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Hop it: kangaroos get their marching orders as sho
Topic Started: Jan 17 2007, 11:57 AM (109 Views)
Kahu
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Hop it: kangaroos get their marching orders as shops expand
Lorna Edwards
January 17, 2007


A MOB of about 50 kangaroos in the way of a shopping centre expansion in Melbourne's north-east are to be moved.

Westfield's $195 million expansion at the Plenty Valley Town Centre at Mill Park is encroaching on the habitat of the eastern grey kangaroos.

Whittlesea Council has forced the developer to pay for moving the kangaroos to other bushland areas in the municipality, costing up to $2000 an animal.

The male kangaroos will be sterilised to reduce the impact on existing populations at the new sites.

Zoologist and kangaroo expert Bryan Walters, who has been contracted to tranquillise and relocate the animals, said the move was risky but preferable to culling.

"The community expects land managers and wildlife authorities to seek the most benign ways of resolving some of these wildlife issues," he said.

"I think there is a case for culling and there is a place for relocation, and this is a case for relocation."

Westfield spokeswoman Julia Clarke said the cost of the operation was irrelevant. "Even if it weren't a condition of the development application, it would be an important consideration for us in a project like this," she said.

But Australian Wildlife Protection Council president Maryland Wilson said most of the relocated kangaroos would die.

"I can't imagine how they can do this safely for the kangaroos, but I do congratulate them for at least they are trying this time instead of just killing them.

"The Government has to take this seriously and develop continuous connecting wildlife corridors of 100 metres in width that allow kangaroos safe passage."

The relocation follows concerns about the welfare of kangaroos and road safety on the city's fringe where residential and industrial sprawl continues to encroach on native habitat.

Mark Winfield, a biodiversity manager with the Department of Sustainability and Environment, said wildlife corridors were desirable but not always a solution for kangaroos. "Wildlife corridors work really well along waterways for a lot of animals, but kangaroos will often move out of these corridors of their own volition into built-up areas," he said.

"We don't like the idea of relocating kangaroos from a conservation point of view, but from an animal welfare perspective, this Westfield project seems to be worth attempting."

The department said growing kangaroos numbers on the city's perimeter were creating road safety and animal welfare concerns. "We think we are seeing more kangaroos coming out of the last breeding cycle across Victoria and there seems to be higher numbers of reports of kangaroos in developed areas," Mr Winfield said.

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