Agriculture
31 July, 2023
Kangaroos will still be harvested, letter writer
Sir, The decision of the Mount Alexander Shire Council to ask the State Government to stop the commercial harvesting of kangaroo’s for commercial purposes will not decrease the numbers of kangaroos shot within the state. The kangaroos that would...
Sir, The decision of the Mount Alexander Shire Council to ask the State Government to stop the commercial harvesting of kangaroo’s for commercial purposes will not decrease the numbers of kangaroos shot within the state.
The kangaroos that would have been taken by the professionals will be shot under the ATCW (authority to control wildlife) system.
The landholders who control kangaroos under ATCWs do not have to have any training, don’t adhere to the National Code of Practice for Humane Shooting of Kangaroos and Wallabies for Non-Commercial purposes.
Shooters come out of town to assist landholders to control kangaroos, they do not shoot the kangaroos in the head for a clean kill, they use inappropriate firearms, don’t care if the animals are dead or check for joeys.
Professional harvesters have to do training before obtaining a harvest licence, know the code of practice for commercial purposes, have to check for joeys with in three minutes and destroy any joeys as per code of practice.
As for a councillor’s comment, there were 65,000 kangaroos earmarked to be harvested in the shire. That is totally incorrect, There are 65100 kangaroos allowed to be harvested by the commercial industry in the central zone, which Mount Alexander shire is in. There are 13 shires in the central zone, including Loddon, so most likely there would be approximately 5000 (65, 100 divided by 13) harvested in the Mount Alexander Shire.
The reason the commercial harvest began, was to utilise the carcasses that were being shot under the ATCW system.
In 2014, a kangaroo pet food trial started in eight local government areas, then in 2016 expanded to 12 local government areas. Then in March 2019 the State Government announced that a commercial harvest would begin in September of 2019.
Having professional harvesters doing the shooting is by far more preferable to inexperienced or untrained shooters controlling kangaroo numbers.
Glenn Cole
Newbridge