SYDNEY, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Many livestock farmers in Australia's New South Wales are struggling to cope with a growing number of wild kangaroos dying from the latest drought, with the carcasses at risk of contaminating precious water supplies in the state, according to local media.
The iconic Australian animals are getting stuck in muddy dams drying out in the heat across the state's far west, the ABC news channel reported on Saturday.
The dams "become boggy, and as they do, kangaroos go in for a drink and get bogged and die," farmer Lachlan Gall, who is also president of the local pastoralists' association, was quoted as saying.
"There are hundreds, if not thousands of dead kangaroos around" and the marsupials "have to be removed before they putrefy and pollute the water supply," said Gall, adding that the authorities need to better manage the animals' "impact on the environment and on farming families."
One of Australia's most severe droughts has hit large swathes of its major eastern agricultural states in recent months, with authorities increasing aid for farmers dealing with low crop production and livestock losses. The New South Wales government alone has since rolled out measures to rein in the number of kangaroos competing with local livestock in grazing areas, according to the news channel.
But animal welfare groups said the kangaroos actually need to be better protected and preserved in the current climate.
"Now we've had a good 12 to 18 months of drought, we have grave concerns for the conservation of kangaroos in NSW ... If there are any kangaroos left we should be protecting those kangaroos," Australian Society for Kangaroos president Nikki Sutterby told the channel.
