Save Canning Vale Kangaroos

Why are these kangaroos a problem? Aren’t they simply living their lives with their families in their home range? Yes. However, the City of Canning wants to construct a new road and a sports complex in the kangaroos’ home range.

A new road, the Jandakot Eastern Link, will improve traffic flow to the airport. The road will dissect kangaroo habitat, leading to fears the kangaroos will cause vehicle accidents. Bushland will be cleared to build a new sports facility. The new road and sports facility will destroy much of the kangaroo habitat, leaving only 22-hectares of fragmented land for the kangaroo population.

Habitat loss is a major problem for kangaroos. In 2007, 38% of Western Australia was used for agriculture. Urbanisation and agriculture are constantly expanding. The new Jandakot Eastern Link is yet another example of humans destroying habitat and forcing kangaroos into tiny, fragmented areas.

The City of Canning is yet to seek a permit to cull and, right now, there isn’t a culling order in place. The City is engaging with the surrounding land owners as it plans the management of the kangaroo population.

There is fear from the public that the kangaroos will be denied access to water. Australian Governments consider fencing to deny kangaroos access to water as a viable way of reducing kangaroo populations. This “management method” is cruel and shouldn’t be promoted by Government. Indeed, this inhumane method of kangaroo control should be illegal.

We, the undersigned, implore the City to ensure the safety of the kangaroos. The immediate concern is that the kangaroos have access to food and water. Often during construction, kangaroos become restricted by fencing and unable to access water. We request guarantees from the City that the kangaroos will not be harmed by a lack of food or water.

Furthermore, the undersigned implore the City to work with wildlife carers, to utilise the expertise and knowledge of wildlife carers accustomed to working with kangaroos. Many wildlife carers have offered to volunteer their services to ensure the safety of the Canning Vale kangaroos. We ask that the City contact us to provide names of wildlife carers willing to assist the City.

Finally, the undersigned, implore the City to investigate the construction of wildlife underpasses or overpasses. Wildlife under-or-overpasses are achieving great results around the world. We implore the City to be a leader in creating safe passage for Australian wildlife.

“You can get reductions of 85 to 95 percent with crossings and fencing that guide animals under or over highways,” said Rob Ament, the road ecology program manager at the Western Transportation Institute at Montana State University, to National Geographic’s Starre Vartan in 2019.

Western Australia has constructed numerous successful fauna bridges. Wildlife was photographed using the bridges. Working with wildlife carers and building fauna bridges is the future for a great state like Western Australia.
(For more information: https://annualreports.mainroads.wa.gov.au/AR-2019/overview/our-stories/animal-welfare-a-priority-with-our-first-fauna-bridge.html
https://www.96fm.com.au/local/check-out-this-local-wildlife-using-perths-new-fauna-bridge)

Australia needs to learn to co-exist with our beautiful, unique wildlife. The Jandakot Eastern Link is a chance for city officials to work with wildlife carers and, at the very least, to create over-or-under passes to ensure safe passage for wildlife and humans. The time has come for co-existence, not execution.