Category Archives: Authority to Control Wildlife

Brutal “conservation cull” of ACT kangaroos – carnage wrapped in environmental language!

One comment

More than 2,600 Kangaroos to be violently slaughtered in 2017, based on what’s condemned by wildlife carers as fraudulent flawed Acts, Plans. and Strategies.  

The closures will start from Wednesday, May 17, in Canberra and Googong Foreshores.

This carnage will occur at 12 sites,  closed for what’s ironically, and contradictorily called a “conservation cull”. 

The sites are Mulligans Flat Nature Reserve, Goorooyarroo Nature Reserve, Mount Majura Nature Reserve and adjacent territory land, Kama Nature Reserve, Mount Painter Nature Reserve and adjacent territory land, The Pinnacle Nature Reserve and adjacent unleased land, Mount Mugga Mugga Nature Reserve, Isaacs Ridge Nature Reserves, …Callum Brae Nature Reserve, East Jerrabomberra Grasslands, West Jerrabomberra Nature Reserve, and Googong Foreshores.  These “Nature” reserves will be shut to the public while they are killing fields!

These violent killings are not culls, and are not for Conservation purposes. Our Kangaroos being driven to extinction, weakening the species genetically altering our Kangaroos committed by over killing and the infertility programs.

Danger- do not enter

(image: Animals Australia)

So “nature” doesn’t include native kangaroos?  What’s not “native” about the conservation of kangaroos?  Eastern Grey Kangaroos (EGK) are now maligned as a threat to Nature, and on the level of feral, invasive species?

The closures will start from Wednesday, May 17, in Canberra and Googong Foreshores. 

“The conservation cull… is needed to protect biodiversity and maintain populations at appropriate levels to minimise impacts on other flora and fauna in critical grassland and woodland sites,” Director of parks and conservation Daniel Iglesias says.  He says that the “culling of overabundant kangaroos is currently the most humane method of population control available to the ACT Government as a responsible land manager…”.

So according to park manager, Iglesias, employed by the ACT government, EGK are not part of our nation’s biodiversity, and are NOT part of our flora and fauna – they only “impact” on it and destroy it?

Just what empirical evidence supports his assumption that the kangaroos are “over abundant”?  In a report and map prepared by field ecologist Ray Mjadwesch in 2013, Professor Garlick said eastern grey kangaroos were already gone from 26.6 per cent of the territory because of urban land use, and a further 29.9 per cent of the animals were under pressure.

Literature written by ecologist Dan Ramp (University of NSW) describes the importance of kangaroos in protecting threatened and endangered species from decline:-

‘Native herbivores such as kangaroos and wombats, play a vital role in ecosystem functioning but are often victimized and treated with lack of concern because of socio-political factors and historical value judgements rather than heeding biological and ecological information.’

wlcg_banner1

According to Lady Nora Preston, Western Creek, (Wildlife Carers Group Inc)  the Animal Welfare and Management Strategy 2017-2022 should protect all animals, and recognise  animals as being sentient beings.  It’s contradictory with regards to:

1. the violent Nature Conservation Act 2014

2. the violent Eastern Grey Kangaroos Draft Controlled Native Species Management Plan:

3. the violent Code of Practice,

4. the Ethics Committee that allows violence and suffering

5. the Kangaroo Management Plan

6. the ACT Kangaroo Management Plan (ACT Government 2010) and subsidiary policy instruments

7. Draft ACT Pest Animal Management Strategy 2011-2021: https://wildlifecarersgroup.wordpress.com/2011/09/27/amendments-darting-currawongs-rspca-draft-act-pest-animal-management-strategy-2011-2021/

8. Draft ACT Native Grasslands Conservation Strategy – https://wildlifecarersgroup.wordpress.com/2017/05/08/wildlife-carers-group-submission-draft-act-native-grasslands-conservation-strategy-closes-12-may-2017/ that is consistent with

9. the ACT Nature Conservation Strategy 2013-23 (ACT Government 2013a) and

10. their accusation is that the  2005 Lowland Grassland Conservation Strategy is all based on (allegedly) fraudulent reports on the Eastern Grey Kangaroos, etc.

There’s a difference between the science of zoology, conservation, environmental science and being a park-ranger manager!  Management of a park, or Nature reserve, clearly is not based on promoting natural systems, or supporting flora and fauna.  Rather it is based  on manipulating what governments dictate and then wrapping the policies in neat, environmental-language to make it sound like legitimate “conservation”.  No doubt the real motive for this “conservation cull” of native kangaroos is not about protecting other species, or grasslands, but a more prosaic way of limiting vehicle accidents, and releasing more land for urban sprawl!

This so-called “conservation cull” is human-based, and it’s “junk science” to fit what’s already deemed a fact that there’s an “over-abundance” of kangaroos in the ACT – once called the Bush Capital!

Once land is “vacant”, and devoid, of the more obvious native animals – kangaroos- then it’s seemingly barren, only suitable for “development”  – aka urban sprawl.

The area below is called Lawson,  and is a ‘land development site‘.  It covers the entire naval base. So much for the government’s worry about vulnerable species being in this area – which is the same reason they gave why the kangaroos had to be killed.

Killing_area_ESC4920

(image:  Above: the place at Lawson, ACT., Australia, where 500 kangaroos were herded and killed in 2008.  http://www.kangaroolives.com/condemned.htm)

(image: There were plans to build 1850 dwellings plus 199 single residential at Lawson, 2013. ACT government.  http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-12-04/buyers-snap-up-land-at-new-canberra-suburb-of-lawson/5133156.  So how will the vulnerable species fare?)

Out of 41 Submissions that were received, 31 Submissions opposed this Eastern Grey Kangaroos Draft Controlled Native Species Management Plan, and only 10 Submissions supported this Plan. A good enough reason NOT to go ahead with this Plan and to abolish it.  So why have these “submissions” matter at all if they have already decided that maligned policy of “culling”?

humans-run_FSC5909

(image: Kangaroos run from an official in a vehicle on the base.The driver, incidentally, drives straight across the 'vulnerable' grasslands. Sunset, March 31, 2008  http://www.kangaroolives.com/condemned.htm )

(featured image: Animals Australia http://www.animalsaustralia.org/media/in_the_news.php?article=3345)

Share This:

Carnage of native birds and animals on Hamilton Island, called “management”

2 comments

There’s a dark and bloody side of the Whitsunday’s, Hamilton Island!  What’s meant to be a dream, an idyllic dream island, of relaxation and luxury, has been exposed.  Some of the feathered and four-footed native residents are being slaughtered because some of the tourists and residents are not “safe” from native species such as the Agile Walllabies and overly-friendly cockatoos!

800px-hamilton_island_whitsundays_1_australia

(image: Hamilton Island, an natural holiday resort where not all the natives are welcome!)

From November 2014 to May 2016, permits to kill native animals on Hamilton Island allowed for 393 agile wallabies, 599 common brushtail possums, 35 sulphur crested cockatoos, 36 pied currawongs, three torresian crows, and one laughing kookaburra to be destroyed. The permits were for the “ongoing management of some wildlife species to prevent unacceptable levels of damage, and to protect public safety at the airport and in the resort itself”.

So native birds and animals are now a “safety” threat to the resort itself! On the contrary, the “resort” has been imposed onto the habitats, and that itself is a threat!
The sulphur-crested cockatoos are famously friendly, as seen in singer Taylor Swift’s tweets during her visit to the island last year. But 35 of the birds have been killed in the past 18 months, along with 36 pied currawongs and a kookaburra. Sulphur-crested cockatoos and possums could harass guests — removing food off plates and tables at outdoor eating areas. So, these tourists only come to see sterile and controlled, artificial resorts, with any ad hoc visitors and unwanted inhabitant shot and killed!

Sulphur crested cockatoos are a much-photographed native species on the island, known for their mostly friendly interactions with holidaymakers. “Sulphur crested cockatoos are resident on the Island but some birds become used to human contact and scavenge for human food sources and become aggressive (this is called habituation),” a statement read.  Aggressive cockatoos?

Rochelle Steven from Birdlife Australia said killing birds was a drastic move.

The resort island’s managers have Queensland Government permission to kill an unrestricted number of agile wallabies, which were introduced to Hamilton in the 1970s. Between November 2014 and May 2016, 393 agile wallabies were shot dead.

In another clanger, a statement from Environment Heritage Protection said that “Agile wallabies are not native to Hamilton Island and their numbers have exploded since their introduction in the 1970s.” Neither are non-Indigenous humans, or resorts! Seems that other legitimate animals also are not part of the “environment” or “heritage” – in an Orwellian contradictory titles.

Hamilton Island chief executive Glenn Bourke, stated that introduced species such as the agile wallaby caused “unsustainable damage” to the island and the resort’s facilities. How do agile wallabies come to be “introduced’ species when they are Australian native animals? So, no flying or swimming animals, or human, have a right to be there?

 Nearly 600 brushtail possums were eradicated in the same time period, but Queensland’s Environment Department allows up to 5,000 to be killed over three years.

More than 70 percent of the Island remains preserved as natural bushland, even though it is the largest resort island in the Whitsundays. The Island and surrounds are home to a unique and beautiful array of flora, fauna, birds, mammals, and reptiles. The tourist spin advertises the island’s natural features, but then kills off any interaction with visitors?

agilewallaby

(image: Agile wallaby – considered to be an “introduced” species!)

Planning approvals are in place to develop neighbouring Dent Island and we are looking at potential residences on the island, including an apartment complex, a luxury hotel and exclusive home enclave.

Dent Island currently houses the 18-hole championship Hamilton Island Golf Club, a $30 million investment designed by Peter Thomson, arguably Australia’s greatest golfer, and which opened in 2009.

The Island has substantial infrastructure in place, including a $1.8 million pipeline installed between Hamilton Island and Dent Island to supply power, water and utilities to the Golf Club.

No doubt with property developers and tourist operators relishing in $ in tourist dollars, any unwanted native guests will continue to be lethally “managed” to prevent threats to “property and tourists”!

Add your comments on FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/hamiltonisland/

Share This:

Golf resort under fire over worker’s plan to shoot kangaroos

One comment

A Herald Sun article reports (18th Sept, 2015)  that the RACV Cape Schanck Resort “had received complaints from residents and golf guests about the threatening behaviour of a small mob of kangaroos on the course”.

However, the resort didn’t know one of its staff members had been shooting them, and ordered all activity to stop.

A local resident was startled recently when he saw a kangaroo bound out of the bush in front him, followed by a pair of “hunters”. He said “two guys come out of the bush with this big rifle, with a scope, stand and silencer on its end”. These gun-totting, ego-driven, self-style game “hunters” escaped – “as they saw us they got a bit sheepish, jumped in a buggy and drove off.”!

The local resident complained to the resort, and he was told they had permission to shoot a number of kangaroos on the course because there had been an “attack”.

“A dog that wasn’t on a lead had been attacked because it chased one of the roos, so maybe that’s where the complaint came from, but that’s not the kangaroo’s fault”. This “attack” is really due to a startled and threatened kangaroo, being self-defensive against a dog, illegally off leash in the golf course!

“As far as I’m aware they’ve never hurt anybody. They’re actually very friendly“, says the witness.

It turns out, according to the RACV southern resorts general manager Mark Bennetts, that the permit was obtained by a staff member without authorisation. Such is the ease of obtaining permits to “control” wildlife in Victoria, where they distribute ATCW permits like lollies!

As soon as RACV management was advised, a directive to cease all activity was immediately issued. Luckily, no kangaroos were harmed.

This is typical of the red-neck attitude we’ve inherited from the Colonial era – shoot, cut down and destroy! We need to love and learn to live with our endemic wildlife and stop the mentality that everything that moves must be destroyed, as it might be a threat – even without evidence!

RoosAnglesea
(image: ANGLESEA GOLF COURSE, Victoria:
Is very friendly to kangaroos. “To guide, support and seek opportunities and resourcing for the development of a Community Kangaroo Management Plan for Anglesea and Aireys Inlet district, which provides opportunities for engaging the community in the planning and implementation process and embodies the concept of people living harmoniously with kangaroos and wallabies.”)

Incident as reported by two local residents:

Resident 1:
Please see below information passed to me on some very disturbing behaviour that occurred today (17th Sept) by the RACV at Cape Schanck.

If this is true then:

Why is the RACV killing native kangaroos on the Cape Schanck Golf Resort?

Why are they hiring shooters with rifles and silencers and allowing this on a residential resort, with the obvious safety issues that raises?

Are these shooters licensed as kangaroo hunters or not?

Does the MPSC know about and approve of or condone this behaviour?

If as they say they “have permission” to carry out such a kill, who gave it and under what conditions?

It at least needs some serious investigation.

From resident No 2:

I know it’s nothing to do with the proposed development, but I thought you might be able to mobilise some action IF you thought this was worthwhile:

At 6.57am today [Thursday 17 Sept], my wife and I were walking our dog and a friend’s on the 3rd hole of the RACV course when we saw, not unusually, one of what we believe to be three kangaroos. This one was belting along the tree line east to west on the south side of the fairway and proceeded to Trent Jones Drive, then south across the 4th and into the bush bordering Cape Schanck Road along the 5th hole.

Then we saw two men emerge from the bushes where the 3rd and 4th holes blend. One had a large rifle with telescopic sights, a bipod and a very large silencer. They got into a John Deere golf-club utility type vehicle and we heard them drive off in the direction of the workshops. We are convinced they had shot at, and may have hit, the kangaroo.

We went to the pro shop and reported the incident and telephoned Rosebud Police likewise.

RACV rang back and said they has permission to kill the three kangaroos because there “had been an attack”. I queried the veracity of this attack. The person was very vague. I had heard that a dog, not on a lead, had been attacked somewhere because it chased a kangaroo near the Casuarina/Trent Jones Drive intersection some months ago. It is not inconceivable that its owner may have been threatened coming to the dog’s aid.

These kangaroos are protected in principle and are harmless in practice. We see them, up close and personal, almost daily. We know of people who leave their gates open (backing on to Harwood) to let them in and out of their property when their children are playing. It is a ridiculous overkill – excuse the pun – to get a permit, and have a man with a bloody big gun with a silencer, 20 metres from houses in the post-dawn hours, trying to shoot three kangaroos who don’t harm anyone.

Cheers

(featured image: https://moleseyeview.wordpress.com/category/work-experience-journalism/)

Share This:

Proposed wildlife trade operation for the export of kangaroo skins derived from the expanded Victorian Kangaroo Petfood Trial 2016–18

Leave a comment

The Department of the Environment of Energy has received an application for a Wildlife Trade Operation under part 13A, section 303FN of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (the EPBC Act). The application is for the commercial export of Eastern and Western Grey Kangaroo skins from Victoria.

Should the operation be approved it is proposed that it remain in force for up to three (3) years.

The so-called Pet-food trial of kangaroo meat in Victoria has now morphed into a kangaroo skin trade!

Victorian Petfood Processors (Vic) P/L have sought a permit by the Federal Government to export Kangaroo skins.

This is the reason behind the dramatic increase of Kangaroos killed under an ATCW permit.
Please take the time to download and read the this proposal, (link above) you will find the link under ‘download’.
The Victorian Government is asking for ‘comment’ about the proposal.  So, just allow ATCW open-season, and surprise, the meat and skins are going to “waste” and now become commercial resources!

How many “comments” have already been given about this so-called pet food “trial” of kangaroo meat, and trial that was never meant to fail?

Comments should be addressed to:

The Director
Wildlife Trade Assessments
Department of the Environment
GPO Box 787
CANBERRA ACT 2601

or can be emailed to: wta@environment.gov.au

The genocide will continue of our graceful, peaceful native kangaroos, and the killing disguised as an “industry”!

Formerly, Agriculture Minister Peter Walsh said he did not expect the processing of Victorian kangaroos to lead to any more kangaroos being killed in Victoria.

‘‘It will not mean any increase in the wildlife control permits at all, it is just utilising the waste that is there from the current controls,’’ he said.  Mr Walsh said the shot kangaroos would only be used for pet food and there were no plans to use kangaroos culled in Victoria for table meat.

Please write to the above address, or email, giving your opinion and supporting our iconic kangaroos – and their contribution to our environment/heritage.

Some things to comment on:

– A 1980s C.S.I.R.O. aerial survey of kangaroos in western Victoria (Short & Grigg, 1982, Aust. Wildl. Res. 9 : 221-27) surveyed virtually all the habitat of the red kangaroo (Macropus rufus) and the western grey kangaroo (Macropus fuliginosus) in the state.

This survey revealed a surprisingly low total number and density of kangaroos in western Victoria which the authors directly attributed to the effects of intensive land use and the marginal nature of remnant vegetation.

– More importantly, however, the CSIRO. study questioned the whole basis of kangaroo management and commercialization in Victoria with its keystone principle of agricultural wildlife destruction permits issued under Section 5 of the Wildlife Act 1975. How can it be considered “sustainable” now?

– cruelty – how are land-owners with firearms meant to humanely kill kangaroos?  Horrendous injuries have been seen, with animals surviving and dying horribly

– kangaroos are co-existed with our ecology and landscape for hundreds of thousands of years, and are not “feral” or “pest” species

– the problem is the liberal and excessive distribution of ATCW permits!  Landholders are morally obliged to pursue ALL non-lethal options BEFORE killing!  Now, they kill and call it a meat and skin industry?  This is not damage control, but commercial profits!

Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change, Hon Liliana (Lily) D’Ambrosio

D'AmbrosioLily58250

– The “trail” was never to fail, and it’s “helping to reduce waste by processing more than 30,000 kangaroos for pet food and creating jobs for regional Victoria,” Ms D’Ambrosio said.  So the farmers can kill up to 30,000 kangaroos in Victoria, calling it a “harvest”, and then instead of “waste” it’s now commercially viable as meat and skins?  More like a self-fulfilling wildlife “management” that’s designed to morph into profits!

– Kangaroos are our iconic wildlife national animals, clearly identifying Australia on our flags and coins.  Now they are just valued as skin and meat?  What about being custodians of these animals, and honouring them?  They are natural landscape managers and help reduce fire risks – not animals to be demonized and eradicated.

 

 

 

 

Share This:

Victoria’s trial of kangaroo meat – more kangaroos to be slaughtered due to liberal distribution of killing (“control”) permits

11 comments

Environment Minister Lisa Neville said there is no link between the number of permits issued and the number of kangaroos processed for pet food? 

Each year, DELWP authorizes the “control” (killing) of kangaroos to reduce damage to landowners.  They claim that all practical, non-lethal control options must be exhausted before authorizing the killing of the animals.

Despite this supposedly exhaustive policy, the number of Eastern Grey kangaroos allowed to be killed in Victoria has more than doubled in the two years the government has permitted the commercial processing of kangaroo meat! Once any form of native animal management becomes a commercial venture, there will be more kangaroos to lethally “manage”.   It’s a self-fulfilling prophesy.

These control permits have no requirement for shooting-skills testing for landholders, nor routine monitoring.  Amateur, or infrequent shooters, are likely to cause tremendous injuries, and suffering, rather than clean, instant killings.

Despite “very, very, strict conditions” of this trial, nobody knows how many kangaroos there are in Victoria, so an expanding pet food trade is assuming inexhaustible supplies of meat!

“I do not accept that kangaroos destroy crops, compete for pasture and destroy the environment; AWPC will prove that it is more financially viable to protect kangaroos, the environment and other species.

“It is very easy to make wild assumptions and put it forward as a fact. I do not accept that kangaroos destroy crops, compete for pasture and destroy the environment. I hear and see these claims all the time, however I never see any evidence (scientific or financial) to prove these claims.

“It is my belief that our wildlife and their habitat bears the brunt of very poor land management practices. Unfortunately it would seem if you have enough money, there is always a way to destroy habitat and wildlife, more commonly known as ATCW permits and Native Vegetation Offsets.”

Craig Thomson – AWPC Planning Officer

nokilling

(image: In 1998, Viva!’s director Juliet Gellatley visited Australia and created a storm of controversy - doing about 50 media interviews and a press conference at Canberra’s Houses of Parliament - filmed live on national and regional TV news.  http://www.savethekangaroo.com/campaign-history)

There are glaring conflicts of interests, in DELWP being the protector of wildlife, administers of the Wildlife Act, and at the same time distributing landholders Authority to Control (“cull”) Wildlife (ATCW) to destroy them. The reason given for giving out ATCWs is because landholders claim that kangaroos can “destroy crops” and cause “economic hardship”.

With commercial interests involved, and the seemingly “pest”-control basis of the ATCWs, more of them are likely to be requested and issued – based on industry and monetary gain from the pet food industry! It then becomes an introduction of a commercial kangaroo meat industry for Victoria, by stealth, something that was denounced by previous governments, and the CSIRO, back in the early 1980s as being unsustainable – due to insufficient animals, and intensive farming.

There is a lack of transparency, and a Review process with stakeholders, to question the validity and thoroughness of the issuing process

How frequently and regularly do site inspectors actually, and exhaustively, advise landholders of alternative measure to avoid lethal controls?

Without wildlife corridors, just how much land is safe, connected and reserved for wildlife, even “common” animals such as kangaroos, numbers can decline – and there are many cases of once common animals becoming extinct?

The Victorian fires in 2008, and since, has claimed the lives of huge numbers of wildlife.

Tragically, thousands of kangaroos and other wildlife are killed or injured in road accidents each year. Kangaroos feed in the early morning and late afternoon at dusk and are often hit when crossing from one part of a grazing area to another on the opposite side of the road. In the years ended 30 June 2015 and 2014 Wildlife Victoria recorded over 6,000 animals hit by vehicles in the state of Victoria with the two preceding years recording 4,655 and 3,801 respectively.

Minister Peter Walsh said that he “did not expect the processing of Victorian kangaroos to lead to any more kangaroos being killed in Victoria, but once there’s monetary gain from the carcasses, there’s no limit to how many landholders will see kangaroos as agricultural “pests” – and have them lethally “managed”.

(The Age, March 19, 2014)

 

The number of Eastern Grey kangaroos allowed to be killed in Victoria has more than doubled in the two years the government has permitted the commercial processing of kangaroo meat. (The Age, March 10, 2016) We suggest that this increase is no accident, but motivated by the $1.4 million pet food trade.

Without knowing just how many kangaroos in Victoria at any time, and assuming fluctuations due to climatic conditions, it remains a subjective and arbitrary assessment to what level of killings is sustainable.

With declining numbers of kangaroos in NSW, their interests are in extending the industry to Victoria.

kangaroo

What statistics is this Government basing their figures and their assumption that Victoria is able to sustain the slaughter of up to 70,000 kangaroos each year? Prior to this trial it was accepted that the annual number of Kangaroos shot under permit was around 30,000, but there has never been a comprehensive count of kangaroos in Victoria because the terrain makes it too difficult.

Councils can see an opportunity to add to their coffers, and thus support a “cull”.

Applicants for a ATCW do not pay a fee. The cost falls onto Victorian tax payers. If landholders were required to pay for their permits and numbers issued would be drastically reduced.

Share This:

Wildlife carers quitting after 30 years due to DELWP’s hostility towards kangaroos

3 comments

Kangaroos nursed back to health after a planned fire escalated out of control now face a cull on the orders of the same department that ordered the burn. The very same department, DELWP, responsible for the care of wildlife, actually turned tail and permitted a “cull” of kangaroos, despite being tirelessly and lovingly nursed back to health by wildlife carers!

After a planned burn that started the Lancefield fire, they approved a six-month culling permit for the owner of a property that borders the shelter  – because of “damage caused by the kangaroos to the land”, where he runs sheep, and fences.  Surely more “damage” would be done by sheep than kangaroos?  However, the latter animals are economic assets, whereas kangaroos only have economic value when dead – for the pet meat trade!

The Authority to Control Wildlife permit application was approved, thanks to the farmer citing his desire to repasturise the land.  So, he can’t live harmoniously with native animals than have a minimal impact on grasslands?  This farmer got the go ahead to kill kangaroos on his property, which neighbours the Macedon Ranges (Victoria) Pastoria East Wildlife Shelter.  “All of the wild kangaroos here have been through that fire, they’ve all been impacted by it. They’ve lost habitat and food, they’ve been traumatised,” owner Christine Litchfield said.

Wildlife carers Ms Litchfield and Mr Ward say they are bemused by the department’s “heartbreaking” decision, considering DELWP formerly praised the work of the pair and wanted photos for an internal magazine!

“… Keep in mind we’re in a conservation zone, we are up against a large crown land forest. The idea that you’re going to kill kangaroos to stop this problem is unlikely to work completely,” Marcus Ward said.  What part of “conservation” do DELWP not understand?  What sort of Department, except an Orwellian one, would endorse the care and protection of wildlife – injured by their own “controlled burn” that got out of control – and also permit their “cull”?

 

Wildlife carers say they cannot continue to nurse injured kangaroos back to health only to risk having them shot by a neighbouring farmer once they are released.  These amazing people spend their own time and money on compassion and care for injured animals, only to have them lethally “managed”!  Marcus Ward, owner of the Pastoria East Wild Life Shelter, says he will have to close his doors after 30 years.

Under such a contradictory and twisted State government Department, presumably meant to be responsible for our wildlife, administer the Wildlife Act 1975, but at the same time approve of “culls” and the kangaroo meat industry in Victoria!  They can’t be the carers, conservationists and the killers at the same time – they are deeply embedded in conflicts of interests.

The Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) decided not to prosecute the neighbouring property owner for animal cruelty, after kangaroos were shot in the body and left to bleed to death.  So, what and when do they actually do to protect wildlife in Victoria?

kangaroo-illegally-shot

“We can’t continue… knowing any animal that comes here is under risk,” Mr Ward said.

“That won’t change until we’re confident the culling won’t proceed.”  Without Macedon Ranges’ Pastoria East Wildlife Shelter, Mr Ward said rescuers had few local options for shelters to take kangaroos.

“The shelter in Kilmore is overloaded from the area, and the one in Hepburn that we rely on a lot closed their doors to any new animals last week,” he said.

Native animals, especially kangaroos, are enemies of Victoria, and land-holders – apparently.   The facade that DELWP have any care of responsibility for native animals is becoming thinner and they are being exposed as more interested in commercial kangaroo meat – and cleansing the State of our iconic native animals – in the name of “progress” and profits!

 

PETITION: Call of plan to “cull” kangaroos

 

Share This: