Victoria: Number of Authorities to Control Wildlife (ATCWs) protected Australian species 2025 and cumulative since 2009
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“Since 2009, including 2025, the Victorian Government has issued 53,472 ATCWs for the lethal control of protected Australian wildlife, targeting 2,456,094 animals. In 2025 ATCW permits for lethal control targeted 230,673 protected Australia native animals".
CONTEXT: Kangaroos
For Western and Eastern Grey Kangaroos, the numbers here describe allocations that reverse the Victorian Government’s policy of shifting ATCW permits to commercial permits. This reversal of policy also occurred in 2024.
We should note that the Victorian Kangaroo killing system requires that commercial kills are accounted for and reported, ATCW kills, once the ATCW permits are issued, have no reporting requirement. So for ATCW permits issued, the Victorian Government does not have a clue about what actually happened. Failure to meet commercial quotas is very telling and describes hyper-inflated Victorian Government Kangaroo population estimates, so shifting more permits across to ATCWs means no one knows what actually happened.
The large number of ATCWs now being issued in Victoria for the Red Kangaroo and Western Grey Kangaroo further endanger the state’s populations of these species, driving them ever closer to extinction in the state.
Killer State: Authority to Control Wildlife Permits (ATCWs)
The Victorian Government does not track what occurs after ATCW permits are issued and therefore does not know how many animals were actually killed, either more or less. Nor does the Victorian Government track animal welfare standards in relation to ATCW permits.
We should understand that ATCWs are not the only mechanism by which protected Australian species can be killed in Victoria, other enabled Victorian Government killing mechanisms include unprotection, secretive killing by Ministerial order, commercial and recreation, in total government data shows that 1,158,000 protected Australian animals were killed (or targeted) in Victoria in 2024, more than in any other Australian state in that year.
As the number of protected Australian species and the number of animals being targeted year on year grows rapidly, absolutely no account has been taken of a series of government inquiries regarding the natural world and biodiversity at both Victorian Government State and Commonwealth Government level, and worse still, no account of the major and catastrophic climate related disasters in the state accounting for the death of several million native animals. The situation in Victoria regarding the mass killing of wildlife is now completely out of control.
Lethal permits to kill protected Australian species
In 2025 the Victorian Government issued 4,806 Authority to Control Wildlife Permits (ATCWs) for the lethal control of protected Australian species, this compares with 3,558 permits issued in 2024, 2,482 permits in 2023 and 2,428 permits in 2022. The number of permits issued for lethal control of protected Australian species in 2025 was double the number issued in 2022.
Since 2009, including 2025, the Victorian Government has issued 53,472 ATCWs for the lethal control of protected Australian wildlife.
Lethal permits to kill protected Australian species: Number of animals targeted
In 2025 ATCW permits for lethal control targeted 230,673 protected Australia native animals, in 2024, 177,573 protected Australia native animals were targeted, in 2023, 119,367 protected Australia native animals were targeted and in 2022, 90,301 protected Australia native animals were targeted. In 2025 the number of protected Australian animals targeted for lethal control was 2.5 times greater than in 2022.
Since 2009, including 2025, the Victorian Government has issued ATCWs for the lethal control of protected Australian wildlife targeting 2,456,094 animals. Since 2009, the average annual target is 144,476, in 2025 the protected Australian animals targeted for lethal control was 1.6 times the 17 year average since 2009.
Since 2009, 80 protected Australian species have been targeted for control, including numerous bird species. The table below provides the data for 2025 and 2024 and the cumulative data for 2009 to 2024 inclusive by protected Australian species.
Endangerment
Victoria, because of past behaviours, now has over 270 endangered and threatened Vertebrate species, many hundreds more, when invertebrate species, plant species and other classes of life are considered. As of March 2025, over 2,000 species of plants, animals, and fungi were listed as threatened or endangered in Victoria, under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 (FFG Act). This means that almost one third of all of Victoria’s species are now in danger of extinction and the Victorian Government’s current conduct is only hastening their demise.
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In 2024 and at the behest of state and territory governments in Australia, 4.6 million animals from around 70 ‘protected’ Australian species of mammals and birds were killed.
Nowhere near good enough: Victoria’s Independent Review of the Wildlife Act 1975
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