Posted October 02, 2019 13:50:22

Photo: Residents woke to a distressing sight on Sunday morning. (Supplied: Rob Evans)

A teenager has been charged with torturing and causing the death of animals after allegedly running down a mob of kangaroos with his ute in a suburb on the NSW far south coast.

Residents in the suburb of Tura Beach, north of Eden, woke early Sunday morning to find dead and injured kangaroos lying on their nature strips.

Nineteen kangaroos, including two joeys, were killed in what police have described as a "horrible, senseless crime".

The mob of eastern greys was a feature of the beachside suburb.

"These are animals that are relatively used to humans and obviously they're in residential areas and used to cars and would have no suspicion that something untoward was about to occur," South Coast Chief Inspector Peter Volf said.

A 19-year-old Bega man has been arrested and charged with torture, beating and causing the death of the animals.

Police allege the man killed the kangaroos when he hit them with his ute on Saturday night between 10:30pm and 11:30pm.

Photo: Nineteen kangaroos, including two joeys, were killed during the incident in Tura Beach on Saturday night. (Supplied: Deborah Evans)

"We take incidents such as these very seriously and anyone who engages in activities such as these will face the full brunt of the law," Inspector Volf said.

Wildlife carer Janine Green said she was woken by a police officer carrying a joey around 1:00am on Sunday, after the mother kangaroo had to be euthanased.

Ms Green said residents were distressed at the site of the dead and injured kangaroos strewn throughout the neighbourhood.

The 19-year-old has been granted conditional bail and will face Bega Local Court next month.

Topics: law-crime-and-justice, animal-welfare, bega-2550, tura-beach-2548