As Victoria burns......

The 2024 population estimate for Western and Eastern Grey Kangaroos in Victoria from which the 2025 quota is derived was  2,078,000, comprised  211,000 Western Grey Kangaroos and 1,867,000 Eastern Grey Kangaroos. This compares with a population estimate of 2,363,850 from the previous survey in 2022.

The number of Kangaroos to be killed in Victoria in 2025 (excludes joeys) are:

• 117,600 for commercial gain comprised 104,150 Eastern Grey Kangaroos and 13,450 Western Grey Kangaroos. This compares to a commercial quota in 2024 of 155,650 Grey Kangaroos;
• 90,200 Grey Kangaroos to be shot using ATCW permits, comprising 84,550 Eastern Grey Kangaroos and 7,650 Western Grey Kangaroos. This compares to the ATCW quota in 2024 of 80,700; and
• TOTAL 207,800 comprised 21,100 Western Grey Kangaroos and 186,700 Eastern Grey Kangaroos.

The numbers describe allocations that reverse the Victorian Government’s policy of shifting ATCW permits to commercial permits. This reversal of policy also occurred in 2024. While the Victorian Government does not answer the question, we can assume that this is being done to backdoor the commercial killing of Kangaroos into National and State parks as ‘land managers’ transfer there ATCW permits to commercial. The quantum of this needs to be clarified.

We should note that the Victorian Kangaroo killing system requires that commercial kills are accounted for and reported, ATCW kills, once the ATCW permits are issued, have no reporting requirement. So for ATCW permits issued, the Victorian Government does not have a clue about what actually happened. Failure to meet commercial quotas is very telling, so shifting more permits across to ATCWs means no one knows what actually happened.

NOTE: Numbers vary depending on document, but the numbers above are taken from the actual report.

Core claims in the 2025 quota report are that the population of Grey Kangaroos in Victoria is stable, that the killing is humane and ecologically sustainable. Each claim is questionable and unlikely to be correct, given the extensive killing since 2019 in particular and horrific climate change impacts (greatest fires known and extensive flooding) in the period. What we know for certain is that the killing of Kangaroos in Australia is intensely cruel. To quote the Victorian Government:

“The abundance of Grey Kangaroos within the survey area (the non-forested parts of Victoria) has remained relatively stable since the last survey in 2022”.

“The KHMP outlines the standards and rules for the commercial harvesting of Kangaroos in Victoria and considers relevant State and Commonwealth legislation, which dictates that commercial harvesting of wild Kangaroos must be sustainable and humane”.

“As lethal control is widely used to manage the ecological and economic impacts of Kangaroos, an overarching goal of the plan is to ensure harvesting is ecologically sustainable”.

Expect to see the usual claims that there is a market side problem, rather than a supply side problem. The facts are that the commercial exploiters of Kangaroos are moving into public lands in 2025 to top up the Kangaroo commercial take, and that in 2024 and in Quarter 4, no commercial Kangaroo quotas were issued for any of the 7 shooting zones in Victoria. These two events are an indicator of a serious supply side problem, that is, a significant decline in Kangaroo populations in Victoria.

NOTE: When questioned in 2024 the Victorian Government could not supply any evidence of damage caused by Kangaroos:

“You requested the metrics of damage caused by Kangaroos to property. In some areas, wildlife can damage property, farmland or the environment. Wildlife can also pose a threat to human safety or suffer in areas where the species is over-abundant. Wildlife control may be needed to manage the problem. I am unaware of any national or state level statistics of damage caused by wildlife, including Kangaroos, to property on private or public land”. Acting Deputy Secretary, Regional Development and Outdoor Recreation

Confused?

While claiming that this trade in bushmeat is hygienic and safe and while promoting the bushmeat from Macropod species for human consumption as well as pet food, the Victorian Government says this:

“There are several diseases carried by Macropods that can be transmitted to humans (zoonoses) such as Q fever, leptospirosis and salmonellosis. Persons handling Macropods should protect themselves from such diseases by being vaccinated against Q fever and washing hands with soap and water or using hand sanitiser after handling animals or their equipment”.

The Victorian Kangaroo Alliance have this to say:

“Kangaroo heads and limbs are chopped off and their organs removed in the wild. This is highly unhygienic and cross contamination is rife, both between Kangaroos and other species, such as wild boar and deer. Shooters often wear no protective equipment”.

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Population surveys

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Since 2014, when the commercial exploitation of Kangaroos was introduced in Victoria, there have been five Victorian Government Kangaroo population surveys which set the quota for the following year.

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2024 survey - shifts in methodolgy

“Aerial surveys of the non-forested parts of Victoria were undertaken during September 2024. These surveys were supplemented with simultaneous ground surveys of the area occupied by both Grey Kangaroo species in order to estimate the proportions of Eastern and Western Grey Kangaroos in each harvest zone”. Victorian Government

Population estimate for Western and Eastern Grey Kangaroos in Victoria was  2.078,000, comprised  211,000 Western Grey Kangaroos and 1,867,000 Eastern Grey Kangaroos.

During the Victorian Government’s 2024 Kangaroo population survey, 8,948 Grey Kangaroos were counted over 3,090 kilometers of helicopter transects. This is far more than previous counts. Ground surveys supplemented the aerial surveys, particularly in the Western Grey and Eastern Grey Kangaroo species overlap zone. In August 2024 we predicted the following, the next survey will have to count, again a rough estimate, around 8,500 Kangaroos to maintain the 2022 population estimate, assuming other model parameters remain the same. So it will be very interesting to see what numbers they come up with. If that does not happen, the government will find the population estimates, on which its mass killing efforts and marketing spin are based, will fall through the floor.

• For the Red Kangaroo the population was estimated to be 39,000 in 2024, down from 54,000 in 2022.

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2022 survey

• 5,947 Eastern and Western Grey Kangaroos resulting in a population estimate of 2,363,850 (24 per cent increase in population); and
• 140 Red Kangaroos resulting in a population estimate of 54,000.

Climate change impact in period – serious flooding.

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2020 survey

• 6,268 Eastern and Western Grey Kangaroos resulting in a population estimate of 1,912,000 (41 per cent increase in population); and
• 102 Red Kangaroos resulting in a population estimate of 30,000.

Climate change impact in period – most serious wildfires known.

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2018 survey

• 4,707 Eastern and Western Grey Kangaroos resulting in a population estimate of 1,381,000; and
• 91 Red Kangaroos resulting in a population estimate of 44,000.

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2017 survey (shorter transects)

• 2,607 Eastern and Western Grey Kangaroos resulting in a population estimate of 1,429,000; and
• 23 Red Kangaroos resulting in a population estimate of 13,000.

In 2017 the Victorian Government issued permits to kill 2,187 more Red Kangaroos than their entire state population estimate for that year.

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Moving the goal posts

For Melbourne at least the commercial Kangaroo shooter’s journey from outback to suburbs is over (with the exception of the Yarra Ranges LGA, that is).

Out of Melbourne:

“It should be noted that the 2024 estimate included 228,000 Eastern Greys in the ten local government areas (LGAs) which, as of 2024, are no longer included in the harvest zones, and are therefore not included in the quota calculation, but were included in the above estimate of total abundance”. Victorian Government

“From 2025 onwards, the KHMP introduces a number of changes that underpin the Kangaroo Harvesting Program (KHP). In particular, the original seven harvest zones utilised in the 2024 and earlier iteration of the KHP (KHMP 2021-2023) are replaced by five new zones, with different boundaries. In addition, commercial harvesting is now excluded from a further ten municipalities on the outskirts of metropolitan Melbourne. One change of significance is a move towards setting separate harvest quotas for Eastern Grey Kangaroos (Macropus giganteus, or ‘Eastern Greys’) and Western Grey Kangaroos (Macropus fuliginosus, or ‘Western Greys’), to further ensure the ecologically sustainable management of populations”. Victorian Government

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7 shooting zones from 2019

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5 shooting zones from 2025

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What did 2024 look like?

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The full year commercial quota in 2024 in Victoria is 155,650. The Nature Knowledge Channel’s full year forecast for Victoria in 2024 is now 72,800. (was 69,900) (the 2023 actual was 72,232).

The actual take against original quota for 2024 is as follows:

• Actual first 9 months 2024 – 58,481 Kangaroos (that is 22,536 in Quarter 3);  
• Quota first 9 months 2024 – 121,000 Kangaroos;
• Shortfall of Kangaroos killed for commercial gain for the first 9 months of 2024 was 62,519 Kangaroos; and
• Actual for 9 months at 48 per cent of quota for the period and at 37.5 per cent against original full year quota.

Because a large number of commercial tags issued by the Victorian Government during the year in 2024 were not utilised, no tags were issued in Quarter 4 in 2024 in any of the 7 Victorian shooting zones.

“On 25 September 2024, DEECA further reduced the quota to 11,175 removing all Quarter 4 allocations. Quota is released in four batches, at the start of every quarter. Where quota is not fully allocated, it can be carried over into the following quarter”. Victorian Government

Note: Original quotas have been used above for comparison (rather than revised quotas) because the Victorian Government’s population estimates for 2023 set the quotas for 2024. Not meeting quotas is a sign that population estimates are far too high.

Actual take against commercial quota (per cent):

• 2023 – 43 per cent;
• 2022 – 57 per cent;
• 2021 – 65 per cent;
• 2020 – 80 per cent; and
• 2019 – 56 per cent (from October 1 to year end, see note below).

Actual take against commercial quota (SHORTFALL against quota – number of Kangaroos):

• 2023 – 94,518;
• 2022 – 59,504;
• 2021 – 33,446;
• 2020 – 11,836; and
• 2019 – 6,255.

We should note that the commercial quota for 2024 was revised down to 142,350 Grey Kangaroos in July 2024, a further downward revision occurred in September 2024 to 111,575 (in their Quarter 3 report the Victorian Government states ‘removing all Quarter 4 allocations’). The Victorian Government also states that ‘where the quota is not fully allocated it can be carried over into the following quarter’.

• There were 113 shooters commercially exploiting Kangaroos in Victoria in the first half of 2024. In Quarter 3 the number of licensed Kangaroo shooters was 123 of which, 99, received allocations, 61 of which were shooting in the Central and Lower Wimmera shooting zones. In 2024 there are 7 shooting zones, mergers of zones planned from 2025 reduce that to 5 shooting zones.
• In the first 6 months of 2024, the Central and the Lower Wimmera shooting zones, at 24,538 Kangaroos, accounted for 68 per cent of all Kangaroos killed for commercial gain in Victoria. In Quarter 3 the Central and the Lower Wimmera shooting zones again led the way in the number of Kangaroos killed for commercial gain at 15,281 (68 per cent) of a total actual for all Victoria of 22,536.  Concerningly, these two zones are  being merged with zones with low levels of actual take as from January 2025 and vanish, and that makes ongoing comparisons far more difficult.
• Total number of females killed for commercial gain in the first 9 months of 2024 was 19,202 or 33 per cent of total commercial take. In the first 6 months of 2024 the number of female Kangaroos killed for commercial gain was 11,677 or 32.5 per cent of total commercial take.
• Total number of at foot joeys (described as young at foot) killed for commercial gain in the first 9 months of 2024 was 16,672 (beaten to death). 88 per cent of the female Kangaroos killed for commercial gain in Quarter 3 also had an at-foot joey killed. In the first 6 months of 2024 the number of at-foot joeys killed was 10,026. We assume from the wording in the data reports that pouch-dependent joeys are omitted from the data.

These young at-foot Kangaroos (approximately to 15 months old) are killed by blunt force trauma (hit with the back of an axe and so on) and bodies are discarded. Adding joeys to the 2024 actual kill during the first 9 months of 2024 raises the total number of Kangaroos killed to 75,153. That is, at foot joeys were 22 per cent of all the Kangaroos killed in Victoria for commercial gain in the first 9 months of 2024, these animals are the next generation of Grey Kangaroos in Victoria.

Something odd from Victoria’s 2023 quota report:

"A total of 2,513 dependent young were reported euthanised by shooters in 2023. Dependent young of ‘harvested’ female Kangaroos must be euthanized humanely in line with requirements under the National code of practise for the humane shooting of Kangaroos and Wallabies for commercial purposes (AgriFutures 2020)".

Apart from the claim that decapitating or beating an animal to death is humane, which is of course nonsense, the number of dependent young reported killed, at 2,513 in the final report for the year, cannot be correct. If it is, that would mean that thousands of young Kangaroos in Victoria in 2023 were left to starve and to a long lingering death.

The total number of Western Grey Kangaroos killed for commercial gain in the first 9 months of 2024 was 1,266, just 2 per cent of all the adult Kangaroos killed. Western Victoria is an ‘overlap zone’ for Western and Eastern Grey Kangaroos. Our view is that Western Grey Kangaroos are being exterminated in Victoria, just as Eastern Grey Kangaroos are being exterminated in South Australia.

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The number of Kangaroos targeted in Victoria since 2010.

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• 2010 – 39,559
• 2011 – 34,721
• 2012 – 45,717
• 2013 – 75,139
• 2014 – 84,100
• 2015 – 135,887
• 2016 – 169,544
• 2017 – 189,086
• 2018 – 168,992
• 2019 – 136,502 (Red Kangaroo removed from KHP in Victoria)
• 2020 - 137,800 (Catastrophic fires destroyed wildlife populations and the world donates to help save them)
• 2021 - 191,200 (Victorian Government claims Kangaroo population increase of 41 per cent)
• 2022 - 185,850
• 2023 - 236,350 - Victorian Government claim yet another significant increase in the population of Eastern and Western Grey Kangaroos, this time 24 per cent)
• 2024 – 236,350 – quota based on numbers derived from 2022 population survey which claimed a 24 per cent increase, that on top of a 41 per cent increase claimed from the previous survey.
• 2025 – 207,800

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Europe reacts: Recent bills and actions in European Parliaments

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Italy

The Italian Parliament is to consider a new bill that seeks to introduce a national ban on import and trade of Kangaroo skins and meat.

“At school in the 1950s in the region separating Austria and Italy our minds were very much focussed on the environment in that beautiful place. I want to express my personal gratitude, Andrea extends it too, to the prominent efforts from both eminent Austrians and Italians in trying to assist Kangaroos in a very distant land. Grazie, grazie, grazie – we can’t say it enough”. Peter Hylands (Palliardi)

Netherlands

“The Dutch Parliament wants to stop imports of Kangaroo body parts and they want a ban across the EU. The Dutch Party for the Animals and MP Ines Kostic who are fighting to protect our Kangaroos from cruelty. Ines passed a motion with the majority in support to stop Kangaroo imports. In the NSW Parliament we recently had debates brought on by the National Party condemning these acts of compassion by overseas politicians I told them they were too late the world is changing and wants to protect our beautiful native animals from this cruelty”. The Hon. Emma Hurst MLC, Parliament of NSW, 11 November 2024

Belgium

“Brussels, 19 December – A draft ordinance proposing a ban on the sale of Kangaroo meat and leather has been submitted to the Brussels Parliament. This initiative follows a visit by a delegation of Indigenous Australians, working with GAIA, who together called out and denounced Belgium’s role in the largest massacre of wild land animals in the world”. Kangaroos Alive

And more……… and the US is busy too.

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Kangaroo silly season

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The release of the state’s Kangaroo quota reports over the Christmas period is accompanied by the usual propaganda to try make this all look okay, which it is not. Same stuff each and every year.

We can expect the publicly funded broadcasters to be promoting the conduct, sustainable and humane and somehow a necessity. We can expect the usual much researched and workshopped propaganda and conflation to be churned out on TV, radio and the Internet. Pests and ferals, overabundant, causing harm, dangerous, eating grass and on it goes. My message to the ABC and SBS in particular is do your homework and be responsible, you are not the marketing arms of those individuals who wish to exploit wildlife for commercial gain. Do not allow individuals to make statements which are incorrect and which they cannot substantiate (and then worse, pretend it is all verified).

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Out the window

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We may well ask what happened to these Victorian Government guidelines?

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Female Kangaroos with obvious young

Conditions of Authorisation under section 28A of the Wildlife Act 1975, to hunt, take, destroy, possess, dispose of and sell Eastern Grey Kangaroos and Western Grey Kangaroos in accordance with the approved Victorian Kangaroo Harvest Management Plan 2021-2023.

The conditions required to comply with an authorisation issued under section 28A of the Wildlife Act 1975, to hunt, take, destroy, possess, dispose of and sell Eastern Grey Kangaroos and Western Grey Kangaroos in accordance with the approved Victorian Kangaroo Harvest Management Plan 2021-2023.

Number 7 of 22 conditions states: Kangaroos with obvious dependent young must not be shot.

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Not viable (until 2014 that is)

"Commercial use of culled Kangaroos was undertaken in Victoria in the 1980s to test the viability of a Kangaroo industry in this state. It did not prove to be viable. The Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DNRE) concludes that the industry failed at that time because of the low numbers of Kangaroos available, and the distances to be travelled between properties and points of processing, which made it uneconomic for the industry to continue. Commercial utilisation of Kangaroos has not been permitted in Victoria since that time". Parliament of Victoria - Environment and Natural Resources Committee, Inquiry into the Utilisation of Victorian Native Flora and Fauna June 2000 - No 30 Session 1999/2000 VICTORIAN GOVERNMENT PRINTER 2000

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No increase

Speaking about the KPFT, Peter Walsh, the former Victorian Agriculture Minister stated:

“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".

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Whoops, a huge increase

“On balance, it appears that the behaviour of some KPFT shooters, who have an interest in maximising numbers controlled, is having some influence on the number of Kangaroos landholders are requesting to control. As a result, numbers approved for control have increased under the trial. This may not only compromise the aim of reducing waste, but could also threaten the sustainability of Kangaroo populations in future years if an expectation of a steady supply of carcasses was created. Given that Kangaroo populations vary, a program to process carcasses within the ATCW system cannot guarantee the steady supply that is preferable to shooters and processors”. Kangaroo Pet Food Trial Evaluation, DEWLP, 2017

The initially secret DELWP report Kangaroo Pet Food Trial Evaluation stated that:

“However there has been a disproportionate increase in the number of Kangaroos approved for control in trial areas, compared to non-trial areas since the commencement of the trial. Over the period of the trial the average number of Kangaroos approved for control in trial areas was nearly 250 per cent higher than the long-term average. The deviation from the long-term average is much larger in trial areas than in non-trial areas. This is primarily due to KPFT authorisations being issued, on average for larger numbers of Kangaroos than type 1 ATCWs”.

Lily D’Ambrosio, a former Victorian Labor Government Environment Minister, went on to make exactly the same claim (2015), 'there would be no increase'. In 2016 claiming:

“The trial has received positive support from participating landowners and the pet food industry, helping to reduce waste by processing more than 30,000 Kangaroos for pet food and creating jobs for regional Victoria".

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Hunting regulations and codes

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Where and when you may use firearms (Firearm safety code 2011)

• Before you do any shooting, whether with a firearm or air gun, you need to know when and where it can be safely and lawfully used.
• You should take steps to ensure that your shooting does not endanger property or frighten, annoy or put neighbours at risk. Telling your neighbours about what you are doing is always a good first step.

“The Code is a vital tool that has been developed in the interests of community safety and recreational shooting. I strongly encourage Victorian shooters to recognise the Code’s importance and actively practice the ten basic rules. In this regard, shooters will be able to continue enjoying their sport safely while avoiding endangering the welfare of others”. The Honourable Peter Ryan MLA’ Deputy Premier of Victoria

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The strange case of suppressors and silencers

Shooters arrive during the night without any notification to neighbours. As Kangaroo shooters operate very close to people’s houses suppressors are now commonly used to conceal what is occurring. This is extremely dangerous. Legislation to allow this to occur, or attempt to allow this to occur, appears to have been successful.

FIREARMS AMENDMENT (SILENCERS) BILL 2018

“Ms PENNICUIK (Southern Metropolitan) — I rise to make a contribution on the private members Firearms Amendment (Silencers) Bill 2018 introduced by Mr Bourman. The main purposes of the bill are to amend the Firearms Act 1996 to establish a system permitting the possession, use, carriage and acquisition of silencers; to establish a system of registering silencers; and to establish requirements for the secure storage of silencers. They are the technical purposes of the bill, but I suppose the real purpose of the bill is to expand the eligibility for possession of a silencer”.

In the ACT the ABC reported (December 2016):

“Gun silencer ban modified in ACT after government staff break law. The ACT Government has temporarily relaxed the rules around the use of gun silencers after some of its staff were found to be using them illegally during a kangaroo cull. Silencers, or firearm suppressors, allow shooters to muffle the noise made when firing weapons. They are heavily regulated in Australia and until now have been completely banned in the ACT”.

So we can see that when it comes to Kangaroos most things are possible.

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So what is the outcome of the conduct described here on this family of animals in Victoria?

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Status of Macropodidae species in Victoria since European settlement:

Status of Kangaroo, Wallaby, Potoroo and Bettong species and their relatives in Victoria following the catastrophic bushfires in Victoria is 2020. Even the fires and climate change have not stopped the ever growing number of animals killed.

• Toolache Wallaby Macropus greyi EXTINCT
• Eastern Hare Wallaby Lagorchestes leporides EXTINCT
• Bridled Nailtail Wallaby Onychogalea fraenata EXTINCT
• Rufous-bellied Pademelon Thylogale billardierii EXTINCT
• Rufous Rat-kangaroo or Rufous Bettong Aepyprymnus rufescens EXTINCT
• Eastern Bettong Bettongia gaimardi gaimardi EXTINCT The mainland subspecies was extinct by the 1920s due to predation by foxes, cats, habitat loss and degradation and persecution by land holders. Remains in Tasmania and re-introduced ACT.
• The Woylie or Brush-tailed Bettong Bettongia penicillata EXTINCT
• Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby Petrogale penicillata - ENDANGERED – hunted to near extinction in Victoria, in 1908 alone 92,590 skins were marketed by a single company. LESS THAN 40 ANIMALS REMAIN in the wild in Victoria. Seriously impacted by the 2024-2025 Grampians fire
• Eastern Wallaroo Macropus robustus robustus ENDANGERED –extinct across 99 per cent of its former range in Eastern Victoria – remaining population impacted by wildfires
• Long-footed Potoroo Potorous longipes ENDANGERED –population in decline
• Long-nosed Potoroo Potorous tridactylus THREATENED –population in decline
• Western Grey Kangaroo Macropus fuliginosus – when historical distribution records are compared the species is missing from almost 50 per cent of its former range, shot commercially since 2014. Population in steep decline - at significant risk from commercial exploitation
• Eastern Grey Kangaroo Macropus giganteus – former range fractured and fragmented, shot commercially since 2014 - population in steep decline despite claims that mass shooting, habitat loss (significant) and climate change have no impact on population number
• Red-necked Wallaby Macropus rufogriseus – population seriously impacted by wildfires
• Red Kangaroo Macropus rufus – restricted in its declining range to far North West Victoria, the species used to occur in at least 50 per cent of Victoria. The species existence in Victoria is directly threatened by Victorian Government actions and has now been driven to the edge of EXTINCTION in the state. Removed from commercial industry list in the state
• Black Wallaby or Swamp Wallaby Wallabia bicolor - population seriously impacted by wildfires

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