Kangaroos stuck in Mernda paddock stranded by government red tape

When a mob of kangaroos got stuck in a Mernda paddock last year, plans were quickly made to move them to safety. But thanks to a government department’s inaction, they’re still there.

The mob of kangaroos has been trapped since Easter last year. Picture: Rob Leeson

A mob of Mernda kangaroos has been stuck on a vacant block for more than a year because a government department won’t sign off on the 35-page plan to move them on.

The mob became stranded in the Woolworths-owned paddock near the Mernda train line when a gate was left open last Easter.

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Two months later, Woolworths paid for a plan to be developed to shift the roos just 30m back into Plenty Gorge.

Woolworths senior development manager Don Foulds would not say what relocation methods were in the report as the plan was yet to be finalised.

He said the company had been waiting 12 months for the plan to be signed off by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning.

Australian Society for Kangaroos (ASK) president Nikki Sutterby said Woolworths had been “very supportive from the start” but DELWP had stonewalled the plan.

The plan to move the roos has been in the works for a year. Picture: Ellen Smith

“I think they don’t want to set a relocation precedent,” Ms Sutterby said.

Ms Sutterby said many of the trapped kangaroos had been killed by trains. She said the group had offered to tranquillise and shift the mob back to the Gorge but had not heard back.

DELWP regional environmental compliance manager Leigh Bryant said delays in approvals were due to strict legal requirements and the need to ensure the relocation did not displace other kangaroos or “create negative ecological effects”.