Hugh Lavery Am

Kangaroos Hugh Lavery Am

The extraordinary kangaroo family is diverse and abundant, especially in the 1.8 million-square kilometre State of Queensland, where for more than a century it has also constituted one of the largest of all terrestrial native animal harvests. This unprecedented book describes the population behaviour of the principal species - the eastern grey kangaroo - by way of scientific investigations that have continued for over 60 years. The results beg three questions of society: Is there logical reason to stop the use of a demonstrably renewable resource that is both healthy and valuable for us when taken under technically-prescribed conditions? If not, why attempt to stop harvesting when absence of such an incentive inevitably encourages their removal as pests for no economic return other than their replacement by introduced domestic and feral animals? And if precious funds are generated from harvesting, why not use these for research into the many non-commercial kangaroo species that are in real need of conservation management attention? Few wildlife conservation subjects so large and controversial have been presented in such detail.