The ACT's annual kangaroo cull has come to a close with 1232 kangaroos killed across seven different reserves.
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The cull fell just short of its "operational target" of 1,336 kangaroos.
Non-lethal options at controlling kangaroo numbers, such as fertility controls, continue to be used after being trialled in 2021.
"Managing kangaroos is an important part of a diverse land management program that helps protect, conserve and enhance the ACT's parks and reserves," flora and fauna conservator Bren Burkevics said in a statement.
"Fertility control activities through the ongoing use of GonaCon Immunocontraceptive Vaccine will continue as part of the kangaroo management program"
Culling has long enjoyed bipartisan support from both the Greens and ACT Labor, with the parties in agreement that relocating large kangaroo populations has been unsuccessful.
An earlier independent review into the kangaroo cull called the ACT's program extremely impressive, saying it puts kangaroo welfare at the heart of the policy.
The author of the review, Sally Legge, said she was sick of the "endless loop" of arguments over the practice.
"I've spent a lot of time talking to animal rights groups. I try to explain to them that the program is carried out very well given the objective is conservation," she said.
Professor Legge, an ecology and wildlife management specialist of 30 years, said while close scrutiny of any government killing native animals was to be welcomed, pro-cull and animal rights groups continued to argue along different lines. Some had a conservation objective and others believed no animals should be killed.
"It's valid to talk about differences in people's value systems and that conversation would be much more productive," she said.
"[But] the science behind the program is very robust."
A spokesman for the ACT Environment Minister Rebecca Vassarotti said that the culling was broadly supported throughout the ACT.
"A majority of Canberrans agree that we need to do this, not that they're very excited about it, but we need to do it," he said.
The spokesman said there had always been scientific consensus on the legitimacy of the culls.
"There's been many, many, many independent reviews going back decades and they've never found the cull not to be a necessity."
