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Media Release

 

 

Protest Update - Wednesday 28 July 2004

The Googong Dam protests continued all this week, with protesters accessing the dam site at night. There is 10 km of road from the Northern end of the Dam to the Southern end, and this is where the shooting was taking place. Many of these people work during the day, so it was a big effort from them.

The ACT government has told us that they had to finish the shooting before the end of this month, we are not sure why, whether the permit expires then, or whether the start of our Administrative Appeals Tribunal Appeal on the 2nd of August has influenced them.

Picture this incident....

Two shooters are in a 4WD truck with the heater going full bore. The night is black, and like most nights at the Dam, the temperature is below zero, and some nights with rain and sleet, and snow on adjacent mountains.

The shooters spotlight and shoot female kangaroos. They have been told by a wacko South African scientist called Freudenburger, who has funding links with the kangaroo Industry, that the best way to control kangaroo populations is to target the females.

They shoot a female, drag a joey out of the dead mothers pouch, cut it’s head off or bash it’s head in, as required by the Code of Practice, then throw it aside. Any ex-pouch dependent joeys leap in panic into the night and die of exposure. The kangaroo is gutted and hung on the side of the truck. They jump back into the warm truck and drive on looking for more kangaroos.

Suddenly out of the dark night, a handful of protestors screaming "Stop the Shooting" appear in front of the truck. Our two well-armed heroes flee in panic, knocking over two of our people as they go.

When they are clear of the Dam area and their tiny hearts stop trembling, they decide they need to justify their hasty departure by saying they had some rocks thrown at them.

I wasn’t there that night and I don’t know if anyone did throw rocks, but as Animal Lib protestors have a long record of non-violent protests, it’s unlikely. However it did give Chief Minister Jon Stanhope the opportunity to call the protestors thugs and hooligans.

For the first week of the protest he wouldn’t talk at all, but now he is saying things like "I have been told by my Department….." and "my information is…..". It looks as though heads will roll over this mess, and he appears to be trying to ensure his is not one of them.

We are quite sure they have not killed anywhere near the 800 to 1100 they wanted to, thanks to the protesters. On Wednesday night half a dozen police cars were at the dam gates, and one protester was arrested for trespass.

A rally will be held on Friday outside the Legislative Assembly at 12.30, where a memorial Service for the killed kangaroos will be held. A commemorative plaque will be buried in a secret place inside the dam boundary.

Today Tonight have done a story about the campaign which may go to air Thursday or Friday night, or early next week. Hopefully this high media profile ACT campaign will convince other regional governments in Australia not to follow the same path.

Protest Update - 23 July 2004

The protests continued all the next week. Someone painted a large sign on the dam wall, "Dam the Massacre" and then sent a video of it to Channel Nine. Due to the cold, and the fact that the shooting was taking place at night, the day protests at the Main dam gate were discontinued.

During the night protestors slipped into the Dam area through properties owned by sympathetic farmers and landowners. They are looking for evidence of shooting that they can videotape and photograph.

Photo: Laura, one of the many campaigners, braves another freezing night at the dam site in an attempt to stop the shooters.

On Wednesday night they found a little joey with its head bashed in, as required by the Federal Code of Practice that commercial shooters operate under. The recommended method of disposal of joeys taken from their dead mother is by "decapitation with a sharp instrument", (usually an axe!) or a "properly executed heavy blow to destroy the brain." Of course as there in no monitoring or policing at the point of kill, who knows how they really kill them? Or if they bother killing them at all?

Next day a media conference was called at the Parliamentary Assembly building. The little baby dead kangaroo was laid gently in a pale blue blanket on the steps for the politicians and the rest of the world to see.

Meanwhile, commenting for the first time, the Chief Minister Jon Stanhope came out publicly in support of the kill. He said on National TV he is going to keep killing the kangaroos, and if the commercial shooters are not allowed to do it and sell the bodies, he will dig a big hole in the ground and dump all in the dead kangaroos in it!

Stanhope has also been quoted in one newspaper as saying the kangaroo cull at Googong foreshores was essential to protect the quality of Canberra's water supply and to prevent the further starvation of kangaroos in the district. It would be handy if these politicians would start telling the truth about the kill.

 

MEDIA ALERT - ANIMAL LIBERATION ACT - 29 JULY 2004

MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR THE KANGAROOS & JOEYS WHO DIED AT GOOGONG

On Friday, 30 July 2004, a Requiem Memorial Service will be held for the
1,000 plus kangaroos and joeys that have been killed by the hand of the ACT
Government at Googong Nature Reserve.

The public are invited to attend the service to peacefully pay their
respects to the animals that have been needlessly killed over the past 3
weeks. The memorial service will be accompanied by music and hymns.

when: 12.30pm, TOMMORROW, Friday, 30 July 2004

where: ACT Legislative Assembly - in the square outside the Canberra
Theatre (London Circuit, Civic, Canberra).

People attending the service are urged to dress in black and bring flower or
wreaths to be placed on a memorial plaque that will later be erected in a
secret location at Googong. People who cannot attend are urged to wear a
black armband on Friday in memory of the slaughtered animals.

"The memorial service is about remembering the kangaroos who have been
killed by the ACT Government and to vow to never let this happen again,"
said Ms Simone Gray, spokesperson Animal Liberation ACT.

"It is also about saying that killing is not the answer and as Australians
we need to re-evaluate the way we treat kangaroos."

Over the past three weeks kangaroo defenders have been at Googong each night
to stop shooters killing over 1,000 kangaroos and joeys. The campaign has
slowed the shooting and brought the issue to public attention, particularly
the way joeys are brutally killed. Joeys are killed either by decapitation
or by being bludgeoned to death. These methods are approved under the Code
of Practice for the Humane Shooting of Kangaroos.

"The shootings at Googong ends on Saturday yet this is really just the
beginning for us. We intend to begin a national campaign to end the brutal
treatment of joeys and to stop kangaroos being treated like pests,"
concluded Ms Gray.

For interviews please call Simone Gray 0408 868 828

 

MEDIA RELEASE - ANIMAL LIBERATION ACT - 22 JULY 2004

KANGAROO DEFENDERS FIND BASHED JOEY AT GOOGONG

Last night kangaroo defenders were again at Googong Dam to stop shooters who are killing over 1,000 kangaroos and joeys at Googong Dam (NSW). In the early hours of this morning they found a dead joey who had been bashed to death. The dead joey will be taken to the Legislative Assembly today to confront Jon stanhope, the Minister responsible for this brutal massacre of kangaroos.

"The way this joey died is barbaric. It has been bashed to death after its
mother was shot. About 1000 joeys are being killed this way at Googong,"
stated Ms Simone Gray, spokesperson for Animal Liberation ACT.

The ACT Government has instructed shooters to target female kangaroos as a
means of reducing the population. This means for each female killed there
is one joey killed. Joeys are killed either by decapitation or by a blow to
the head - this normally means their heads are bashed against the side of
the shooter's truck. These methods are approved under the Code of Practice
for the Humane Shooting of Kangaroos.

"Jon Stanhope approves the bashing of joeys to death - he is allowing all
joeys at Googong to be killed in this way. Bashing is approved under the
Code of Practice but it doesn't't make it right. We are pleading with Jon
Stanhope to find another way and stop killing the wildlife.

"We have asked Jon Stanhope to look at alternatives but all he and the ACT
Government seem to want is to bash the life out of these animals. We are
supposed to be a humane society so how can we allow baby animals to die in
this way?

"This massacre of joeys is as sickening as the clubbing of baby seal in
Canada. We are calling on the international community to pressure the ACT
Government to stop this bloody slaughter.

"Australians get upset about the clubbing of baby seals and the eating of
dogs. We should now look in our own backyard to see the atrocities
happening to joeys."

Googong Dam is a nature reserve and wildlife refuge that has been used by
local wildlife carers as a release area for kangaroos they have hand reared.
It is heart breaking for the carers who have spent months and years rearing
joeys to now have them shot by the ACT Government.

The ACT Government has stated they want to kill the kangaroo because of
water quality issues and because the kangaroos are starving.

"The kangaroos at Googong are definitely not starving. If they were Animal
Liberation would be the first group to urge for a cull. Also the ACT
Government has not released any scientific evidence on how the kangaroos
affect water quality. If they have the evidence we would like to see it,"
concluded Ms Gray.

For information on kangaroos and drought see the ACT Government website:
www.environment.act.gov.au/petsandlocalwildlife/kangaroosinnaturerese
rves.html

MEDIA CONFERENCE AT 11.30 AM TODAY OUTSIDE THE MEMBERS ENTRANCE OF THE
LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY.