Photo Story

Title: The Canberra Kangaroo Massacre
Photographer: Ray Drew
Web site: The Life and Death of Kangaroos   Email: Ray Drew.  Email Ray Drew for written permission to publish his photos.

Government contractors started killing hundreds of kangaroos on a former military base in Canberra, Australia, in May 2008. Ten days later over 500 kangaroos were dead. The government claims that the site is overcrowded, the kangaroos are endangering vulnerable species and moving the animals is too expensive. The real reason for killing the kangaroos is that the site is for urban development.

An international campaign was launched to save these and other kangaroos from being killed by the Ministry of Defence and ACT government on the Majura military base, Canberra.

Contractors, mainly government employees, put up fences to contain the kangaroos. They do not know they are being photographed.

Contractors drive about fifty kangaroos towards the right, to the killing area.

The kangaroos are in a state of shock and fear. They group together seeking a way out of their confinement.

The contractors force the kangaroos onwards to where a shooter is waiting for them. About five kangaroos escaped by leaping the fences, which then had to be doubled in height to prevent escapes. The green notices on the fencing read 'Rent-a-Fence'.

Beaters drive kangaroos along. The shooter is concealed inside the grey box (right). At left two kangaroos panic and collide with a metal pole. Near the centre a joey stands bewildered.

The remaining kangaroos wait exhausted. A young joey (centre) stands with his mother. Soon they will be driven like the others into the killing zone.

People in Australia kill millions of kangaroos a year. This is the country that campaigns to save the whale. Whales do not live on land next to Australians.

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