SYDNEY: An Australian teenager has been charged over the deaths of 20 kangaroos, which he allegedly mowed down with his truck in a killing spree that lasted an hour.
The dead kangaroos, including two joeys, were found littered over roads in Tura Beach, 450 kilometers south of Sydney, on Sunday morning.
At least three other joeys were orphaned as a result of the disturbing attack, according to wildlife rescue group WIRES.
Police said Wednesday the man, 19, had been arrested and charged with animal cruelty offenses on Tuesday.
The man allegedly hit and killed the marsupials with his utility vehicle late on Saturday night.
“We take incidents such as these very seriously and anyone who engages in activities such as these will face the full brunt of the law,” Bega Valley chief inspector Peter Volf said.
Though the sight of dead kangaroos by the roadside is not uncommon in New South Wales state — where about 90 percent of car crashes are caused by collisions with the animals — the scale and allegedly intentional nature of the incident shocked locals.
“It was a very unpleasant sight,” resident Rob Evans told the ABC. “Police see an awful lot of things, but you could see that they were shocked as well.”
WIRES said the incident came to its attention when police brought a six-month-old orphaned joey to one of its volunteers at 1.30am on Sunday. Two others aged around nine months old were discovered later.
The group said it was “horrified” by the “apparent act of cruelty,” with the three surviving joeys now requiring round-the-clock care.
Eastern grey kangaroos usually begin venturing out of their mother’s pouch at about nine months of age, but are not fully independent until they reach 18 months.
Australian teen ‘deliberately’ mowed down, killed 20 kangaroos
Australian teen ‘deliberately’ mowed down, killed 20 kangaroos
- The bodies of the kangaroos were found littered over roads in Tura Beach
- The attack orphaned three baby kangaroos
NASA astronaut stuck in space for nine months retires
- Suni Williams stepped down from her post on December 27 — making her ill-fated mission her last journey to space
- During her career, Williams logged 608 days in space — the second most cumulative time in space by a NASA astronaut
WASHINGTON, United States: A NASA astronaut who was stuck in space for nine months because of problems with her spacecraft has retired after 27 years of service, the space agency said Tuesday.
Suni Williams stepped down from her post on December 27 — making her ill-fated mission her last journey to space.
Williams and fellow astronaut Barry “Butch” Wilmore set out on an eight-day mission in June 2024 to test fly Boeing’s new Starliner capsule on its first crewed mission when they were unexpectedly marooned.
Despite the incident, Williams on Tuesday called her time with NASA “an incredible honor.”
“Anyone who knows me knows that space is my absolute favorite place to be,” she said in a statement.
Boeing’s new Starliner developed propulsion issues while Williams and Wilmore were traveling to the International Space Station (ISS) and it was deemed unfit to fly back.
The technical problems prompted NASA to entrust the return of their astronauts to Elon Musk’s SpaceX, snubbing Boeing.
The two veteran astronauts finally returned safely back to Earth with SpaceX in March 2025. Wilmore announced his retirement in August that same year.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in a statement on Tuesday that Williams had been a “trailblazer in human spaceflight,” adding that she shaped the “future of exploration through her leadership aboard the space station” and paved the way for commercial missions to low Earth orbit.
During her career, Williams logged 608 days in space — the second most cumulative time in space by a NASA astronaut, the agency said.
She also ranks sixth on the list of longest single spaceflights by an American due to the Starliner incident, NASA added.
Williams has completed nine spacewalks totaling 62 hours, the most spacewalk time by a woman and fourth-most on the all-time cumulative spacewalk duration list.
