General News
23 January, 2023
Hunters welcome quota lift
KANGAROO hunters have seen their harvesting quota in the lower Wimmera zone increase 70 per cent. The higher quota for the zone, that includes the Loddon Shire, comes after no new tags were issued to shooters in the final months of 2022. This year’s...
KANGAROO hunters have seen their harvesting quota in the lower Wimmera zone increase 70 per cent.
The higher quota for the zone, that includes the Loddon Shire, comes after no new tags were issued to shooters in the final months of 2022.
This year’s quota numbers for Victoria’s six zones were released on Christmas.
Loddon hunter Glen Cole said the allocation of 41,000 for the lower Wimmera zone in 2023 was a massive improvement for the harvest industry.
The total quota for Victoria is 166,750.
“The October floods have made no difference to kangaroo populations in our part of Victoria,” Mr Cole.
Victorian Kangaroo Alliance has criticised the State Government’s decision to continue kangaroo harvesting.
Alliance supporters campaigned against a proposed kangaroo pet meat processing plant at Inglewood last year.
Loddon Shire Council rejected the application from Campaspe Meats on a planning technicality.
Alliance president Alyssa Wormald said: “We were appalled but unsurprised that Victorian Labor once again dug the knife into the wildlife community over the holidays when they know hard-working wildlife volunteers were trying to get a much-needed break.”
“The claim that kangaroo numbers are increasing is completely incongruous with reports we receive from across the state,” she said.
“Residents are reporting dwindling numbers and despite commercial shooters soliciting desperately across the state for kangaroos to kill, they have again not come close to filling their quota.
“We have absolutely no faith in government figures and are calling for an urgent inquiry into the treatment of kangaroos in Victoria and the impact the slaughter is having on residents, wildlife volunteers and indigenous people.
“Ultimately we need a royal commission to independently analyse this nightmarish wildlife trade across the nation as the state and federal governments are openly in cahoots with the kangaroo industry.”
The Government says its kangaroo harvesting quota is based on each zone’s estimated population. “Zones with a higher proportion of Victoria’s kangaroo population will generally have a higher quota,” it says.
The initial quota for 2022 was 127,850, however, it was later cut to 118,980 with a hold on harvesting in the lower Wimmera and north-east zones.