Parks Conservation and Lands

Opinion Poll of ACT Residents on Kangaroos and Kangaroo Management

The majority of Canberrans value native kangaroos in the Bush Capital, but also support kangaroo culling in certain circumstances, according to the results of an ACT Government survey.

In December 2008, the Department of Territory and Municipal Services commissioned Micromex Research to undertake a random telephone survey of 600 ACT residents to ascertain the opinions of ACT residents towards kangaroos and kangaroo management.

The results of the survey indicated that:

• 82% of respondents considered it important to have native kangaroos in the ACT
• 76% of respondents supported kangaroo killing under certain circumstances (the most prominent reason being if the population was too great)
• 59% of respondents supported kangaroo culling to assist in the conservation of native grasslands
• 49% of respondents believed the scenario put forward by grassland scientists that kangaroos can have adverse ecological impacts in lowland grasslands (a high proportion (38%) were unsure)
• 57% of respondents supported culling on rural lands
• 52% of respondents would support culling to reduce vehicle collisions (this does not currently occur)
• 53% of respondents would support commercial harvesting in the ACT (this does not currently occur)
• 73% of respondents correctly identified the eastern grey kangaroo as occurring in the ACT but 26% did not know any of the species
• 44% of respondents were unsure of concentrations of kangaroos compared to NSW
• The most popular stated destination to view kangaroos is Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve (23%)

Downloads

• Report - Attitudes of ACT Residents to Kangaroo Management ( PDF 155Kb)

Also refer to:

Links between the ACT Residents Survey and ACT Kangaroo Management Plan