Mysterious Illness Blamed for the Deaths of Millions of Kangaroos

A file image of a kangaroo. There are nearly nine million kangaroos in the Western Plains area of the Australian state of New South Wales. Last year the kangaroo population there was more than 12 million. Torsten Blackwood/AFP/Getty Images

A mysterious disease is believed to have killed millions of kangaroos in eastern Australia over the past year.

Wildlife health researchers told The Australian newspaper that an unknown illness has drastically reduced kangaroo numbers in the Western Plains region of the state of New South Wales.