Fed: Canberra worried about roo-killing image

AAP General News (Australia)
07-22-2004
Fed: Canberra worried about roo-killing image

By Denis Peters

CANBERRA, July 22 AAP - Animal rights activists delivered a dead joey to the ACT government
today as they stepped up their protest against a kangaroo cull in the nation's capital.

They said the baby kangaroo had been bashed to death after its mother was shot in the
week-long cull of about 800 kangaroos at Canberra's main water storage dam.

The developments came as reports of the cull made international news, with a Japanese
television crew sent to Canberra to cover the story and an internet search finding reports
in more than 40 countries.

The BBC reported protesters wanted tourists to stop coming to Australia to show support
for the kangaroos, while the Seattle Times reported on the two-day suspension to the cull
negotiated by protesters.

The Japan Today newspaper reported activists had threatened to put themselves between
sharpshooters and the kangaroos.

The ACT government maintains the cull is needed to protect water quality at Googong
Dam, just outside the ACT, due to the invasion of kangaroos in to the prolonged drought.

Animal Liberation spokeswoman Simone Gray took a live joey to a media conference today
to highlight the impact of the cull.

She said ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope had earlier refused to meet the protesters
when they delivered the dead joey outside the ACT Legislative Assembly building today.

"Mr Stanhope said that they didn't want to see us, and hung up," Ms Gray told reporters.

"The international community is outraged at what the ACT government is doing here."

She said Canberra's tourism would suffer as a result of the culling.

Ms Gray said that despite the sub-zero overnight temperatures, the protesters would
continue to stake out the culling site at Googong dam.

Meanwhile, Mr Stanhope and federal Tourism Minister Joe Hockey denied the protest was
embarrassing Australia internationally.

Mr Hockey's spokesman said his office had been in touch with peak body Tourism Australia
and there was no evidence of a negative impact for Australian tourism.

"When we spoke to them they weren't aware of any concern in international markets about
the impact of this," he said.

"They are certainly monitoring the situation but have not made us aware at this stage
of any negative feedback from wholesalers or alterations to travel plans from people overseas."

Mr Stanhope said tourists who boycotted Australian destinations on the basis of kangaroo
culls would select destinations with larger cull quotas, such as New South Wales or Queensland.

"There is no evidence ... to suggest that tourists are boycotting any Australian destination
on the basis of the culling of a species which is clearly not endangered and not at any
risk of becoming endangered," he said.

"This is a completely unsubstantiated claim and another example of the misinformation
that has coloured this debate," he said.

He said the commercial harvest quota in Queensland last year was nearly 3.5 million
kangaroos and more than 2.2 million in NSW.

"In contrast, the ACT cull quota for 2004 is 3,332," he said.

AAP dep/jg/bes/bwl

KEYWORD: ROOS NIGHTLEAD (PIX AVAILABLE)

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