Wallaby-shooting cop ‘did nothing wrong’ firing six shots in front of child
A Queensland police officer criticised for shooting a wallaby six times in front of a young girl has been cleared of any wrongdoing.
Stanthorpe Senior Constable James Ellis came in for rounds of social media criticism on December 19 when a man complained that he had killed the animal in front of his shocked young daughter.
The Chronicle reports Freedom of Information documents reveal the officer was found to have done nothing wrong when he was called to assist wildlife rescuers to euthanize the badly injured marsupial.
Queensland Right to Information documents obtained by the paper said the officer had acted appropriately after he failed to make contact with the RSPCA and had to act himself.
The difficult terrain forced the officer to fire multiple shots, The Chronicle claimed the documents read.
It's claimed the wallaby continued to move locations through sparse bush and rock and required the officer to relocate to an appropriate location before discharging the firearm on each location.
It was also claimed that despite the requirement for a number of shots to be discharged in order to euthanase the badly injured animal, the officer/s involved acted appropriately "under difficult circumstances".
The reported said the officer had difficulties in killing the wallaby but noted he had also taken great effort to discharge his gun away from any fence lines.
The incident drew a round of criticism from Jamie Folkers on Facebook, after he and his daughter witnessed senior constable Ellis killing the wallaby.
"Nothing like having your daughter watching a kangaroo and next minute Stanthorpe police came running in with a pistol and shoot the kangaroo 6 times, (sic)" he wrote on several animal welfare Facebook pages.
“The police officer shooting, was only standing 1 meter (sic) away from it. But continued shooting it 6 times… Absolutely disgusting."
The criticism drew a quick response from Granite Belt Wildlife Carers president Betty Balch who took to the group’s Facebook page to ‘get the story straight’.
“Yes six shots were used. Five were in very quick succession to immobilize the animal and one approximately 2 seconds later to kill him,” she wrote.
“The officer who did the shooting did an extremely good job as far as I am concerned .... it was quick and humane. Because of the terrain of the block it was right to shoot it where he did as it was safe.”
News break – October 20
