Wildlife warrior leads Victorian fight to protect native animals

A YOUNG wildlife warrior is leading the fight to protect Australian native animals from a State Government proposal that could see their rehabilitation banned.

A YOUNG wildlife warrior is leading the fight to protect Australian native animals from a State Government proposal that could see their rehabilitation banned.

Nine-year-old Isaac Busuttil has already rallied the support of more than 18,000 people in an online petition against the idea to ban carers from saving Aussie marsupials.

“I thought by getting all these people on board I would be able to show it’s a silly idea,” Isaac said.

“The wildlife shelters are doing a really good job by taking care of animals and rehabilitating them.

“We need to look after native Australian animals.”

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Isaac Busuttil with Madi the wombat and Peggy the joey at Coopers animal refuge. Picture: Rob Leeson

The ban was flagged in a Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning’s (DELWP) discussion paper called Authority to Control Wildlife.

Some community members stated caring for certain species of injured animals was unnecessary when there were was a high population of them in the wild, some so abundant cull permits were necessary.

The paper stated while a ban was out of its scope the idea could be examined in the future.

“It may also be appropriate to consider whether the rehabilitation of unprotected wildlife such as wombats, cockatoos or possums, should be disallowed or restricted to areas where such wildlife is not overabundant,” the report stated.

A Red Kangaroo and a joey in the pouch. Picture: Alex Coppel

Macedon Ranges wildlife rescuer Helen Round told the Sunday Herald Sun the idea of killing healthy animals like kangaroo joeys was outrageous.

“The Andrews Government expects us to go out and kill the kangaroos, witness the suffering and killing and then pull out the healthy joey and kill it,” Ms Round said.

“There will be widespread animal suffering and there will be trauma inflicted on the general public and wildlife carers. It’s just insane.”

DELWP acting executive director of biodiversity Division James Todd said there were no plans to disallow caring of some native wildlife.

“The idea to restrict the rehabilitation of overabundant species was raised by some community members during initial stakeholder consultation for the review,” Mr Todd said.

“DELWP does not have a plan to restrict the rehabilitation of overabundant species.”

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