Victoria’s Corrupt Industry
A damning report into the Victorian Kangaroo Pet Food Trial that the Andrew’s government didn’t want released, has exposed fraud, corruption, illegal activity, over shooting, and a totally unregulated, unsupervised profit driven kangaroo meat and skins industry that has contributed to the loss of nearly half of Victoria’s kangaroos.
The Victorian government report titled ‘Kangaroo Pet Food Trial Evaluation-Summary Report’, found a range of disturbing activities operating within the kangaroo meat and skins industry under the Kangaroo Pet Food Trial in Victoria since it began in 2014 which has led to the slaughter of nearly one million kangaroos in Victoria.
Some of the disturbing findings of the report include:
• Since the trial began there’s been a 250% increase in the number kangaroos killed in Victoria.
• Shooters are influencing the number of kangaroos landholders are requesting to be killed.
• Shooters and landholders are exaggerating the scale of the kangaroo problem or suggesting landholders apply for larger numbers than necessary.
* Many permit holders are new to the system which is due to shooters encouraging landholders to apply for authorisations, providing incentives for them and even actively filling in their application forms for them.
* A greater concern is the apparent assumption by processors and shooters that they should be able to access a consistent/increasing number of kangaroos, and in a way that maximises their profits.
* Shooters are leaving “unsuitable” carcasses including small females or incorrectly shot carcasses and taking another kangaroo, therefore overshooting to make it worth their while.
* Shooters are complaining about the government not issuing permits for enough kangaroos.
* Processors are indicating frustration with not knowing when or how many carcasses might be coming for processing.
Key offences since trial began.
• Mis-allocation of kangaroos against KPFT authorisations.
• Overshooting number authorised.
• Shooters providing incentives to landholders for access to kangaroos (illegal).
• Landholders providing false and misleading information on application forms eg damage claimed, higher number kangaroos on properties.
• There is one case where prosecution is being pursued.
Issues affecting monitoring and enforcement.
• Shooting occurs at night so field officers limited.
• Location and identity of shooters working unknown as they’re not regulated by DELPW or Primesafe.
Concerns expressed in the government report were as follows:
• This may compromise the aim of reducing waste and put at risk sustainability of kangaroos in future years if an expectation of steady supply of carcasses created.
• Current design and compliance arrangements are insufficient to manage the risks from the trial.
• Costs associated with running the trial outweigh the benefits of the trial.
• Costs of trial outweighed benefits with each tax payer dollar spending providing benefits to processors and landholders worth only .65c
• Classified as high risk due to firearms which requires support from police which increases resources and logistical constraints.
• Because the way ACTWs are assessed and issued, very few applications for ACTWs are refused.
• Efforts of wildlife officers have almost entirely been dedicated to assessing applications and investigation of illegal activity.
• Employment/income benefits = 15-30 EFT jobs for shooters and jobs in processing plants.
The Australian Society for Kangaroos is extremely concerned about the conservation and welfare of kangaroos in Victoria
As the killing continues in Victoria, and after receiving the raw population data from the Victorian government, it shows kangaroos have largely been eradicated from agricultural and developed areas in Victoria, with only small populations remaining in national parks and remnant forested areas. If you consider that more than one million kangaroos have already been slaughtered in Victoria since the trial began in 2014, and that there were only 1.4 million kangaroos left in 2017, more than half of Victoria’s kangaroos have been wiped out since the trial began.
This means that a large proportion of Victoria’s kangaroos have been shot and turned into pet food or sent overseas to be made into sports shoes and leather accessories. Hundreds of thousands of little joeys have also been brutally killed or orphaned as a result of this industry in Victoria. A government report published in 2014 found evidence of horrific cruelty to orphaned baby joeys by the kangaroo meat and skins industry. During this study, government researchers observed professional shooters swinging pouch joeys by their hind legs while bashing them with iron bars, bashing them against utility racks, stomping on their heads, and decapitating them without stunning, with shooters rarely checking if the joey was dead before throwing them in the dirt. It revealed 99% of dependent out of pouch joeys are abandoned by professional shooters after they shoot their mother, leaving thousands of orphaned baby kangaroos to die alone every year from starvation, stress, exposure and predation (Sharp & McLeod,2014).
The RSPCA has also repeatedly expressed concern about the treatment of orphaned joeys by the kangaroo industry (RSPCA,2002,2018). This industry has been exposed for what it is; barbaric, unsustainable, illegal and cruel, and we are calling on the Andrew’s government to put an end to this industry in Victoria immediately.
Despite many of us fighting for the lives of Victoria’s kangaroos by writing to government, councils and talking repeatedly in the media, and despite the government’s own internal executive report exposing widespread corruption, crime, cruelty, fraud and unsustainability, the Victorian state government has now officially opened up the commercial kangaroo industry in Victoria. There are many disturbing aspects of this plan which stand out, one of which appears to be that shooters are not able to be prosecuted for cruelty under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, and can only be found to have breached the conditions of their permit and the Code of Practice.
The penalties for these breaches are not clear. The responsibility for governance under the Plan including both the administrative and regulatory responsibility has been allocated across 5 government departments and agencies. This raises serious issues about accountability in relation to the decision making and exercise of the regulatory functions under the Plan. The Victorian government department responsible for protecting our wildlife, the Department of Environment Energy and Climate Action has delegated it’s powers to administer the Kangaroo Management Plan to an online service administered by Service Victoria. Service Victoria which only came into being in 2018 describes itself as a “team of customer service, user experience and data experts” that was created to deliver “digital projects” to make using government services easier. It has no relevant experience in kangaroo or wildlife management. Service Victoria will act as the agent in performing the following functions:
• Issuing authorisations to landholders;
• Monitoring harvest quotas;
• Linking landholders with shooters via an online system
It is unclear if the authorisations referred to here are ATCW permits. If it is the case that these authorisations are in fact ATCW permits, it is unclear whether Service Victoria officers will have the same legal authority as wildlife officers to assess applications and issue any authorisation or licence under the Wildlife Act. It is also unclear how Service Victoria will verify, assess and process applications or apply the same criteria and scrutiny, including inspections, if needed, as are applied to ATCW permits outside the Plan.
The government’s environment department has delegated its decision-making powers under the Wildlife Act to “senior officers” of the Game Managment Authority. The GMA is an independent statutory body that is responsible for the regulation of game hunting and pest management in Victoria. Evidence of the extent of the GMA’s incompetence and failure to act were exposed in 2018 when a Pegasus Economics report into the GMA’s compliance and enforcement concluded that:
• The regulation of duck shooting in Victoria is ineffective;
• Non-compliant behaviours and unsanctioned breaches of hunting laws are widespread and commonplace;
• Hunting laws in Victoria are impossible to effectively enforce;
• The current licensing regime is ineffective in ensuring a minimum acceptable level of awareness and competence amongst hunters;
• GMA is conflicted in its role as a promoter and regulator of hunting and has a ‘too comfortable’ relationship with hunting organisations;
• GMA has not been able to effectively deliver its compliance and enforcement responsibilities.
If you live in Victoria, please contact Premier Allen and tell him you oppose this horrific trial and why.
Please feel free to use any of the information above. Thank you!!
Office of the Premier
1 Treasury Place
Melbourne, Victoria
Australia, 3002
03 9651 5000
http://www.premier.vic.gov.au/contact-us
You can listen to some of the radio interviews ASK did on this issue at the news links below:
https://www.3aw.com.au/we-need-to-be-very-careful-with-kangaroo-population/https://midlandexpress.com.au/latest-news/2021/09/14/wildlife-advocates-fight-proposed-kangaroo-processing-plant/
And you can view just some of the media reports about this brutal industry now operating in Victoria at the news links below:
• Kangaroo pet food trial leaves one million dead as report casts harsh light on Victorian plan – March 2019
• Kangaroo pet food culling program to remain in Victoria, but red tape has farmers concerned – October 2019
• Kangaroo pet food trial: one million animals killed and fraud and bribery alleged– March 2019
• Victorian Farmers Federation call for commercialisation of the trial while wildlife activists hope it ends – February 2018
• Kangaroo Harvesting for pet food made permanent in Victoria – October 2019
• Animal group condemns plan for kangaroo ‘open season’ in Victoria – September 2015
• Victorian kangaroo pet food trial extended – April 2018
• Animal group condemns plan for kangaroo open season in Victoria – September 2015
• Open season on kangaroos in Victoria – March 2014
