The 2025 'Kangaroo management operations' in the ACT ‘nature’ park system commenced on 10 June 2025 and ended 31 July 2025.

Sixteen reserves were closed during this time and 2,978 adult Kangaroos were killed. Ratio of females to males killed in 2025 was significantly higher than in previous years. Of these and in total 1,149 adult Kangaroos and 536 joeys were killed in the East Jerrabomberra Kangaroo Management Unit West Jerrabomberra Kangaroo Management Unit.

The rate of killing and its composition are completely unsustainable and Kangaroo species in Australia do NOT damage the environment to which they are adapted. While the mass killing is completely shocking and devastatingly cruel, the bizarre nature of all of this is that the ACT Greens have been a persistent driver, enabler and promoter of the killing. We can conclude that Kangaroos, like in so many other parts of Australia, have  no future in the ACT. They deserve a great deal better than to have their meat used as the vector for 1080 poison to kill yet more animals so indiscriminately, including, although governments like to pretend not, numerous Australian species.

“Carcass use: Where possible, carcasses, or parts thereof, are made available for Indigenous cultural use. A proportion of the Kangaroo meat is processed into baits for use within the ACT Government wild dog and fox control programs. There are no commercial Kangaroo harvesting arrangements in the ACT. Given the relatively low number of Kangaroos being culled, and the high costs of establishing, administering and monitoring a commercial operation, it is currently not cost-effective for the ACT Government to enter the commercial industry”. ACT Government

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History in numbers

The killing of Kangaroos in Canberra’s public parks and reserves since 2015 (not including joeys to 2021) is as follows:

• 2015 Target 2,466 / Actual killed 1,689
• 2016 Target 1,991 / Actual killed 1,989
• 2017 Target 2,603 / Actual killed 2,592
• 2018 Target 3,550 / Actual killed 3,253
• 2019 Target 4,076 / Actual killed 4,035
• 2020 Target 1,958 / Actual killed 1,931
• 2021 Target 1,568 / Actual killed 1,505
• 2022 Target 1,650 / Actual killed 1,645 plus 608 joeys
• 2023 Target 1,042 / Actual killed 1,041 (533 were females) plus 362 joeys
• 2024 Target 1,336 / Actual killed 1,232 (657 were females) plus 438 joeys
• 2025 Target 2,981 / Actual killed 2,978 (1,733 were females) – plus 1,194 joeys

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The road to extermination

Ratio of females to males killed in 2025 was significantly higher than in previous years at 58 per cent. The ratio of joeys to females killed in 2025 (69 per cent) was higher than it was in 2024 (66.7 per cent).

Ratio of females to males slightly higher in 2024 (53.3 per cent were female) than it was in 2023 (51.2 per cent). Ratio of joeys to females killed in 2024 (66.7 per cent) was slightly lower than it was in 2023 (67.9 per cent). As a rough calculation we can estimate that 8,523 dependent joeys (in addition to the adults targeted as part of the ‘program’) were killed by the ACT Government in the period 2015 to 2025. The ACT Government likes to claim that the period chosen for their annual nature reserve Kangaroo killing program is at a time when fewer joeys will be caught up in the slaughter. This is not supported by the data that shows very large numbers of joeys are impacted.

In total 32,413 Kangaroos, including joeys, have been killed in the ACT's 'nature' park system in the period 2015 to 2025.

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What the ATC Government had to say (from Jo Clay, Deputy leader Greens and animal welfare spokesperson to Peter Hylands, 12 June 2025)

Dear Peter

Thank you for writing to me about the kangaroo cull. It is a really difficult issue and one that I know is deeply upsetting for people.

For me, any question of animal management should be looked at in the context of the whole ecosystem and what is needed to best protect our environment. If evidence says that animal management is essential to protect our environment or other animals, then we have a duty to undertake that while meeting the best animal welfare standards we can.

Unfortunately, human impacts on our ecosystem, particularly from urban expansion, have seen our native grasslands isolated, fragmented and shrinking. Evidence shows that without management, grasslands and other species that rely on them are likely to be overgrazed and come under threat from dense kangaroo populations in urban reserves. Kangaroo management has been part of the ACT’s environmental management for some time. There is information about the ACT Government position on our website.

The kangaroo management plan was last independently reviewed by Professor Legge in 2024. Professor Legge found that kangaroo culling was justified for conservation, informed by a large body of research and upholds the highest animal welfare standards. The review made 34 recommendations for the new management plan, which I am committed to following closely.

I will continue to review all evidence around kangaroo management in the ACT as it arises and ensuring the ACT Government continues to improve the program in any way possible. I have written to the Environment Minister, Suzanne Orr, seeking assurance that all evidence shows that kangaroo culling is still necessary to manage our environment and if so, what actions are being taken to implement all recommendations from the independent review, including trialling and expanding other non-lethal kangaroo management strategies.

Ideally, our environment would be healthy and sustainably managed so that kangaroo culling was not necessary. Until then, we must also take other sensible steps to protect and improve our environment. This term in the ACT, the Greens have:

• secured a government commitment to set city limits and stop urban expansion from bulldozing our grasslands and bush;
• pushed for increased environmental funding;
• opposed development in the Ainslie Volcanics grasslands;
• opposed the road that risks sending the Canberra Earless Dragon extinct;
• secured Government approval to conduct education and reduce the use of astroturf;
• secured a fossil fuel sponsorship ban from our schools; and
• called for stronger nature protection laws nationally and no new coal and gas projects.

Please let me know any time if there are other campaigns and issues we should be looking at.

The ACT Greens have taken animal welfare steps to protect kangaroos. We led the campaign for GonaCon sterilisation, which is now in use in locations that are suitable, reducing the need for culling in some areas. We have supported external independent reviews of kangaroo management on an ongoing basis, and we will try to get recommendations implemented. I am also sponsoring an Assembly petition seeking a trial of virtual fencing along Erindale Drive to avoid the intense suffering and deaths resulting from wildlife-vehicle collisions. Reducing wildlife-vehicle collisions was one objective the Legge review found was not being met.

Thank you for writing to me about this issue and I hope this information is of some assistance.

Kind regards

Jo

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Comedy moment

“Canberra is often called the ‘bush capital’. Living in the ACT means living alongside many of Australia’s native animals and insects”. ACT Government, 1 August 2025

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And what about Wallabies?

It is not only Eastern Grey Kangaroos the ACT Government does not like. Wallabies are targeted for destruction and the Wallaroo gets caught up in the cross-fire of extermination.

“Though a larger number of macropod species are known or are thought to have occurred in the ACT in the past, only four species are now naturally present: the Eastern Grey Kangaroo (Macropus giganteus), Wallaroo (Macropus robustus), Red-necked Wallaby (Macropus rufogriseus), and Swamp Wallaby (Wallabia bicolor). ACT Government

“An ACT Government spokesperson told Yahoo News 252 Red-necked Wallabies and 68 Swamp Wallabies were killed at the Mulligans Flat sanctuary. Freedom of Information documents show 210 of them were culled in a single week in June (2024)”. Michael Dahlstrom, Yahoo News, 2 August 2024

And the killing of Wallabies continues.

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The strange tale of the Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby

I am not knocking what has just been achieved and well done to those involved. But let’s try and learn a lesson from this strange tale, told in just three quotes, two from the ACT Government and one from the ABC. .

Hard to get your head around? So why do you think they are on the edge of extinction?

“The Southern Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby was named the ACT’s mammal emblem in 2018.This endangered species, known for its agility and ability to live in rocky environments, is found in Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve”. 1 August 2025

“The Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby lives in rugged terrain, preferring areas with ledges, caves, and passageways where they can bask in the sun or hide in. They graze on nearby grass, forbs, and herbs. The species used to be widespread in the mountainous country of south-eastern Australia from southern Queensland to Victoria. The Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby may have recently become extinct in the wild in the ACT. It was last seen in 1959 at Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve”. ACT Government, 1 August 2025

“Six critically endangered wallabies have been bundled up in backpacks and flown from Victoria to the ACT in a novel mission to help save the species. There are estimated to be fewer than 60 southern Brush-tailed Rock-wallabies left in the wild”. The six wallabies will be quarantined for 30 days before being released into a breeding program at the ACT's Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve”. ABC News, 1 August 2025