Stop The Kangaroo Cull

A controversial cull of hundreds of kangaroos at a defence site in Canberra has begun, despite the pleas of animal welfare activists for it to be called off.

Dozens of kangaroos today were herded into pens before disappearing behind hessian screens, where some were apparently euthanized.

Despite no official confirmation of the cull, witnesses at the site said the tranquillising and killing of the animals had begun.

The stop-start cull of about 400 eastern grey kangaroos on the former naval site in suburban Belconnen has attracted international media attention.

The Department of Defence says the cull is necessary to protect native grasslands and threatened species, and avoid starvation among the kangaroos.

The planned method of slaughter is to tranquillise the animals with the use of darts and then kill them with a lethal injection.

Onlookers said they saw animals being herded into a fenced-off pen and a covered trailer was seen arriving and departing the area.

A nearby worker, Stewart Darville, told AAP he believed "eight or nine" of the animals had been killed by early afternoon.

He and other onlookers said kangaroos were being moved in lots of about half a dozen into an secondary pen surrounded by hessian material.

AAP witnessed at least three jump the nearly three-metre-high fence around the area where the animals were to be darted.

Another roo, which possibly escaped after being darted, was seen lying lifeless on the ground.

I may be only 16 but killing off hundreds of animals because someone can't be bothered paying OUR tax money to simply re-locate them is completely just idiotic and frustrating.