Farmer Clive Barton walking through the paddocks in the drought -hit area of Duri in New South WalesCREDIT: SAEED KHAN/ AFP/ Getty
The most populous state in Australia, Canberra, was declared entirely in intense drought on Wednesday. Farmers who are currently struggling to keep their livestock alive this period have been given an authority to shoot kangaroos that compete with their livestock for the available pasture. This is the most intense dry spell that has hit the country in more than 50 years, since 1965.
“Many farmers are taking livestock off their paddocks, only to then see kangaroos move in and take whatever is left,” Niall Blair, the Primary Industries Minister said in a statement reported by BBC news.
“If we don’t manage this situation, we will start to see tens of thousands of kangaroos starving and suffering, ultimately leading to a major animal welfare crisis,” he continued.
The intense dry spell forecast to be on for the next three months and the farmers are to decide whether to endure with the painstaking task of feeding the cattle and sheep by hand which is really expensive or to sell their livestock. As a matter of fact, the farm reservoirs have dried up and crops are failing.