Despite the now fully operational commercial exploitation of Kangaroos in Victoria, Macropod species again head the list of protected Australian species being targeted with the authority of the Victorian Government. It appears from the species described below that Parks Victoria has continued to target protected Australian species in State and National Parks. There is  now no safe place for protected Australian wildlife in Victoria, including its waterways where a mass recreational slaughter of birdlife is occurring.

• The number of protected Australian species targeted for lethal control in Victoria in 2024 was 54 (was 57 in 2023).
• The total number of permits issued for lethal control in Victoria in 2024 was 3,558 (was 2,482 in 2023).
• The total number of protected Australian animals targeted for lethal control in Victoria in 2024 was 177,573 (was 119,367 in 2023), of this number 43,838 (25 per cent) were protected Australian birds.
• For non-lethal control, 46 (was 81 in 2023) permits were issued to ‘move on’ 15,609 (was 15,847 in 2023) protected Australian native animals covering  24 (was 39 in 2023) protected Australian species. That is just 1.3 per cent of ATCW permits issued in 2024 were for non-lethal control.
• From the information I have available it looks as if the Little Wattlebird has appeared on the list for the first time in 2024.

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Species, permits and number of animals targeted in 2024

• Australasian Gannet – 1 / 200
• Australian King Parrot – 1 / 10
• Australian Magpie – 10 / 371
• Australian Magpie Lark – 2 / 2
• Australian Raven – 67 / 2,539
• Australian Shelduck – 21 / 688
• Australian White Ibis –  8 / 520
• Black Swan – 17 / 747
• Swamp Wallaby – 103 / 1,570
• Cape Barren Goose – 30 / 1,737
• Chestnut Teal – 3 / 130
• Brushtail Possum – 12 / 216
• Ringtail Possum – 5 / 29
• Bare- nosed Wombat – 330 / 2,692
• Crimson Rosella – 23 / 767
• Eastern Brown Snake – 1 / 3
• Eastern Grey Kangaroo – 2,326 / 110,663
• Eastern Rosella – 7 / 250
• Emu – 51 / 886
• Eurasian Coot – 5 / 285
• Fairy Martin – 1 / 25
• Galah – 8 / 820
• Great Cormorant – 4 / 65
• Grey Butcherbird – 1 / 1
• Grey Teal – 20 / 564
• Laughing Kookaburra – 1 / 5
• Little Black Cormorant – 5 / 70
• Little Corella – 41 / 6,805
• Little Crow – 4 / 400
• Little Pied Cormorant – 5 / 70
• Little Raven – 6 / 315
• Little Wattlebird – 1 / 15
• Long-billed Corella – 15 / 1,510
• Mallee Ringneck – 1 / 100
• Maned (Wood) Duck – 116 / 4,626
• Masked Lapwing – 10 / 59
• Musk Lorikeet – 19 / 1,770
• Noisy Friarbird – 3 / 70
• Pacific Black Duck – 41 / 1,496
• Pied Currawong – 10 / 185
• Purple Swamphen – 6 / 80
• Rainbow Lorikeet – 24 / 2,365
• Red Kangaroo – 25 / 11,146
• Red Wattlebird – 5 / 215
• Red-necked Wallaby – 13 / 315
• Satin Bowerbird – 1 / 5
• Silver Gull –  46 / 10,902
• Silvereye – 8 / 220
• Straw-necked Ibis – 2 / 85
• Sulphur-crested Cockatoo – 18 / 625
• Welcome Swallow – 4 / 353
• Western Grey Kangaroo – 67 / 7,946
• White-faced Heron – 3 / 30
• White-winged Chough – 1 / 10

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What happened in 2023?

The data described an alarming increase in the number of native Australian animals being killed in Victoria in 2023 using Authority to Control Wildlife permits (ATCWs). The ATCW statistics for Victoria in 2023 (all Australian species) were as follows:

For lethal control, 2,482 permits were issued to kill 119,367 native animals covering 57 native species. The number of native animals targeted for lethal control is significantly higher than in 2021 and 2022; and

For non-lethal control, 81 permits were issued to ‘move on’ 15,847 native animals covering 39 protected Australian species.

The actual number of Australian native animals killed or ‘moved on’ is unknown as records are not kept. It appears that the number of native animals killed on public lands, National and State parks etc, is monitored and the data is held by the Victorian Government.

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ATCWs in 2022

The list of native animals targeted by ATCWs in 2022 was published in April 2023. Three native species appear to have entered the list for lethal control for the first time, these are the Australasian Gannet, the Banded Lapwing and the Cattle Egret.

In total 59 native species appeared on the ATCW list in 2022, of which 7 species were listed as 'controlled' by non-lethal methods only, of which three were reptile species. In total 2,428 permits were issued for the lethal 'control' of 90,301 Australian mammals and birds covering 52 native species.

Permits issued for non-lethal 'control' totalled 115, covering 36 species and 29,261 animals, the majority of which were for scaring off birds. There were 4,665 Grey-headed Flying-foxes on the non-lethal list, harassing these animals does have fatal results.

Australian mammals come off very badly as nearly all mammals 'controlled' in 2022 were by lethal methods. Kangaroos head the list of targeted species even though there is now over-exploitation of these animals for commercial purposes not accounted for here.

Of all permits issued in 2022, 4.5 per cent were for non-lethal control compared to 2.6 per cent in 2021.

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ATCWs in 2021

For the first time in 2021 the Victorian Government had provided a split between lethal and non-lethal permits. Just 2.6 per cent of the permits issued were for non-lethal control.

The total numbers of animals reported killed through the ATCW system is lower than it was because of exclusions which include permits not being required, the commercial trade in wildlife is excluded including no published account of the young animals killed (there are very many), killing of Koalas and so on. The split is as follows:

Lethal permits issued – 2,573 (includes most of the native animals to be controlled at 89,364 – this number is a long way from telling the complete story); and

Non-lethal permits – 69 (that was a total of 2,082 native animals from the general control list plus the scaring of 5,470, Corellas and Cockatoos).

This has meant the language on the reports has changed – before 2021 and for the split between lethal and non-lethal ‘control’ the story was this:

“Lethal control of wildlife is only considered when practical non-lethal methods were unsuccessful at resolving the problem or are impractical to implement”.

In 2021 it had changed to:

“In 2021, no ATCWs were issued for lethal control of any species listed as threatened under Victorian or Commonwealth legislation”.

There is no understanding by the government departments administrating the ATCW permit system as to what actually happens and how many animals are actually killed, it can be less or more than the permit allows and there is no way of telling (the exception is the mass killing of Australian wildlife in State and National Parks in Victoria, for which the government gets reports on the ATCWs it issues to Parks Victoria which gives the actual number of animals killed, but it is near impossible to get this information).

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The Deer conundrum

The situation for Deer in Victoria (although not Australian species they are protected wildlife) is now as follows:

To facilitate the delivery of the Victorian Deer Control Strategy, a Governor in Council order (No. S568, 18 Oct 2022) was made under S.28G of the Wildlife Act 1975 to allow control of deer on public land by authorised persons, subject to the conditions of the order. This order removed the need for the application for or issue of the volume of historical ATCW in relation to deer.

In addition, a Governor in Council order (No. G9 1 March 2018) under S.7A of the Wildlife Act 1975 as of March 2018 allows the control of any deer except Hog Deer on private property, again subject to the conditions of the order.

This means in practice that ATCWs are now only needed for deer where the control is not covered by the conditions of the relevant order – for example, the use of alternative or novel control methods.