Week 27 Australia Zoo Wildlife Rescue (Australia)

We have climbed the ladder up to the middle of the year and now it’s time to slide down to the other end.

 

Snakes have come up a few times in the past week, so this week is dedicated to them.

Unfairly maligned, they are creatures of great wonder.

Imagine being able to eat, mate and climb with no arms or legs. No wonder they can be armed to the teeth…so to speak.

The fear they instill in some humans, is also evident in the animal world.  Sometimes people can use this to their advantage, like using cucumbers ‘snakes’ to scare unsuspecting cats on YouTube…

…or using rubber snakes to scare away birds from veggie patches.

The first seems pretty effective, I’m not so sure about the second.

I tried it to stop birds from flying into our window, but neither this or cd’s helped.

If you want to stop birds from flying into your windows, go to a cheap shop and buy static cling L or P stickers for learner drivers…any colour is fine…cut out small shapes of your choice and stick randomly over the window with gaps of about 45cm between them. You won’t even notice them there after a couple of days.

I made love hearts about 1 inch x 1 inch. It’s easy to make them even by folding the edge of the sticker over and then you can cut out both halves at once to make them even and quick.

The difference between how animals and humans respond to snakes is why I wanted to write about them today.  Most animals avoid them.  Too many humans kill them.

I was speaking to an ‘animal lover’ last week who was cheerfully justifying his killing of snakes.  That night, while reading about euthanasia for a different type of animal, we came across a section on reptiles.  What I read made me very, very sad and I would like more people to be aware of this fact…

When you decapitate a warm blooded animal, unconsciousness and brain death follows very rapidly and any movement after a short space of time can be attributed to nerves.

However.

When you decapitate a cold blooded animal, full consciousness and brain life persist…for up to an hour.

 

The  article the extract below is taken from is titled “Decapitation of Reptiles: Inhumane for Euthanasia”.

“Some of the many ways in which reptiles are “killed” are mentioned later on but one method which is quite commonly used is decapitation. Generally speaking, in mammals and birds, for example, quickly severing the head from the rest of the body may cause immediate or near immediate loss of consciousness and a very rapid death. It might not be describable as ‘humane’ but the period of post-severance life in the head is almost certainly short. Although meaning certain death, decapitation is certainly not a rapid or humane way of killing reptiles. As hard to believe as it seems, the heads cut from reptiles live on well after the horrific event of decapitation itself. It is not a case of “nerves causing the head to move unconsciously” as most people think. The heads, and parts of the neck if still attached, are alive and some may attempt to bite objects which approach; the eyes may follow movement and the pupils contract and dilate in response to light and dark; they can blink and in the case of snakes and lizards, flick out and in their tongues to test the air for scent and even move slightly if enough of their neck is left.

“With what movement they can manage they often writhe in agony from the massive severance of tissue. They are virtually helpless, frightened and going to die. If it seems too inconceivable to be true, then think of it as being a case of animals which have had most of their bodies cut away. One might think that suffering of this kind could not be endured for long. If only that were true. Unfortunately, a problem associated with the reptilian metabolism’s ability to operate at relatively low oxygen and low blood pressure levels is that nerve tissue is, to put it simply, very tough. Therefore, the nervous system, which of course includes the brain, can function away from the rest of the body for some time. In fact, the activities of decapitated heads mentioned earlier have been recorded as present for around an hour or so. If reptiles are to be killed by physical means (rather than by, say, an injected overdose of an anesthetic), then it has to involve complete and rapid destruction of the brain; otherwise they are very likely to suffer enormously and for a long time before dying.”

 

So please don’t do it!

If you haven’t seen them before, you probably won’t see them there again.  They don’t like humans or our pets much at all. If they do persist and it bothers you, try removing any junk you have lying around that may be harbour for them and the rats and mice they feed on.

If that doesn’t work, and you’re willing to pay $50+  you can call a snake rescuer, to try and ensure the safe and humane removal of snakes. Here is a link for Victoria.

(Well mostly safe,as I was writing this I found an article about a  snake handler is Kerala. Why they didn’t leave the poor thing alone once it had disappeared underground is beyond me.)

Fortunately the next story had a happy ending, although the resident rats might disagree…Monty is now thriving in a sewerage treatment plant.

Massive python found in Mission Beach bedroom

Oh and please don’t buy ANYTHING made from real snake skin…I have heard that often they are skinned alive.  Same goes for eels served as cuisine.

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I wish you and all the lovely reptiles all the best for the second half of the old year and the first half of the new financial year.

Who knows what surprises will be in store for us, since the result of Brexit showed that apparently no one can predict the future!*

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ps I’m having trouble finding any reptile charity I am comfortable supporting this week…it seems that a lot of snake removers charge for their services,  make money from displaying them, or don’t show the conditions that the ones they are rehabilitating are living in.

Most other wildlife rescuers get/ask nothing for their services… I wonder why those who deal in the cold blooded are generally so, …well…

Which reminds me to mention this:

Donations to Wildlife Victoria do not go to the frontline rescuers at all, only to the office itself.  If you want to assist the volunteers who arrive at callouts to animals, it is best to donate to them directly.  They are giving up their own time out of compassion, while also paying for their own petrol, medicines, and often, sadly, bullets.

Surprise!…It was to me too

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Australia Zoo

Yes, of Steve Irwin fame.  I’m not a fan of zoos, but I just remembered someone mentioned visiting their rescue facility recently and how impressed they were with it.  After visitng their site and seeing they attend call outs from the public for free I think they definitely deserve credit (and a direct debit) for this.

About the Australia Zoo Rescue Unit

Australian Wildlife Hospital 24-hour emergency hotline
Phone: 1300 369 652

From koalas to Green Sea turtles, the Australia Zoo Rescue Unit is dedicated to rescuing all wildlife in need. From Brisbane to Kilcoy and beyond the team travels far and wide with a proven catch and release program in place – their aim is to successfully rescue, rehabilitate and release. The team works closely with Australia Zoo Wildlife Warriors – Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital to ensure each animal receives the best possible care.

The Australia Zoo Rescue Unit provides a free service to the community to rescue sick and injured wildlife and get them to the best possible veterinary treatment, the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital. The team are highly skilled and trained to rescue everything from road accident victims to marine animal strandings (including everything in between) and they do it all seven days a week!

A variety of specialised gear is required in any given animal emergency and theirs includes Australia Zoo Rescue vehicles decked out with a range of rescue equipment and access to watercraft for local marine rescues.

The team receive an average of 500 calls per month with most of those located in the Greater Sunshine Coast Region. The best part of the job is getting the call from the vet that the animal has recovered in their care and ready to be released back to the wild – that’s why we love what we do!

Any contributions to rescue team provide essential rescue equipment to ensure that we can provide the best service possible to the animals.

A contribution of $50 will provide the Rescue Unit with:

• 2 Vials of Anaesthetic drugs to anesthetise Kangaroos and Wallabies to enable their safe and pain free transportation to the AWH.
• 2 Koala poles to enable safe and stress free capture of Koalas in trees that may be suffering from illnesses or injury.
• Large snake and Goanna bags for safe capture and transport of reptiles
• 2 small carry cages for transport of flying foxes, birds and small mammals that are sick or injured.
• An emergency rescue pack – Torches, Binoculars, Bandages, and Pliers (to remove animals from Barbed wire)
• Animal Rescue First Aid Kit – Containing all the essential first aid equipment to stabilise our patients before transport to AWH!

http://wildlifewarriors.org.au/donate/

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*Now the vote has been decided, interpretations of Baba Vanga the ‘blind mystic’s’ prediction of Europe turning into a lifeless wasteland appear on Google now with claims from supporters that this is proof she had foreseen Brexit.

It sounds plausible if you overlook the fact that it was apparently a nuclear World War III, raging from 2010-2016, that she predicted as decimating Europe, rather than the democratic vote of one nation.

Mind you we still have six months left…let’s hope she’s wrong!

Week 26 Animals Asia (Asia)

Today it is interntional yoga day, the shortest/longest day of the year and the first solstice full moon in more than 50 years! 

The early Native Americans did not record time by using the months of the Julian or Gregorian calendar. Many tribes kept track of time by observing the seasons and lunar months.  http://www.almanac.com/content/full-moon-names

The mid summer full moon was named by the indigenous American Algonquin people as the ‘strawberry’ moon as it was seen at the best time to pick ripening fruit.  (The ‘harvest moon’ that many people are familiar with occurs in autumn…the time for harvesting grain, corn, pumpkins etc- this was known as the ‘Full Corn Moon’ by the Algonquin tribes).

 

But I am more of a Gregorian calendar kind of animal, and that means…

 *Drumroll* It is also the equal halfway week mark of 52charities52weeks!

My, my. Haven’t the pages grown up quickly, I can hardly recognise them.

Lots of big news events coming up in the remainder of this calendar, and it brings to mind a regular rant that my partner is sick of hearing so I will purge now…

Why are paid ‘psychics’ not liable the same scrutiny of standard as any other business?

Surely they should be able to at least predict the outcome of Brexit, new Aussie pm and new U.S. president…I leave it to you to look up and see if you can find a convincing answer to these if you are interested.  Suffice it to say that I can see why agencies still take bets on such thing since the predictions seem no more consistent than anybody’s guess…so here are my unadventurous guesses :  Remain, Turnbull, Clinton.

John Edward was on The Project the same week as the MH370 disappeared.  Steve Price asked him about it and he had N.F.I., just like the rest of us.  And why did it take so long to find what happened to poor Daniel Morecombe, and more recently to find out that Daniel O’Keefe wasn’t missing, but was unfortunately deceased and under his parents house the whole time – in spite of approaches to the family by many self proclaimed ‘psychics’.

Even if someone is uncannily right 50% of the time and utterly wrong the other 50%, it isn’t the kind of surgeon or pilot you would trust, is it?  I wonder how many believers would trust a psychic enough to play Russian Roulette under their guidance?

People will come up with excuses for outright untruths (‘maybe the ‘universe’ didn’t want such and such to be known’), selectively remember ‘hits’, no matter how open to interpretation (‘you’re going to have an incident involving a car’) while quickly forgetting all the trivial waffle and non-starters that fill out the paid time in between (I see someone, it could be your grandmother, giving you flowers’).  FFS Show me the sherry instead, grandma, if it was really you, you know what I’d prefer.

Mmm …imaginary cream sherry from a dead person…yum yum!

Houdini despised ‘vultures who prey on the bereaved’.  Derren Brown is another showman who is out to debunk claims of the paranormal, though people are skeptical about his claims to the power of psychologial mastery too.

Nobody ever claimed the $1million prize offered in the Randi Paranomal challenge (begun in 1964 and terminated without payment in 2015), or as yet, the $100,000 Australian Skeptics prize, offered since 1980.

I am not saying it’s not possible that some claims to psychic powers may be true, but like any other industry, particularly one that appeals so much to people at vulnerable times in their lives, how about some oversight of ‘insights’?

…and if I seem like just an ignorant muggle being harsh…just ask any psychic you meet if they think there are frauds out there! 🙂

I have rambled this far down without any mention of animals.  So here is a Pete Helliar-worthy segue… What this boils down to is disappointment at people getting free money, adulation and a trust, free from independant enquiry.

We should all ask questions about everything – including why the hell are so many people, who would NEVER buy a carton of cage eggs, more than happy to buy them in other guises – at a restaurant, in desserts, in packaged foods?

RSPCA “Choose Wisely” – humane food campaign

My crystal ball is P.E.T., the ley lines around here are all wrong and there must be a disbeliever in the vicinity blocking my qi, cos I still have no idea of this week’s charity…I will leave it to the Google gods….

 

Ok Google gods,lets go…

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Yulin Dog Meat Festival 2016: China Summer Solstice Event Is Still Happeing …

http://www.ibtimes.com/yulin-dog-meat-festival-2…

International Business Times

Jun 8, 2016 – In the face of continuing inaction from officials in southern China, activists and animal welfare groups around the world are still struggling to put …

In the face of continuing inaction from officials in southern China, activists and animal welfare groups around the world are still struggling to put an end to a summer solstice celebration that is said to result in the slaughter of thousands of dogs every year. The Yulin Dog Meat Festival, in Guangxi province, has been the focus of an intense international awareness campaign for a number of years, with activists hoping to pressure Chinese officials to put a stop to it, but the annual event is reportedly still taking place later this month.

Each year for the festival, an estimated 10,000 dogs are shipped to Yulin, where they are killed for their meat and served in restaurants, according to media reports and animal rights groups. Most of the animals are either strays or pets that are stolen off the streets and sold into the dog meat trade. While other countries in Asia have banned the sale and consumption of dog meat, the practice remains legal in China.

 

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The Chinese calendar names each year after and animal.And each year Chinese businesses get fat/a fat from profits of sales of cutesy paraphenalia, but what is anyone doing to help the real animals?  I can’t stand this hypocritical taking of an animal’s image in vain.

Don’t worry about taking God’s name in vain, he is big enough to look after himself. What about taking away dogs’ pain?

I just found out that 2018 is the year of the dog.  Let’s hope that it really is. And not just for the sake of selling some cheap disposable crap…at least it will be locally made though…!

 

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https://www.animalsasia.org/

 

Who We Are

Founded in 1998, Animals Asia promotes compassion and respect for all animals and works to bring about long-term change. We work to end the barbaric bear bile trade, which sees over 10,000 bears kept on bile farms in China, and, according to official figures, about 1,200 suffering the same fate in Vietnam.

Animals Asia has rescued over 500 bears, caring for them at its award-winning bear sanctuaries in China and Vietnam.

Animals Asia also works to end the trade in dogs and cats for food in China and Vietnam, and lobbies to improve the welfare of companion animals, promote humane population management and prevent the cross border export of “meat dogs” in Asia.

In addition, Animals Asia campaigns for an end to abusive animal practices in zoos and safari parks in Asia, and works closely with governing authorities to improve animal management and increase awareness of the welfare needs of captive animals.

 

https://www.animalsasia.org/au/donate/

Payroll giving

I greatly support the work of Animals Asia and have supported them through pre-tax payroll deducted workplace giving for about 12 years.  If you are interested, you should be able to ask any workplace with a modern payroll system to set it up and promote it amongst employees…the employer can use their participation as a promotion tool to make them look good too!  https://www.cafonline.org/

 

Here is another US based charity which is also trying to bring an end to the suffering:

http://stopyulinforever.org/

The moral of this week is…if you’ve got a fortune burning a hole in your pocket, a reliable charity may be a better recipient of it than a spurious teller of fortunes 🙂

 

Week 25 Humane Research Australia (Australia)

Some very good news recently – Australia is starting to catch up with NZ, bro!!

I am not sure why it isn’t being more widely celebrated, if my parents in law hadn’t given me a back copy of the Herald Sun (June 2 2016), I might have missed this altogether.

Cosmetics cruelty will be banned in Australia by July next year, the Federal Government pledged today, following a two year campaign by #BeCrueltyFree, led by Humane Research Australia and Humane Society International (Global).

Cosmetics tested on animals to be banned in Australia

THOUSANDS of cosmetics, including perfume, toothpaste and makeup, will be banned from stores after the Federal Government pledged to outlaw the sale of all products tested on animals.

From July next year any products that have been tested on animals, or which contain ingredients that have been tested on animals, will be prohibited.

This reform will bring Australia’s laws into line with laws in the European Union and in New Zealand.

But existing products won’t be pulled from shelves. The strict laws will apply only to new products.

The law will still allow “responsible animal testing” for medical tests and for drug development.

The Coalition hopes the move will see all products tested on animals, phased out of the local marketplace.

The RSPCA says major beauty brands including Estée Lauder, Johnson & Johnson, Revlon and Colgate are all involved in animal testing, with more than 27,000 animals — mainly rodents, rabbits and guinea pigs — still subjected to cosmetics testing.

The animal welfare group has long pushed for the change and says there are more than 20,000 safe chemical ingredients already available to manufacturers.

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The RSPCA didn’t mention L’Oreal who are one of the worst offenders…and who own the Body Shop.  Please don’t support them.

Animal testing is not just putting ‘lipstick on a pig’…

Toxicity—LD50 test:

The traditional LD50 (lethal dose 50 percent) test forced animals, often rats and mice, to ingest chemicals to determine the dose that resulted in the death of 50 percent of the animals. The animals were, for example, force-fed by a tube inserted down the esophagus into the stomach, causing severe discomfort and extreme and unrelenting pain.

Eye irritancy—Draize test:

The Draize test measures the eye irritancy of chemicals and other products by dropping concentrated amounts of a test substance into an animal’s eye (often albino rabbits, who are docile and inexpensive) and then assessing the eye’s reactions using a subjective numeral score to indicate the level of eye damage and injury. In most instances, the conscious animals are immobilized in full body restraint stocks and remain unanaesthetized for up to 14 days for evaluation.

Skin irritation, corrosion, sensitization, and absorption tests:

Tests for skin irritation (level of damage caused to the skin by a substance) and corrosivity (potential of a substance to cause irreversible damage to the skin) are typically conducted on shaved rabbits using the classic Draize skin test, the lesser-known cousin of its ocular counterpart.

And these are just some of the delights animals are subjected to in the name of ‘research’…  For a fuller list see New England Anti Vivisection Society.

China is a major cause of utterly unnecessary animal suffering.  It not only doesn’t ban, but actually requires by law the animal testing of cosmetic products that have been been deemed safe for years, even in slightly more *ahem* ‘stringent’ countries.

Do they seriously think it is still 1950 over there?

If a brand sells its product in China, it can’t claim cruelty free status.

At present, it is a legal requirement in China for imported cosmetics to be tested on animals – mostly mice or rats, but also rabbits and guinea pigs. Britain banned the practice in 1998, while the European Union did so in 2013. Artificial skin cells are now used for safety tests.

Of course medical research globally continues unabated, and relatively unreformed.

In some ways I guess, is still 1950 in many laboratories…

…but thankfully not in all….

Here is a list of Australian medical charities that don’t test on animals.

I propose an easy way to distinguish progressive, cruelty free laboratories from the cruel, animal testing kind.  The latter can have their names permanently changed to lavatories instead, for the shits you will find inside them.

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http://www.humaneresearch.org.au/

If a picture tells a thousand words, then each of these pictures also represent thousands of lives.

Humane Research Australia speaks out against animal experimentation at every opportunity. These are some of the issues they have focused on:

 

I wonder… if animals could cry in pain and fear just as humans do, would we treat them so ruthlessly?

 

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And of course there is some bad news..the good news I guess is that it even made the news…

Vietnamese feedlot and abattoirs suspended from receiving Australian cattle following animal cruelty allegations

Lets just ban this truly bloody obscenity. NZ  has stopped live export for slaughter since 2007.

Keep up with your cousins, Australia-they’re way ahead. They’ve even got a laser kiwi flag.

 

 

 

Week 24 Local Sherlock Holmes Part II (Australia)

There has been a lot of animal news recently.  The ongoing removal of tigers, living and dead – both whole and in body parts – from the ‘Tiger Temple’ in Thailand is yet another reminder to travellers to please not support  the ‘animals as entertainment’ industry.

Thailand tiger ‘slaughterhouse’ discovered by police at temple following tip-off

Crocodiles and sharks continue to do what comes naturally to them.  In turn, with the killing of Harambe the gorilla, humans did what comes naturally to us, which is to look after ourselves and our own kind first… especially when there is a high risk of being sued!

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People like saying ‘life is precious’, but they usually don’t really  mean it.  Otherwise they wouldn’t support the premature termination of precious lives by buying bits of dead animals.

We often don’t even mean human lives are precious, or we would do more to help our desperate brothers and sisters out there, instead of helping ourselves to another piece of chocolate cake .  If you do believe in all human lives are precious, the children of Rafiki Mwema in Kenya would benefit greatly from your support.

If we’re honest, what most of us really mean is just our lives and a those of few individuals selected by us are precious.  Which I guess is quite a natural way for the apex predator to think.

Just looking at the way existence plays fast and loose with lives, it certainly is hard to see any evidence that life is objectively precious at all…

 

Subjectively, of course, is a different matter.

Nature is certainly not kind, but fortunately humans can choose to be.

 

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Survival of the fittest has created a natural world that is full of traps for players of all ages. Most of us know better than to pick strange fungi and eat them, but who would have thought that grass could be a lethal killer?

Last week I wrote about the sickness affecting kangaroos in our local area.  A professional  autopsy has since shown it to be the result of chronic phalaris toxicity – poisoning caused by naturally present alkaloids in a common pasture grass.  Since the finding we have spoken to a number of people and have found the problem to be quite widespread, as is the grass.  It is also affecting some lambs.  This year it may be particularly bad because of the long dry spell followed by rapid growth after good autumn rains.

Farmers can in many ways control what their livestock eats, but kangaroos range and graze widely.  By the time they are showing signs of toxicity, it is probably already too late to help them.  (See video of a strongly affected eastern grey kangaroo here.)

Sometimes it is hard to know how best to be kind.  I think I would like someone to euthanase me if I was in that state, but other people might answer differently…especially people who truly do believe that life quantity  (regardless of quality) is precious.

To euthanase or not euthanase?  That is the question.

In the case of chronic phalaris toxicity in kangaroos, this may be the kindest option available.  It is illegal to kill a kangaroo without permission so please contact a local wildlife carer or the government department responsible for wildlife for further help. (In Victoria, it is DELWP).

One lucky thing for animals is that euthanasia is an option available to them.

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Why can’t humans be given the same option?

We defend the concept of ‘freedom’ yet still put up with the government denying us even the basic the right to end our own lives on our own terms. Why?

 

 

Week 23 Local ‘Sherlock Holmes’ (Australia)

“The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes.”

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – The Hound of the Baskervilles

And so it is with many kangaroos at the moment.

We have been spending a lot of time in the Macedon Ranges area since Easter last year, and since the beginning were noticing odd kangaroos that were affected by something strange.

I wondered if it was poisoning or something else.  In mid 2015 I went online and found a 2012 Melbourne university report mentioning similar symptoms and rang Pam Whitely who is named in the report, to find out more.

Kangaroos and Wallabies. We are keen to investigate reports of incoordinated, wobbly or apparently blind macropods. Kangaroo blindness virus is spread by midges. Phalaris staggers from pasture, and toxoplasmosis (from cat faeces) are other possible causes of incoordination and death. Eye and nasal discharge, sneezing and tail twitching have also been reported. If you see kangaroos or wallabies with any of these signs of disease, please contact us.

It turned out that there were still many questions and she was keen for us to try and get the body of an affected kangaroo to them for examination.  The catch was that they needed the brain intact and it needed to be delivered to the university on a weekday.

If you must shoot a kangaroo, a head shot is the only ‘humane’ way*.   So what to do?

I rang a local rescuer with a tranquiliser gun and he said he would be very happy to come out and help.  The only problem was the terrain is quite challenging and you can’t ever know when you will come across an affected kangaroo, and despite their symptoms, they can still disappear, fast.

Time got away, and it seemed to settle down, but now many rescuers are being called out to kangaroos that appear ‘drunk’.

We spoke to one carer who swore it was the phalaris, a common pasture grass,

and another who swore it wasn’t.  Video of one kangaroo affected by phalaris seems similar but different to what we are seeing. The fact is, nobody seems to know for sure and it is not something that has been identified in central Victoria before.

But now appears to be increasingly common.

One local rescuer, the ‘Sherlock Holmes’ of the title, wants a definitive answer and so she jumped onboard with us.  She asked us to get a video and she arranged another rescuer to come out with a tranquiliser gun.  We took a video that I will post on YouTube once we have some answers.  Here are some grainy captures to highlight points we have observed in these roos.

Often, but not always alone.  If in a mob they will be the last to hop off.  Ears are often out flat.  Look ‘vagued out’.  Sometimes shake heads. Will let you get up closer than a healthy roo.  Will be aware of your presence, but sometimes will look in your direction but seem not to see you.  Often underweight.

 

When they do hop off it will be awkward, not in a straight line, many bounces are in a twisted motion and higher than usual.  Badly affected ones will often fall over and roll on the ground and have difficulty getting up.

We did find a kangaroo who appeared to be affected  (though not as badly as the one pictured)  while we had the two wonderful rescuers there.  Of course, conclusions will be hard to draw from one examination alone, as kangaroos can be affected by a large number of miseries (not the least of them being humans) but it is a hop in the right direction.

Thank you to the rescuers for their dedication to helping our native wildlife and to Melbourne Uni for its invaluable expertise.  I will update with their findings when I hear back.

8 June 2016 Results have come back from testing and the kangaroo tested positive for chronic phalaris toxicity…the grass is to blame after all. Caligula would have it whipped. Or at least whipper-snipped.  We have since heard of many more apparent cases in the area.   More in Week 24.

 

“The important thing is to not stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existence…”

Albert Einstein

*Before defending the barely regulated kangaroo killing industry, please ask how often do you think pissed cowboy shooters can hit a fast moving kangaroo accurately in its small head?

It is hard enough to accurately shoot an injured kangaroo at close range.  I’ve seen it and it’s not pretty.