Two Australian teenagers were indicted on Tuesday for the death of 14 giant kangaroos they are accused of having hit, in a seaside town located a four-hour drive from Sidney.
The two boys, aged 17, were arrested after the discovery on Saturday of the dead kangaroos, including two small ones, near Batemans Bay, south of the capital, police said.
"A tragic and senseless act that deeply marked the volunteers who came to the scene, as well as the inhabitants," commented on Facebook the wildlife organization Wires.
Little "Hope" is doing well
Police said they found the dead marsupials in two separate areas.
A baby kangaroo, found unconscious but survived, was nicknamed "Hope" by rescuers.
“Surprisingly, she is doing incredibly well,” Janelle Renes, Mid South Coast chairperson for Wires, told national television station ABC.
“When she got here she was almost lifeless” and “it took about two hours to warm her up and see real signs that she was going to survive,” she said.
Teens charged over 14 kangaroo deaths, as orphaned joey Hope slowly recovers https://t.co/CxBxT9SHlB
- ABC News (@abcnews) October 12, 2021
Summoned by justice, the two boys will have to explain themselves in a children's court on November 22.
Emblematic of Australia, the giant kangaroo is widespread in the south and east of the country.
The animal with the gray coat can reach a weight of 60 kg and a height of 1m60 for the male.
