Aborigonal activists arrested in protest over kangaroo cull

The four men and four women were expected to be charged with trespassing later Wednesday, police said.

The protesters led by renowned activist Isabel Coe climbed over a gate to enter the abandoned military site in Canberra.

Controversy: Two men stoop over the body of a kangeroo yesterday

They carried the black, red and yellow Aboriginal flag and smoldering eucalyptus leaves to light what Coe called a "sacred fire," which the activists sat around. The cull has sparked fury among Australia's indigenous people who view the animals as sacred.

"We're here to claim our land today and to save the kangaroos," Coe said.

The activists did not resist when police arrested them about an hour after the protest began. Some 30 protesters who remained outside the fence jeered the police.

The protest was out of sight of the pens where kangaroos have been corralled before being killed with lethal injections.

Australians are divided on the merits of a mass killing of an iconic animal featured in their national coat of arms.

Defence Department authorities began the cull on Monday on the site where about 600 kangaroos live. Scientists say the kangaroos' growing population threatens their own survival, as well as that of endangered native species of reptiles and insects.

Saved: Activist Lesley Machin with a nine month old baby kangeroo she rescued from the cull

Officials have refused to comment on how many kangaroos had so far been killed in an operation that is expected to take two to three weeks.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is monitoring the cull and said inspectors at the site Monday found animal welfare standards were met.

Defense officials reported Wednesday that intruders had cut through two internal fences overnight on the site, freeing six kangaroos from a yard where they had been recovering from the effects of tranquilizer darts.

These kangaroos had been sedated as part of fertility experiments and were not to be killed with lethal injections, Defense spokesman Brigadier Andrew Nikolic said in the statement.

Penned in: The kangaroos have rounded up before the slaughtermen move in

Five of the kangaroos were recaptured but one had escaped to the free kangaroo population on the site, Nikolic said.

"The cull is being undertaken in the most humane manner possible and under the guidance of animal management experts," he said.

Police Sgt. Erin Pobar said the activists arrested Wednesday would face trespassing charges, which carry a maximum fine of £500.

But a protest leader Pat O'Brien, who was not arrested, said the Aborigines plan to apply for a court injunction preventing the slaughter of any more kangaroos while they fight the charges.