CANBERRA-A British animal protection group is using the face
of former Beatle Paul McCartney in an international campaign against a planned
cull of hundreds of kangaroos on an Australian military base.
As demonstrators on Wednesday promised human shields to
protect the animals, McCartney appeared on a website set up by the British
animal welfare group Viva! to condemn the cull of up to 500 animals using
tranquillizer darts and lethal injection.
"There is an urgent need for action to protect kangaroos from
a barbaric industry which slaughters them for meat and leather," McCartney said
in an undated message.
"Please do all you can to help Viva! end this shameful
massacre."
The eastern grey kangaroos, which feature on Australia's coat
of arms, are living on a military communications base in the nation's capital
Canberra.
Authorities say the animals, on death row since May last
year, threaten other local species through overgrazing.
Wildlife Protection Association spokesman Pat O'Brien said
the cull of animals synonymous with Australia could damage tourism and promised
human shields to protect them, with barricades and demonstrations to be set up
on Thursday.
"I'm sure there will be people standing in front of the dart
guns," O'Brien told Australian radio.
Viva!, or Vegetarians International Voice for Animals, said
it had launched a Europe-wide campaign against the cull and by Wednesday had
gathered more than 1,300 protest signatures from 36 countries on an
Australian-based web page.
The petition, which had photographs of kangaroos in rifle
crosshairs, included supporters from Spain, England, the United States,
Switzerland, France, Canada, South Africa and Germany.
In 2004 there was an international outcry over the shooting
of 900 kangaroos at a dam supplying water to Canberra. The animals were causing
erosion problems through grazing.
Environment Minister Peter Garrett, a former head of Australia's conservation
movement, said he would not intervene.
