300 roos at horse stud to be culled

Residents reported that the shooting had already started.

The department has issued permits for the destruction of 120,000 kangaroos in the past two years under the Victorian permit system.

In the latest case, NMIT complained to the department that more than 1500 kangaroos were competing for pasture with the stud's horses and causing damage to fences, grapevines and netting at the training centre that is used for the school's equine and racing studies.

The 60-hectare Northern Lodge Stud backs on to bushland and the kangaroo population has flourished this year because of good rainfall.

Local residents are seeking a review of wildlife culling with a formal submission to the department that asks for public notification and rights of appeal for such permits.

Wildlife rescuer Narelle Smith said the department authorised the destruction of perfectly healthy animals without doing its own counts or overseeing the shooting to ensure it was done humanely.

A department spokesman said kangaroos were common in many areas around Melbourne's urban fringe and such permits were a last resort for managing their numbers in cases where the animals damaged crops, fences and property, or threatened public health and safety. He said it was a condition of the permit that destruction be carried out in a humane manner.

Fiona Corke, of the Australian Society for Kangaroos, said the Eden Park cull was unnecessary and that non-lethal tactics such as fencing, sonar and dingo urine were more humane.

The department said it discouraged the use of exclusion fencing because it lead to fragmentation of populations and increased their impact on adjacent areas while other methods of controlling kangaroos in large areas had not proved to be effective.

NMIT did not respond to requests for information.