection - was also
expensive.

Dr Hanger, whose group has tendered for any translocation job, said the public expected
a compassionate approach to reducing kangaroo numbers.

The procedure involved first tranquilising each animal using a dart gun.

That took five minutes to take effect after which a vet would then examine each animal.

Those deemed to be diseased or in poor condition would be killed.

Animals would be transported five at a time and held in a pen at the release site for
an hour or so until sufficiently revived to be released.

Dr Hanger said little research had been conducted on translocation of kangaroos and
their long-term survival rate wasn't really known.

"The time has come for us to attach radio collars or other tracking devices on these
animals so we can assess their movements and survival after release and how well they
integrate into the resident population," he said.

Dr Hanger said without research it wasn't known whether released kangaroos would seek
to head back home.

"We really don't know unless we put some sort of tracking device on them and monitor
them," he said.

AAP mb/rl/af/sp

KEYWORD: KANGAROOS

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