Seventy-six per cent of Canberrans surveyed for the ACT Government support the killing of kangaroos in appropriate circumstances, mainly when the population is too high.
The survey also found 19 per cent were unsure and 6 per cent were opposed to culling under any circumstances.
Just over half the respondents 52 per cent were supportive or very supportive of a kangaroo cull in Canberra to reduce motor vehicle collisions with the animals.
The RSPCA ACT chief executive officer Michael Linke said he was not surprised by the results because he believed the community generally agreed with the RSPCA stance that sometimes humane culling of kangaroos was necessary, namely if the animals were suffering or causing other ecological damage.
Mr Linke said the survey also suggested those who were outright opposed to culling were not representative of the community view.
’’I think the extreme minority groups cause a lot of consternation for a lot of people,’’ he said.
But Mr Linke said the RSPCA would not support a kangaroo cull to reduce car accidents in Canberra, saying other alternatives such as better fencing would be more appropriate.
’’We would not support culling kangaroos just because they happen to be an inconvenience to humans, that’s ridiculous,’’ he said.
The random telephone survey of 600 Canberrans last December conducted by Micromex Research also found 82 per cent thought it was important or very important to have native kangaroos in the ACT.
The survey found 59 per cent were also supportive or very supportive of a kangaroo cull for the conservation of native grasslands.
Another 53 per cent supported a cull for the commercial harvest of kangaroos for their meat or leather.
Those who opposed culling in any circumstance gave the main reason as: ’’I don’t believe in killing any animal’’.
ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope issued the survey results yesterday ahead of the Government’s draft kangaroo management plan, which would be put out for public comment early next week. The survey was ’’statistically significant’’ and would help inform the Government’s plan.
’’Canberrans do understand it is a difficult issue that does require a response and one of those responses in terms of long-term management will, unfortunately, require culling,’’ he said.
Mr Stanhope said it was worrying that 17 per cent of the respondents owned a motor vehicle that had hit a kangaroo in Canberra.
’’I think that is a concerning number and it just reflects the number of kangaroos within the ACT,’’ he said.
Of those collisions, 55 per cent resulted in an insurance claim, 44per cent resulted in the death or serious injury to the kangaroo and 2per cent resulted in an injury to the occupants of the vehicle.
Forty-three per cent of respondents rated the chance of a car hitting a kangaroo in Canberra as high or very high while 45 per cent rated it low or very low.
To several questions, many respondents were unsure of their answer, including 22 per cent who were unsure if a kangaroo cull should go ahead to reduce car accidents, conserve grasslands or for a commercial harvest.