INFORMATION has been sought about mutilated kangaroos found at Newbridge cemetery on Tuesday.
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The bodies of one joey and five kangaroos, some of which had their legs severed, were found at the Newbridge cemetery by Newbridge Rural Fire Service captain Tom Miller.
The Newbridge RFS regularly trains at the cemetery, which is also a public place with a small dam.
Mr Miller said he made the discovery at around 6.30pm on Tuesday.
“There were three kangaroos by the dam uncut. There were two others cut up and a joey had been thrown into the middle of the dam,” he said.
“They were all removed on Wednesday. I moved them away into a bushy area, where people won’t go.
“People doing this is one thing, but to dump this at a public space and throw it in the dam and pollute it … we use the water for the RFS.”
Mr Miller posted a video of the dead kangaroos on the Newbridge NSW Facebook page, asking if anyone knew anything about the bodies.
One person responded by saying that three sheep had been “shot and killed there a few months ago”.
NSW Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Service (WIRES) Central West volunteer Christie Jarrett said kangaroos are a protected species.
“Like all incidents like this, they need to be investigated and the National Parks and Wildlife Service need to know,” she said.
“Land owners can obtain a permit to cull numbers when kangaroos are an issue.”
The find comes as landholders and vets in western NSW are reporting “significant numbers” of kangaroos are dying, with some female kangaroos so poor in condition they have ejected joeys from their pouches to survive.
The wave of mass deaths is expected to move east through the state as the hot, dry summer continues.
The Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) confirmed the commercial kangaroo harvest quota would not change for 2018, and in fact be reduced by almost 500,000.