Urgent plea to help flood-stricken kangaroos: 'Wet and exhausted'
Victorian authorities are being urged to halt commercial kangaroo shooting to aid wildlife rescuers already struggling to cope with the state’s flood crisis.
The plea follows a number of wildlife injuries and fatalities across the state, including the presumed drowning of an entire mob in the Macedon Ranges.
On Sunday, Wildlife Victoria took to social media to warn kangaroos in nearby Echuca were also impacted.
That same day, 70km northwest in Kialla, Bohollow Wildlife Shelter shared heartbreaking photos of an eastern grey kangaroo that was caught on a fence and then caked in mud from the flooding.
It issued an urgent plea for motorists to slow down to avoid hitting native animals fleeing Mooroopna and Shepparton, in the state’s north.
“Our wildlife is being pushed out by rising river and creek waters and roos in particular have nowhere to go but onto the roads and into the towns,” it said on Facebook.
"They are frightened, wet and exhausted. Please be considerate of their plight."
What's behind the call to halt kangaroo culling?
Calls to stop kangaroo shooting have been made to assist not only wildlife, and the hundreds of volunteers who care for it.
The Animal Justice Party’s Georgie Purcell said wildlife rescuers already regularly “clean up the mess of our state’s broken wildlife culling programs” and urged the Victorian government to give them a reprieve.
She has called on environment minister Lily D’Ambrosio to halt both the commercial kangaroo slaughter program and Authority to Control Wildlife permit system.
“The Victorian Government called a moratorium on commercial kangaroo slaughter during our devastating bushfires,” she said.
“They must do the same now, or our native animals may not recover.”
Before the flooding, the state’s environment department (DELWP) advised kangaroo culling programs in two “harvest zones” were already approaching their maximum kill quotas.
It said while the allowable 10 per cent cap on kangaroo culling hadn't been yet exceeded, no more permits would be issued "to ensure the ongoing sustainability of kangaroo populations in these areas".
The regions affected were the Lower Wimmera which had an estimated 427,700 kangaroos in 2020, and the North East harvest zone which had 239,850.
Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio has been contacted for comment.
Donations to assist Bohollow Wildlife Shelter can be made here.
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