Court bid to save north Qld wallabies WILDLIFE conservationists have gone to court in a bid to stop the culling of wallabies in north Queensland. THE Australian Society for Kangaroos has asked the Supreme Court to review a Department of Environment decision granting several permits to cull agile wallabies at properties at Mission Beach, south of Cairns. The damage mitigation permits were granted earlier this year following complaints of overpopulation. At a hearing in Brisbane, barrister Stephen Keim QC said the decision-maker had failed to comply with legal requirements before issuing the permits, including ensuring that non-lethal alternatives to culling - such as wallaby fences - had been exhausted. Mr Keim said while wallabies were not threatened they were a protected species and were appreciated by tourists and locals who fed them. "It might affect their fair and equitable access to nature, particularly if their numbers decline," he told the court. However Erin Longbottom, representing the environment department and its delegate of the chief executive Michael Joyce, said the permits were issued after it become apparent the landscape was unable to sustain the number of wallabies. On one property alone 500 had been counted with more in an adjacent nature reserve, she said. The hearing continues on Wednesday.