August 2017:

Australian Society for Kangaroos activists have interrupted a major kangaroo cull at the Epping market near Melbourne last night after receiving a tip off from a distressed caller who phoned on Friday evening to report the kill.

The Victorian Department of Environment, Water, Land and Planning had just started shooting hundreds of kangaroos and their young at the Cooper St site at Epping last night when activists swooped on the scene forcing shooting to be suspended. The anonymous caller who blew the lid on the secret kill was crying in distress when reporting that DEWLP and Victoria police were set up inside and were about to kill hundreds of kangaroos at the Epping Market.

After shots were fired around 7pm activists immediately moved in while police desperately tried to contain them, but some activists remained undercover inside forcing the shooting to be suspended for the evening. Wildlife volunteers on the scene offered to rescue orphaned joeys from the cull but were told by police there wouldn’t be any left and that the shooters would deal with them all.

The activists, many of whom were wildlife rescuers and carers, also frantically tried to save distressed kangaroos who had escaped the site and fled onto nearby roads including the busy Cooper St in Epping. Activists also filmed a convoy of shooters, government officers and a large truck carrying what appeared to be a refrigerated container leaving the scene during the evening.