Victoria – protected wildlife is killed legally via a series of instruments

Around 100 Australian species are on the kill list in Victoria with the government targeting around 1.2 million native animals this year alone through its various policies.

Our research shows that Victoria, all states and territories are bad, has had the worst decline in governance standards in the last decade and a significant upturn in the breadth and scale of killing. Kangaroos and birdlife are in the front line of the killing. Climate change and climate related disasters at vast scale have not moderated the killing.

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Numbers provided

• Recreation –  Duck and Stubble Quail (estimates from surveys);
• Commercial – Grey Kangaroos (Western and Eastern Greys) since 2014 (tags are used on carcasses); and
• Authorities to control wildlife (we know how many permits were issued and how many animals were targeted but we don’t know, nor does the Victorian Government, know what actually happened – shocking and irresponsible).

Unaccounted

• Unprotection – Dingoes and some Parrot species for example. Bare-nosed Wombats were unprotected in half the state until fairly recently. Under section 7A of the Wildlife Act, the Minister can recommend to the Governor in Council to declare a species of wildlife unprotected in a specified area;
• Secretive killing –  under Ministerial approvals – Koalas for example;
• Unauthorised killing and smuggling;
• Indiscriminate use of poisons such as Pindone and 1080 at scale. 1080 baits may be dropped from Helicopters and Kangaroo meat is sometimes used as the vector; and
• Extensive hazard reduction burns that take little or no account of biodiversity.

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Koalas – Budj Bim, Victoria, latest scandal

Confirmation that 600-700 Koalas in Victoria, perhaps more, are being shot from helicopters and by the state’s environment department is no longer a surprise. In the final analysis, including joeys, we think total kill will be 1,300.

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Biggest diversity of species targeted is through Authorities to Control Wildlife

• The number of protected Australian species targeted for lethal control in Victoria in 2024 was 54 (was 57 in 2023);
• The total number of permits issued for lethal control in Victoria in 2024 was 3,558 (was 2,482 in 2023);
• The total number of protected Australian animals targeted for lethal control in Victoria in 2024 was 177,573 (was 119,367 in 2023), of this number 43,838 (25 per cent) were protected Australian birds; and
• For non-lethal control, 46 (was 81 in 2023) permits were issued to ‘move on’ 15,609 (was 15,847 in 2023) protected Australian native animals covering  24 (was 39 in 2023) protected Australian species. That is just 1.3 per cent of ATCW permits issued in 2024 were for non-lethal control.

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Most targeted species for lethal control in Victoria since 2009-2023

• Eastern Grey Kangaroo – 1,243,711 (68,104) + (does not include killing for commercial gain);
• Silver Gull – 112,130 (12,445);
• Western Grey Kangaroo – 88,898 (6,346) + (does not include killing for commercial gain);
• Red Kangaroo – 83,159 (6,780);
• Long-billed Corella – 68,373 (1,485);
• Little Corella – 50,355 (1,325);
• Maned (Wood) Duck – 49,544 (3,128) + (does not include mass killing for ‘recreation’);
• Sulphur Crested Cockatoo – 42,495 (926);
• Rose-breasted Cockatoo (Galah) – 42,054 (608);
• Australian Raven – 37,120 (2,354);
• Bare-nosed Wombat – 37,091 (1,902);
• Swamp or Black Wallaby – 23,834 (1,456);
• Musk Lorikeet – 23,145 (1,120);
• Rainbow Lorikeet – 15,486 (1,161);
• Emu Dromaius – 13,131 (557); and
• Red-necked (Bennett’s) Wallaby – 9,316 (370).

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What's new?

A number of new Australian species (not present in the list since 2009) enter the list of ATCW species to be killed or ‘moved on' in 2022-2024. These are:

• Australasian Gannet (L) (added 2022);
• Australasian Pipit (NL);
• Banded Lapwing (L) (added 2022);
• Cattle Egret (L) (added 2022);
• Crested Pigeon (NL);
• Little Lorikeet (L);
• Pied Cormorant (L);
• Red Rump-tailed Parrot (NL); and
• Little Wattlebird (L).

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ATCWs compared

The Victorian Labor Government was elected in November 2014 and has increased the number of animals killed across a range of mechanisms. The Labor tally in relation to ATCWs in the years 2015 – 2018 totals 16,010 ATCW permits covering 844,625 animals. In the previous four-year period the Liberal- National Coalition Government in Victoria issued 11,146 ATCW permits covering 461,593 animals, 54 per cent of the Labor total.

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Grey-headed Flying Foxes

As we write this story our little camp of Grey-headed Flying Foxes in the Melbourne Botanic Gardens is being moved on. Nothing and nowhere is safe for Australian wildlife in Victoria. While they do not shoot Flying Foxes in Victoria at this time, frightening these animals in the hope they will go away has an impact on the pups, some may not survive. Non-lethal ATCWs are being used. The Flying Foxes are now ‘moved on’ by the use low frequency noise and lights. We suspect the reason they decided to act now is that yet another set of disturbances for wildlife in the Melbourne Botanical Gardens is about to commence, that is Lightscape 2025.

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Capture of public land

Capture of public land occurs because of use of ATCWs on public land – National Parks are closed when mass kills of wildlife occur and for recreation, it is very dangerous to go to wetlands where duck shooting is taking place. Shooters hold all the cards in Victoria, the general public, including property owners have no rights to stop the killing, which can have a huge impact on peoples’ amenity and wellbeing.

Capture includes internationally acclaimed wetlands in Victoria which have been given Ramsar status. Victoria has 12 Ramsar sites (signed Ramsar, Iran, 1971), the latest to be gazetted as a Wetland of International Significance (August 2018) was the Glenelg Estuary and Discovery Bay, Glenelg Ramsar. The Convention on Wetlands is the intergovernmental treaty that provides the framework for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources. Birdlife shooting on mass occurs on 8 of the 12 Victorian Ramsar sites where all birdlife should be safe, as well on around 4,000 other waterbodies.

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Kangaroos

The number of Kangaroos to be killed in Victoria in 2025 (excludes joeys) are:

• 117,600 for commercial gain comprised 104,150 Eastern Grey Kangaroos and 13,450 Western Grey Kangaroos. This compares to a commercial quota in 2024 of 155,650 Grey Kangaroos;
• 90,200 Grey Kangaroos to be shot using ATCW permits, comprising 84,550 Eastern Grey Kangaroos and 7,650 Western Grey Kangaroos. This compares to the ATCW quota in 2024 of 80,700; and
• TOTAL 207,800 comprised 21,100 Western Grey Kangaroos and 186,700 Eastern Grey Kangaroos.

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Actual take against commercial quota (SHORTFALL against quota – number of Kangaroos):

• 2023 – 94,518;
• 2022 – 59,504;
• 2021 – 33,446;
• 2020 – 11,836; and
• 2019 – 6,255.

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Ducks

Following its own inquiry into duck shooting which recommended duck shooting should be banned as in NSW, QLD and WA, the Victorian Government announced that the 2025 duck season will open at 8:00am on Wednesday, 19 March 2025 and close 30 minutes after sunset on Sunday, 9 June 2025.

• The hunting start time is 8:00am until 30 minutes after sunset for the first five days, then from 30 minutes before sunrise until 30 minutes after sunset for the remainder of the season;
• The daily bag limit is nine ducks per day per shooter;
• 7 duck species can be hunted. These are the Pacific Black Duck, Mountain Duck, Pink-eared Duck, Wood Duck, Hardhead, Chestnut Teal and Grey Teal;
• 1 protected species not permitted for duck hunting in 2025 is the Blue-winged Shoveler; and
• Number killed in 2024: 391,900.

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Stubble Quail

Shooting commences on the first Saturday of April and closes on the last day of June, each year. Hunting is permitted from 30 minutes before sunrise until 30 minutes after sunset throughout the season.

• Bag limit: Maximum 20 birds per day per shooter; and
• Number killed in 2024: 457,399.

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Blocking of wildlife rescues from public land in Victoria

The Victorian Government began blocking wildlife rescues by experienced volunteers from public land in Victoria in 2018. The world raised vast sums to rescue and rehabilitate wildlife ($200 million plus) following the devastating bushfires in the southeast of Australia in the summer of 2019-2020. In Victoria fewer than 300 native animals were rescued from public land after those fires, most were Koalas, the easiest of all to rescue.

Given the terrible treatment dished out to wildlife carers in Victoria by its government, including blocking rescues, the endless roadblocks and spin, various forms of harassment and a disregard for the contribution the carers make the number of ‘registered carers in Victoria has declined significantly since those terrible fires in the summer of 2019-2020 to 172 (falling from 449). The decline a direct result from the stress caused by Victorian Government strategies to control wildlife rescues and to kill as many animals as possible that could be saved, by claiming they are overabundant. The distress caused can be overwhelming.

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Entitlement, enablement and enforcement

The more they get away with, the more extreme the treatment of Australian wildlife and the people who care. The codes of silence in Australia (and Victoria) are not the friends of law, justice, nor democracy.

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