Cull permits: Wildlife control laws under fire

Proving damage caused by kangaroos and rabbits is just one of a raft of suggestions to change the current Authority to Control Wildlife permit system.

Environmentalists are demanding the Victorian Government require landholders to notify neighbours and prove they have tried all nonlethal control methods, before being granted permits to cull kangaroos, ducks, flying foxes and other wildlife.

The call from lobby groups and individuals dominated more than 1000 submissions lodged with a government-appointed panel reviewing Victoria’s Wildlife Act, which is due to hand down its findings and recommendations by the end of the year.

In summarising submissions the expert panel said participants “provided the following options to improve the current Authority to Control Wildlife permit system”:

REQUIRE landholders to provide proof of damage caused by wildlife

DEMAND landholders prove they have tried nonlethal methods (scare guns, fencing or netting).

CONSULT consultation with third parties or the general community on applications for lethal control and inform neighbours.

MAKE management plans a condition of approving an ATCW application.

INTRODUCE an independent body to assess ATCW applications (currently approved by Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning staff).

INTRODUCE an independent committee to handle complaints and conducts audits

ISSUE on-the-spot fines for noncompliance with ATCW conditions.

REPORT and publish ATCW outcomes, including the number of permits issued, animals affected and the type of control (lethal, disturbance etc.), the number of noncompliance fines issued and the number of successful prosecutions.

In its submission the Victorian National Parks Association called for greater controls on ATCW permits, arguing that from 2009 to 2019 permits were issued to cull almost 100 different species of native fauna from Wombats and Australian Fur Seals, Satin Bowerbirds and Black Swans.

“One of the most controversial aspects of the Wildlife Act is its very murky Authority to Control Wildlife system,” the VNPA stated. “Destruction or dispersal of listed threatened species by an ATCW permit should be prohibited.”

The Victorian Farmers Federation wants the ATCW system simplified and recognition that “protection of wildlife on private land for community benefit is not achieved at private cost” to farmers.

Failure to recognise those costs to farmers is exemplified in DELWP’s Wildlife Management Methods – kangaroos and wallabies fact sheet, which recommends “if you grow crops and your farm adjoins bushland, plant crops at least 400 metres from bushland and keep grass areas to a minimum (to) limit the availability of food for the macropods.”