In September 2016, ASK called on the West Australian government to place an immediate moratorium on the commercial, non-commercial and open season slaughter of kangaroos in Western Australia as the state’s Red and Western Grey Kangaroos crashed below critical densities across most of the state. According to regional data provided by the Department of Parks and Wildlife, Red Kangaroos and Western Grey kangaroos are at catastrophic densities of less than one kangaroo per square km across most of Western Australia, putting the iconic marsupials at significant risk of local, regional and potentially state wide extinction if the large scale shooting of kangaroos is not suspended immediately. ABC radio picked up our media release and produced a fair and informative broadcast and online report detailing our concerns. Unfortunately our concerns were not taken seriously and we received a battering from West Australian farmers and shooters during the talk back program, but the government was forced to respond to our call in which they said:

“When red kangaroo densities are estimated to be above 0.28 kangaroos per square kilometre and western grey kangaroo densities are estimated to be above 0.10 kangaroos per square kilometre, they are deemed abundant enough to sustain a commercial harvest,” the spokeswoman said. “As such, recommendations for kangaroo densities in the Murray-Darling report are not relevant to WA.”

We sincerely thank our members and supporters for taking the time to write to the WA government and for taking up this pressing issue affecting our dwindling kangaroos in WA and right across Australia. Hopefully action is taken by our government before it’s too late for our unique and ancient kangaroos.

You can read/listen to the full report at the news link below:

• ABC News Australia – Call for roo cull ban draws criticism in WA – 25 August 2016