KILLING kangaroos for commercial harvesting will be expanded this year after the State Government increased the quota by a third.

The annual quota for the state’s Kangaroo’s Harvesting Program (KHP) under the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions (DJPR), which began in 2019 to manage kangaroo numbers in rural areas and provide commercial pet food, will be set at 127,850 for 2022, up from 95,680 in 2021.

However, permits issued to landholders or farmers to apply for an Authority to Control Wildlife (ATCW) for instances where wildlife may damage property, farmland or the environment, has decreased.

“While the kangaroo harvest quota has slightly increased in 2022, this reflects landholders preferring to access professionals through the harvesting program and a reduced use of the Authority to Control Wildlife permit system,” a government spokesperson said.

“Across both control options the total recommended take for 2022 is lower than in 2021.”

The total recommended take in 2022 (including both ATCW and KHP quota) is 185,850, less than 2021, for which the combined quota was 191,200.

Aerial surveys have been used to guide the management of kangaroo populations since the 1960’s and in combination with line transect sampling, provide accurate estimates of population density and abundance of kangaroos.

Aerial and ground surveys were conducted in October 2020 to estimate the kangaroo population in Victorian Local Government Areas (LGAs).

Kangaroo abundance estimates for each LGA are calculated by multiplying the zone density estimates for each kangaroo species in each LGA.

Results from the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning’s, (DELWP) State-wide abundance of kangaroos in Victoria Report for 2020 indicate that Victoria’s kangaroo population has increased since 2018.

Compared to estimates from 2018, the density of grey kangaroos was similar for most survey zones whilst the density of Red Kangaroos in the Mallee zone was marginally lower in 2020 compared with the 2018 estimate.

Based on an analysis of the aerial and ground survey data, the overall kangaroo population in Victoria was estimated to be 1,942,000.

An estimated 1,717,000 Eastern Grey Kangaroos (EGK) accounting for the majority at 88 per cent of Victorian kangaroos.

The remaining kangaroo population was comprised of an estimated 195,000 Western Grey Kangaroos (WGK) and 30,000 Red Kangaroos (RK).

There are seven kangaroo harvest zones in Victoria, each comprising several Local Government Areas.

The Lower Wimmera zone takes in the LGAs of Ararat, Central Goldfields, Gannawarra, Glenelg, Loddon, Northern Grampians, Pyrenees and Southern Grampians.

The combined KHP and ACTW quota for 2022 for the Lower Wimmera zone is 30,550 and covers the period January 4, 2022 to December 31, 2022.

Harvesters can apply for a quota allocation within a specified zone after which identification tags are posted to the harvester for attaching to the kangaroo at the time of harvesting.

Harvesters must only harvest the number of kangaroos they have been allocated tags for, and only in the zones the tags specify.

KHP was implemented to help landholders reduce issues caused by kangaroos on-farm, whilst also making use of the carcasses and providing an income for the trained harvesters and related industries.

This was only once all reasonable options have been considered and implemented, for example, improving fencing to exclude wildlife from an area where they may have caused damage.

Local farmers John and Rhonda Crawford who operate a farm near the Grampians, where greater numbers of kangaroos populate, think it’s a good idea to increase the KHP quota, stating the population has exploded over the last decade due to poor control methods inside National Parks.

“The permit numbers for control by farmers and professional shooters have been too few to have a proper impact on the exploding kangaroo numbers,” he said.

“The damage they do to farmers’ crops, pasture, and fences is in the millions of dollars, not to mention the hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage to vehicles on the roads and associated accidents.

“(However,) let’s get the balance right between what suits our farmers and tourist operators.”

Conversely, the announcement to increase harvest numbers has been met with strong opposition from wildlife carers and local tourism operators stating that the rate of killing is far too high.

Glenthompson’s Wildwood Wildlife Shelter owner, Pam Turner strenuously opposes the KHP and said the increase is completely unnecessary and divorced from actual population statistics.

 “It’s a brutal industry,” she said.

 “I’m totally opposed to the culling and dispute the arguments the government puts forward regarding the need to keep kangaroo numbers down.

“It’s more likely to be an intolerance to kangaroos and the KHP quota is an excuse for landholders or harvesters to keep killing them.

“There’s a lot of ignorance about these beautiful animals that are wrongly perceived as a pest when in fact they’re native fauna.

“There is no valid justification for the quota– the government just caves to pressure from shooters and farmers who are financially incentivised to keep killing.

“Many locals are secretly horrified at the slaughtering of these native animals or they’re just apathetic to what’s going on – but by not speaking out, they’re in fact condoning it.

“As a wildlife carer, it’s horrific to see female kangaroos shot dead or left to die with little baby joeys abandoned and left to die a slow death without their mother.

“On average they only give birth once per year so how the government can justify killing so many is nonsensical.

“They’re free living native animals that belong to us all.”

Frank Jesse owns and operates a retreat in Dunkeld and also opposes the quota stating, “the perimeter of Dunkeld is now a shooting zone.”

“Shooting kangaroos for pet food in close proximity to businesses and residences is dangerous, its anti-tourism and is an impediment to tourism investment.”

Mr Jesse stated that he is regularly woken by spotlights shining through his retreat centre and or gunfire shots.

He stated his guests have also been disturbed by the shooting. 

“Body parts of kangaroos are dumped 60 to 100 metres away - so close that the odour means we can't open our windows,” he said.

“It has become commercially untenable to continue to operate a business under these circumstances.”

Mr Jesse is currently considering moving his business to a north eastern Victorian tourism centre where there is no shooting. 

Mr Jesse said allowing shooting within a tourism precinct shows the Southern Grampians Shire does not take the economic benefits of tourism seriously.

“Tourism and shooting are not compatible, especially since many tourists come to Dunkeld to experience wildlife,” he said. “Most of my customers are shocked when I tell them what’s been going on in the dead of night.

“Even campers on the Grampians Peaks trail have seen spotlights and have been woken by the gunfire.

Mr Jesse stated that despite the government claiming that introducing commercial exploitation of kangaroos in the state would not increase the number of kangaroos being killed, the number being killed has more than doubled since the introduction of commercial exploitation, up from 84,100 in 2014 to 185,000 in 2022.

“This cannot be sustainable as claimed,” he said.

“We have noticed a rapid decline in kangaroo numbers around Dunkeld and the cruel industry leaves many orphaned joeys behind to starve to death.”

Animal Justice Party Legislative Council MP Andy Meddick also slammed the government’s KHP quotas.

“Extreme acts of cruelty to wildlife are on the rise,” he said.

“In recent times in Victoria, we’ve seen the poisoning of wedge-tailed eagles, emus run down by a car, and koalas massacred on farmland.

“Under the government’s KHP, joeys can be legally bludgeoned to death after their mothers have been shot for pet food and human consumption.

“The Victorian Government has created a culture of disrespect to native animals by allowing their slaughter for fun and under so-called harvesting programs.

“Until that changes, I don’t have confidence we will see meaningful change when it comes to respect for wildlife.”

All professional harvesters need to be authorised by the Game Management Authority (GMA) and must follow the national humane kangaroo and wallaby shooting codes.

Victorian Petfood Processors who have kangaroo processing facilities in Hamilton and Camperdown, were contacted but declined to comment.