A mysterious illness has been killing millions of kangaroos which has left experts scratching their heads.
In NSW, wildlife researchers have found the red and grey varieties of kangaroos have died as a result of massive hemorrhaging and internal bleeding around the joints.
‘You would see a whole family sitting there but they were all dead,’ veterinarian Greg Curran told The Australian.
Red kangaroos have died from massive hemorrhaging and internal bleeding (stock image)
‘It’s a disease, it’s not a genetic problem. We haven’t been able to find a bacteria, we haven’t been able to find a virus.
‘Parasites, they aren’t part of it. Given the huge area and different kinds of country and feed, its very unlikely to be a plant poisoning. You’ve ruled out all the known causes of diseases.
“The drop is so great it can’t simply be due to culling rates. The number of animals that have been harvested for the meat market is low. It can’t possibly be starvation or malnutrition,’ Dr Curren added.
Steve McLeod, a NSW Department of Primary Industries senior research scientist told the publication there had been a ‘substantial drop in the number of kangaroos from 2016 to 2017, especially on the Western Plains.
The kangaroo population in NSW reached 17.4 million last year – more than double the population in 2010.
Greys in the state dropped to 3.85 million from 6.33 million, while reds dropped by 1.2 million to 5.13 million.
Dr Curran, a former NSW Department of Primary Industry veterinarian, has been studying the decline for years.
“To have something like this where the best people have worked on it for decades and haven’t gotten to the bottom of it… any disease that can claim 40 per cent is worth understanding,’ he said.
Scientists are convinced a drop in numbers is because of a ‘disease, not genetic’ (stock image)
Red, grey kangaroo numbers have significantly declined on the Western Plains (stock image)