A significant effort is underway from locals surrounding the Grampians Gariwerd National Park, to put a stop to the commercial killing of Kangaroos and the extensive use of ATCW permits used to kill other native species, including Wallabies, particularly given the enormous impact of the fires on wildlife populations in Western Victoria.

The momentum to stop the commercial killing of Kangaroos in Victoria is also building in other regions, including the Yarra Ranges Local Government Area, the Melbourne LGA that remains in a commercial shooting zone.

The Victorian Government claim that the reason that Yarra Ranges LGA remains part of the reconfigured Victorian commercial shooting zones, is that there was a higher level of uptake of commercial permits in the Yarra Ranges Shire than in other interface LGA’s now excluded from commercial shooting zones. Commercial shooting further contributes to the actual decline in Kangaroo populations and setting aside the extreme danger to residents, this should be enough to now cease the commercial exploitation in the shire. The reality here is likely to be that the Victorian Government needs what remains of the shire's Kangaroo population to sustain its commercial Kangaroo pet food program.

“Without reservation, I support the Australian groups fighting to save the Kangaroo. The killing is a disgrace, cruel and entirely profit motivated. The Kangaroo is one of Australia’s original inhabitants, deserving both respect and compassion”. Sir Paul McCartney for AWPC

Following the terrible fires and their impact on wildlife populations, the Victorian Government’s response to stopping the mass killing of native wildlife is currently as follows:

“DEECA considers the types, scale and impact of emergency events on the environment and Grey Kangaroo populations before making decisions on changes to the Kangaroo Harvest Program quota. DEECA assessed the fire footprint which includes areas of the Grampians and Barwon South West ‘harvest’ zones, to date around 3 per cent of the total area of this these ‘harvest’ zones has been impacted by the fire. No changes to the Kangaroo Harvest Program quota are being made at this time”.

So what has actually occurred here?

The impact on populations of numerous native species has been significant, given we are talking about two National Parks which were biologically diverse. The majority of private land surrounding these National Parks is not biologically diverse. These are mostly agricultural landscapes with sheep and cropping. There are very few Kangaroos and Wallabies in these landscapes which we know so well. So of all species, the impact on Kangaroo and Wallaby species, that is Western and Eastern Grey Kangaroos in particular, and Swamp and Red-necked Wallabies, has been most severe, even as commercial shooting of Kangaroos has continued in the west of Victoria. It is therefore not correct to equate land area with population density, so the 3 per cent claimed by the Victorian Government is not correct and likely to be far greater in terms of the fires’ impact on total populations.

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This is really something you do not want in your own backyard

As Kangaroo populations are removed, region by region, the commercial Kangaroo shooters work ever closer to where people live and work and that is often where the remaining Kangaroo populations are. It took a huge effort to get the shooters out of Melbourne and that it was occurring there in the first place is astounding.

Words of wisdom

"The Outback conditions under which Kangaroos are shot are hardly testimony to physical cleanliness, their bodies being dragged through the bush to be hung from hooks on the back of trucks, there to remain exposed for hours until the shooter fulfils his nightly quota before they are delivered for refrigeration. Endemic cruelty to the joeys negates any claim to moral cleanliness. Nor do adult Kangaroos escape incidental cruelty, not always killed by the clean headshot described in the code of practise. They die slowly, and are possibly carved up and hung in the shooters haste to move on while still alive”. Rheya Linden, Kangaroo Myths and Realities, AWPC, 2005

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Damage to tourism related businesses

Again, and astoundingly, the shooters have rights, and the property and business owners adjoining the places where Kangaroos are being shot, do not. It is not possible to run a business with guests from overseas or interstate when shooters are operating unannounced during the night and in close (sometimes very close) proximity. Gun shots, spotlights and butchering are the tools of trade. It is dangerous indeed. The horror that awaits in the morning is hard to describe.

“If commercial harvesting were a sustainable and profitable industry, it would already be a significant contributor to Australia's gross national product. It is not”. Mark G. Cairns, Kangaroos, Myths and Realities, AWPC, 2005

The historical record, which is not hard to check, supports John Auty’s comments below. The only thing that has changed is that Kangaroo populations Australia wide are a great deal lower in 2025, than they were in 2005.

“The conventional wisdom is that Kangaroo numbers have increased in Australia since European settlement due to cessation of predation by Aborigines and dingoes as well as increased availability of water. The historical record shows that at the time of first European contact the Kangaroo was numerous and abundant over the continent and Tasmania… It seems probable that, at the time of settlement, Kangaroo numbers exceeded the present population at least threefold”. John Auty, Kangaroos, Myths and Realities, AWPC, 2005

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We are not safe in our homes.

By refusing to stop the commercial exploitation of Kangaroos in proximity to local businesses, the Victorian Government fails to understand the impact on the local economy and on our businesses.

Yoga retreat co-owner, Frank Jesse says:

“We have been through a terrible period for regional businesses. Climate disasters, COVID and on top of this, now we have Kangaroo shooters killing and butchering wildlife on our doorstep. How the hell are we supposed to run out business under these catastrophic and compounding circumstances?”

Ecologist, Craig Thomson says:

“To set a narrative that dismisses the impacts of natural disasters on protected fauna beyond regional borders, brings forward a new and dangerous ideology of human induced climate change denial”.

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