Australia looks to cut kangaroo numbers

Authorities said Monday they want to shoot more than 3,000 kangaroos on the fringes of Australia's capital, noting the animals were growing in population and eating through the grassy habitats of endangered species. The Defense Department wants to hire professional shooters to cull the kangaroos at two of its properties on the outskirts of Canberra, where some areas have as many as 1,100 kangaroos per square mile — the densest kangaroo population ever measured in the region. Canberra's local government is expected to decide this week whether to approve the cull, government spokeswoman Yersheena Nichols said. Under the plan, 3,200 of the common eastern gray kangaroos, which can grow as big as a man, will be shot by July.