April 2018: 

Following pressure from wildlife groups and the public, the Victorian government has been forced to admit that the introduction of the commercial kangaroo industry into Victoria under the Kangaroo Pet Food Trial has led to a dramatic increase in the number of kangaroos being slaughtered for profit across Victoria.

In a statement on their website, the government reluctantly admits:
“The evaluation highlighted some key risks associated with introducing a financial incentive into the ATCW system. Numbers of kangaroos approved for control have risen sharply in trial areas. While there may be several contributing factors, a comparison of the increase in trial and non-trial areas shows that the trial is likely to be the primary cause of the increase. The current design also presents some limitations with monitoring, regulation and compliance”.

This is despite the Andrew’s government consistently misleading the public by saying that no more kangaroos will be killed under the trial (The Age, Feb 2016, The Standard, August 2017), while their own data exposes consistent and dramatic increases of up to 300% in the number of kangaroos authorised to be killed by the Andrew’s government since the trial began, and which the government now admits is directly related to the Pet Food Trial and the financial incentive for the kangaroo meat and skins industry.

Nikki Sutterby, President of Australian Society for Kangaroos said in a statement today: “Victorian government data has revealed that prior to 2014, an average of 51,000 kangaroos were authorised to be killed by landholders in Victoria each year, however in 2017, four years after the kangaroo meat and skins industry entered Victoria, 189,100 Western Grey, Eastern Grey and Red Kangaroos were authorised to be killed, which amounts to a 300% increase in the number of kangaroos being killed in Victoria each year at the hands of the Andrew’s government and the kangaroo meat and skins industry’”

“This same government data revealed that since the Andrew’s government came to power, the number of permits issued to kill Victorian native wildlife has skyrocketed from an average 91,000 animals per year prior to 2015, to a whopping 244,303 native animals authorised to be killed under the Andrew’s government in 2017’. This is a massive increase in the slaughter and suffering of our iconic kangaroos and native animals in Victoria and is of great concern in regard to their welfare and conservation, particularly considering none of these permits are supervised at the point of kill”, said Ms Sutterby.

Please find links to relevant info below:
• Wildlife Victoria Government GovAu – Kangaroo Harvesting Program
• The Age National Victoria – Victorian Kangaroo Pet Food Trial Set to be Widened – Published February 2016
• Standard.net.au – Call to extend Kangaroo Pet Food Trial – August 2017
• Bendigo Advertiser – Kangaroo Pet Food Trial Extended – April 2018
• The Age – National Victoria – Dog Meat Scheme sees Shooters take out more kangaroos in Victorias Culling Fields – March 2016