Skippy goes on the contraceptive pill

Ask any Australian motorist what is the most dangerous thing on the road and there's a fair chance they will point fingers at the country's national symbol, the kangaroo.

In recent years Australia's kangaroo population has exploded, resulting in roaming marsupials causing 70 per cent of animal-related car accidents.

Now scientists appear to have found a simple and innovative way stop kangaroos from procreating - by feeding them the contraceptive pill.

Researchers at Newcastle University will soon begin lacing bait with a species-specific contraceptive in and around Australia's capital, Canberra, where the local eastern grey kangaroo population have started encroaching upon human habitats looking for food.

The latest scheme has been welcomed by animal rights groups who have long campaigned against the widespread culling of kangaroos, which are usually shot dead by marksmen and farmers.

"It's definitely a lot better than shooting kangaroos," said Animal Liberation spokeswoman Simone Gray.

"In our nation's capital, it certainly isn't appropriate to kill our national symbol."

Local authorities in Canberra began funding research for a kangaroo pill after a decision to cull up to 800 kangaroos in 2004 caused widespread protests from animal welfare groups.

There are an estimated 57 million kangaroos across Australia - the equivalent of three for every human - and farmers have long maintained that their population must be controlled to protect their fragile crops and scarce water resources.

But one ecologist working on the contraceptive warned yesterday that the acidic content of kangaroos' stomachs could prove a stumbling block for the new scheme.

"You have to have some way of having your drugs taken up before or without getting broken down (in the stomach)," senior environment ecologist Dan Fletcher told local press.

"And then another challenge is getting a sufficient proportion of kangaroos to eat the bait."

- INDEPENDENT