Cornflower - I feel bad if I do not kill outright with one bullet - it's just me. Although almost all my life I have been accustomed to killing animals for food, my family was one that believed domestic animals were one of Gods blessings and were always to be treated humanely. Everything else was God's creation and had to be respected. To kill anything without reason was sinful. Hence my abhorrence of cruelty.

Even hunting for sport and vermin control, pigs mainly, still the same. Preferred to shoot rather than stick - though that had something to do with my inherent distrust of large boars. Mind you the dogs never liked it. I guess the report from a 243 at close range is hard on canine nerves :-)

Gun laws are a farce. We licensed owners are made to feel like criminals while the criminals have absolutely no problems getting their hands on all manner of weaponry. Likewise my neighbour, whose partner was not a stable woman plus substance abuser, had his firearms confiscated when, upon being told to leave and never come back, she took out a DVO on him. Despite no evidence of abuse - by him anyway - and affidavits of several witnesses concerning her behaviour plus their 10 yr old son who refused to go anywhere with his mother, he still had a devil of a time getting them back. This was a huge problem as he had mobile butcher business. Her eldest son (who knew Mum was a fruitcake) was able to take possession of the guns and worked with my neighbour until it got sorted - 8 months!

Must say I expected a stream of vitriol because of 1)admitting killing a mangled roo with a shifter because the rifle that would have been behind the seat in another era was in a gun cabinet at home and 2) agreeing with another poster that it doesn't seem to be 'cruelty' when indigenous hunters are involved.

Disappointing! Where are the accusations of brutality and that good old catchcry RACISM?

I think it's fair to say that anyone who wants to shoot a roo MUST be required to get a hunting license and to respect all hunting regulations and procedures that these imply, or at least consult some wildlife authorities to request permission.

You simply CANNOT let amateur people kill whatever wild animals they want if the closest to "knowing what they're doing" is to point their weapon in the (unknown) animals direction and squeeze the trigger- or spot it on the road and try to run it down with their ute.

Such actions should ONLY be handled by persons who at least have the skill to kill it swiftly, and more importantly, actually have the capacity to identify WHAT species it is (a common species or a very similar-looking endangered species).

I once saw a fat, grey rat in the forest a long time ago- I thought it was a feral rat until it HOPPED away.