Two species of Kangaroo are currently killed for commercial gain in Victoria, the Eastern Grey Kangaroo and the Western Grey Kangaroo.

"We know that Kangaroos are coming in and putting some extra pressure on pastures. We've got to do it humanely, we've got to look at how it can be done through non-lethal control mechanisms, but it's got to be done.” Jacinta Allan, Premier of Victoria

The quarter two 2025 report shows that the commercial quota for the period was not met by a very long way. So yet again a lot of huff and puff from the politicians and media for absolutely no purpose other than to extract even more money from an irresponsible state government to kill even more Australian wildlife. Remember that commercial exploitation of Kangaroos is just one mechanism by which Kangaroos can be killed.

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Here is what the Q2 report tells us

The commercial quota for Kangaroos in Victoria for Q2 – 2025 was 29,050. The actual take reported for the period was 13,886, that is just 48 per cent of the quota for the period. The Q1 actual was 18,311 out of a quota of 37,950.

As per the headline data the actual commercial take in Victoria for the first six months of 2025 was 32,197 against an original quota for the period of 67,000, that is 48 per cent of quota was achieved in the period. Including dependent young which are discarded, a total of 43,457 Kangaroos were killed in the period as a result of commercial exploitation.

There were 105 shooter allocations across the five shooting zones (note that commercial Kangaroo shooters can and do operate in more than one zone).  There are currently (in Q2) 140 licensed commercial Kangaroo shooters in the state (was 133 in Q1 - 2025). As a rough estimate the average income value for each licensed shooter in Q2 was $3,937 (based on harvest  return data).

“From April to June (inclusive) 2025, 24,820 tags were allocated across the state which equates to 71 per cent of the 34,700 tags available for Q 2. Of the tags that have been allocated, 13,886 tags have been consumed (56 per cent) were consumed in Q 2”. Victorian Government

94 Western Grey Kangaroos were killed in the period for commercial gain, of which 86 were from the Grampians fire impacted shooting zone and this species is now threatened by complete eradication in the state and should be immediately removed from the commercial list in Victoria.

6, 817 female Kangaroos were killed for commercial gain in Q2 (was 6,309 in Q1) and as a result (in Q2) 5,896 dependent young were either beaten to death, decapitated or left to die of starvation or predation (was 5,364 in Q1). In the first six months dependent young which are discarded, accounted for a staggering 26 per cent of all Kangaroos killed in the period. This is not and cannot be sustainable.

The share of mature females killed in Q2 2025 was a staggering 49 per cent and higher than Q1 when the share was 34 per cent. After years of detailed research across the continent in all states where commercial exploitation of Kangaroos occurs, this is the highest female share of take I have seen from any data analysed.

By shooting zone this is what happened in Q2 and compared to Q1 based on monthly consumption figures (note includes available tags not allocated in quota 1) (note total monthly consumption figures may vary from the previous published quarterly reports due to data upload times and reconciliation) (note in the Q2 data there is a significant difference between the actual number reported as the headline figure and the monthly returns – not sure why but it looks like the dependent young are included in the monthly return data. This would mean that the shooter income calculations that follow would be significantly lower than reported here).

Gippsland

• Q2 quota 3,500 / actual 2,088    
• Q1 quota 4,500 / actual 1,851

Hume

• Q2 quota 15,100 / actual 5,440
• Q1 quota 14,000 / actual 4,779

Loddon-Mallee

• Q2 quota 7,550 / actual 4,902
• Q1 quota 9,000 / actual 4,865

Grampians

• Q2 quota 6,050 / actual 5,119
• Q1 quota 6,950 / actual 4,399

Barwon South West

• Q2 quota 2,500 / actual 2,137
• Q1 quota 3,500 / actual 2,417

Largest shortfall against quota in the period of 9,660 animals in Q2, at just 36 percent of quota, was in the Hume shooting zone, which also had the highest actual take in Q2 of any of the 5 shooting zones at 5,440. This is a zone where agitation from politicians and the media to kill even more Kangaroos and more easily, seems hollow at best.

Gross economic value estimates by shooting zone in the period (Q2) in Victoria (constrained to national value as published in the Commonwealth Government Gazette)

• Gippsland – $58,464 (average value per allocated shooter to zone at $3,077)
• Hume – $152,320 (average value per allocated shooter to zone at $5,641)
• Loddon-Mallee – $137,256 (average value per allocated shooter to zone at $8,073)
• Grampians – $143,332 (average value per allocated shooter to zone at $6,232)
• Barwon South West – $59,836 (average value per allocated shooter to zone at $3,149)
• Lowest average income before cost per shooter is in the Gippsland and Barwon West shooting zones.

Estimated total gross economic value Q2 - 2025 Victoria from actual share of quota achieved from monthly returns table –  $551,208 (was $ 512,708 in Q2).

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Female Kangaroos with obvious young: Victorian Government conditions

Conditions of Authorisation under section 28A of the Wildlife Act 1975, to hunt, take, destroy, possess, dispose of and sell Eastern Grey Kangaroos and Western Grey Kangaroos in accordance with the approved Victorian Kangaroo Harvest Management Plan 2021-2023.

The conditions required to comply with an authorisation issued under section 28A of the Wildlife Act 1975, to hunt, take, destroy, possess, dispose of and sell Eastern Grey Kangaroos and Western Grey Kangaroos in accordance with the approved Victorian Kangaroo Harvest Management Plan 2021-2023.

Number 7 of 22 conditions states: Kangaroos with obvious dependent young must not be shot.

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