Kangaroo culls rampant, controls nothing but fiction

The anti-kangaroo myths need to be debunked, argues CHRIS LEHMANN

Fire devastation: A Pretty Face wallaby on the edge of bushfires in the Gecko Valley. Picture: Christopher Chan

There is a war on kangaroos. While in a recent editorial Ed Gannon (theweeklytimes.com.au Apr 14) claims there is no rampant slaughter of kangaroos in Australia, we beg to differ.

The editorial promotes the common anti-kangaroo myths ad-nauseum in response to the US proposal for a ban on importation of kangaroo products.

Ed claims the culling is controlled.

In NSW, permits are issued over the phone with no evidence or assessment by a wildlife officer.

Shooting parties are allowed.

Kill limits are based on property size, nothing to do with the actual numbers.

Just imagine a ute load of good old boys, some guns and zero oversight. Say no more.

But the professionals are better, right? Sorry, but no.

We know from skull x-ray evidence in western NSW that 40 per cent of shots are body shots, so four out of every 10 kangaroos die in agony, while dependent joeys are traumatised by separation or beaten to death on the back of the ute.

The joeys that survive will die from starvation or predation.

Ed claims culling is only conducted where there is a real need.

The truth is that large areas of NSW and Queensland have been shot out such that professional culling is halted.

This shows the lack of proper management of the industry when the only reason shooting stops is that the numbers get so low shooters cannot find any animals to kill.

For non-commercial killing, there is a more glaring lack of governance. “Permit to harm” (NSW) and “Authority to Control Wildlife” (Victoria) kill permits are never properly verified and there is zero follow-up on the actual results.

The killing happens in the dark, unseen and unmanaged.

Wildlife officers and police refuse to attend the site of complaints about kangaroo shooting or cruelty because of the danger to their own lives.

Ed claims the impact of the Black Summer bushfires was significantly lower for kangaroos but cites no source.

Apparently, their mobility allowed them to escape … to where exactly, other firegrounds, or on to adjacent farmland to be shot?

Ed recounts the Victorian Government claim that populations increased by 40 per cent in two years.

This is a biological impossibility in a species that grows at 9-10 per cent in an a good year.

We are waging a shameful war on kangaroos in this country.

● Chris Lehmann is an Australian Wildlife Protection Council committee member

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