In my native language, Kangaroos are closely associated with Australia, but New Zealanders are never called Kiwis.
In Singapore I was asked if it’s ok to refer to me and a Kiwi because they thought it may be a racist term.
But then again, I guess it's racist to call French people frogs, so I can understand how someone would come to the conclusion that it's racist to call someone a Kiwi.
racism
1 Prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against
someone of a different race based on the belief that one's
own race is superior.
However, I think it's generally the case that when people use the term "racist", they mean "derogatory based on the origin of the person", and not necessarily their race. Language is flexible and people use terms in common usage which is does not adhere to prescriptive definitions. I have to admit being quite pedantic myself, but have come to accept looser definitions of words as I get older. As long as I understand what the person is intending to say, I try not to worry about what they actually said. This has helped me communicate with people greatly. YMMV.
[1] https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/milk-white-supremacy-ra...
[2] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/17/us/white-supremacists-sci...
Also, I'm pretty sure they like hanging out on the road, because the road traps heat and stays warmer at night.
The same way they got wolves, deer, oppossums, raccoons, coyotes, dogs, elk, and more to do it? They’re mainly underground tunnels or overpasses that are covered in natural materials, free of scary, fast, roaring machines, etc
You would have to put up extremely tall barriers along all the roads, which is an expense I think most people would be unwilling to fund.
Often they seem to just be standing around on the road until I light them up with my headlights and they start moving.
The big problem with them is that usually there isn't a single kangaroo to try and dodge on the road, but several at once. The recommended course of action upon encountering a roo on the road is to just keep driving straight. If you try and dodge it, you're just more likely to crash your car and just as likely to hit a kangaroo. They're big enough to cause a lot of damage to a car too.
They're absolutely a pest, and there are unnaturally high numbers of them from eating crops. Culling keeps the population down to healthy numbers. I think that most opposition to culling is because they're Australia's national animal. Nobody complains about culling foxes and goats. I also don't see how culling is any less ethical than farming cows or sheep.
Also, this is an interesting quote:
> There may be no animal and nation in the world more closely identified.
I'd argue that New Zealand and Kiwis are much more closely identified, to the point that New Zealand and Kiwi are literally synonymous. If someone asks me what nationality I am, I'd say "Kiwi" before I said "New Zealander". Never heard an Aussie refer to themselves as a roo.