Scary discovery near one of Australia's largest drinking water reservoirs: 'My stomach turned'

WARNING – DISTURBING CONTENT: Piles of dead kangaroos have been discovered rotting on land adjacent to one of Australia's largest drinking water reservoirs.

Public access to SA Water's South Para Reservoir, which supplies the Barossa Valley wine region, is generally prohibited. But new footage provides a glimpse into what's being called internally within the company a “nuisance animal” control program. And critics have called the grisly outcome “unacceptable.”

The images and videos recorded between October 2023 and May 2024 focus on a burial pit located just 1,100 meters from the drinking water reservoir, where kangaroo carcasses are frequently dumped by the state government's water supplier .

The man who filmed the pit has extensive knowledge of how the site works and asked Yahoo News to hide his identity.

“I don’t think that’s the right way to handle them. They call it 'pest control,' but if they hoard roosters, all they're doing is attracting foxes,” he said.

Photos of the man show that the burial pit frequently fills with water after rain, stagnates and turns green. A video from December shows bodies piled up nearby and floating in liquid, but months later they have disappeared and only bones remain.

“There were bones everywhere. It looked like a massacre site,” said the anonymous photographer.

SA Water responds to concerns over kangaroo dumping site

Despite the pit's proximity to the reservoir, SA Water maintains the decomposing bodies do not pose a contamination risk.

“The water shown in this photo is not the reservoir or any other water source, it is a small volume at the bottom of a pit following heavy rain,” a spokesperson for the business.

SA Water also dismissed concerns about kangaroo bodies attracting vermin to the site.

“Kangaroos can be placed at the edge of a pit like this before usually being moved into the pit once the water has subsided, with the pit then backfilled as part of our regular operational activities” , he indicated.

“Animal carcasses placed in the pit are covered and therefore there are no major vermin problems in or near these locations. The site pictured is in a restricted area, away from public access or water sources and poses no water quality concerns.

Dispute rages over kangaroo culling

Kangaroo shooting as a means of population control is controversial. It is the largest slaughter of land-based wildlife in the world and has been compared to the hunt for seal pups in Canada and the slaughter of dolphins in Japan.

SA Water maintains that kangaroos at its South Para Reservoir site periodically reach “very high numbers” and that the overabundance “may” pose a threat to drinking water, inflict “minor” damage to fences and cause accidents with the vehicles.

The government agency has regularly allowed volunteer shooters to enter the land around the reservoir to shoot invasive species, including deer, foxes, rabbits and goats. But records provided to Yahoo by SA Water show native kangaroos are one of the most frequently targeted animals.

SA Water's kangaroo hunting program is legal, the company maintains killing them is a “necessary” form of land management, and it has diligently responded to all questions raised by Yahoo News.

However, the photographer who documented the burial pit disputes that the number of people at the site was high. He is increasingly concerned about the morality of slaughtering and burying native creatures, noting that many of them are docile and approach humans.

“When I first saw the burial pit, I thought: what is that? My stomach turned and over time I started thinking: This is so bad,” he recalls.

“I feel like if other people knew about it, they would have a different opinion on what’s right and what’s wrong.”

Can the killing of kangaroos be humane?

Advocacy group Kangaroos Alive also shares this concern. The animal rights group does not agree with the government's position that kangaroos need to be controlled and took issue with SA Water labeling them “pests”.

“Kangaroos are native grazers that have co-evolved with Australian ecosystems for more than 20 million years and are essential ecosystem engineers,” said his campaign manager, Dennis Vink.

“Kangaroos continue to be scapegoated, while their contribution to total grazing pressure is minimal compared to introduced livestock and herbivores. It is unacceptable that the South African government labels kangaroos as pests when they are not, leading to them being treated just as poorly.

When it comes to the welfare of kangaroos during culling programs generally, SA Water and Kangaroos Alive are polarized.

SA Water maintains its shooters comply with “ethical codes of practice” and that animals on its sites are killed in a “humane” manner. But Vink says it is impossible to ensure welfare standards are met when slaughter takes place out of public view and without oversight.

Speaking generally about kangaroo hunting in Australia, Vink is concerned that there is no way to ensure the animals are shipped quickly. He also opposes government-prescribed methods of killing children – beheading them or bludgeoning them to death.

“The killing of kangaroos takes place at night, in remote areas, out of sight of the public and the government, beyond any control by either side,” he said.

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