In 2024 and at the behest of state and territory governments in Australia, 4.6 million animals from around 70 ‘protected’ species of mammals and birds were killed.

Australia is a very noisy place, birdlife in particularly adding to the cacophony that is so compellingly Australian. Birdlife is in the frontline of the killing as some places fall silent. The devastating impacts of climate change have not slowed the pace and intent to kill.

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As 2025 draws to its close we take the time to review the extent of Australia’s state and territory government’s enabled (and sadly sometimes promoted) killing of ‘protected’ Australian species in 2024. We provide just one number for each state and territory for mainland Australia plus Tasmania. These numbers are not the numbers they intended to kill, which in general are far higher, but what was reported as actually happening (with a few of our estimates thrown in based on previous years reporting when we did not have the numbers).

An example of the way these numbers have been compiled is in the case of commercial exploitation of Macropod species on mainland Australia, in 2024 they intended to kill just on five million Kangaroos for commercial gain, the reported actual was 1,316,575, plus an estimated and unaccounted for 350,000 joeys, which were beaten to death, decapitated or if they escaped, starved to death (apparently this is humane). So we use a commercial take of 1,666,575 (divided across states as per their reporting) in the numbers below.

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We should note that in 2018 in New South Wales, 887,993 Kangaroos (3 species) were targeted in that year by non-commercial permits, called licenses to harm native animals in that state. The commercial quota in that year in New South Wales was an additional 2,253,914 plus a special quota of 216,042, the latter a switch of harms permits to commercial. The actual commercial take in that year was 593,796, an indication that the New South Wales Government population estimates were yet again, far too high.

We should note the recreational killing of protected Australian birdlife (which becomes unprotected) occurs in Victoria (the biggest killers), Tasmania, South Australia and the Northern Territory and on private land in New South Wales. Duck species, quail and in the case of the Northern Territory, also geese, are victims of the annual and prolonged slaughter. We have noticed a very significant decline in duck numbers while governments like to pretend there is nothing to see here.

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We should stress this is our rough cut of the numbers, well perhaps not so rough. This will however give you some understanding of the vast scale of government enabled ‘protected’ wildlife killing that occurs in Australia each and every year.

We should also add that the killing of wildlife involves children, sometimes very young children, and in the case of Victoria for example, the government actually promotes the killing of wildlife to children of 12 and over. Given the damage this does to young people and the very high level of domestic violence and the killing of women that occurs in Australia, we find the government’s conduct beyond comprehension.

What has shocked us the most in all of this is that even in regions where protected Australian wildlife populations have been completely devastated, the killing, to mop up the remnant few, continues. As I write this I sit in just one of these places and the evidence that this killing continues at pace is within meters of where I sit.

Numbers are rounded because there are known unknowns.

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So Watt’s Watt? What is in the numbers

Actual commercial take (includes minor estimates for missing data), harms permits variously named across different parts of Australia covering a large number of protected Australian species, recreational killing of birdlife, some unprotection is in (what we know) and some is out (what we don’t know) and secret killing regimes such as for Koalas. These numbers only include protected Australian bird and mammal species, leaving a vast array of classes of life unaccounted for, including life in water. We have included an estimate (pretty accurate) of the unaccounted for young killed in the slaughter of Kangaroos for commercial gain. In the case of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) the numbers include killing of protected wildlife in the Canberra ‘Nature’ Park system as well as the ACT Government’s ‘rural culling’ program.

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So Watt’s Not? What is not in the numbers

Death of Australian protected species as a result of climate change driven events including floods and fire, some unprotection killing, the large number of native animals killed on Australian roads as a result of poor planning (including a complete disregard for animal welfare), the impact of development and extensive changes in land use including large scale industrial developments in regional Australia, the catastrophic impact of land clearing (for example during the 1990s the estimates for the number of Koalas killed (just in Queensland) because of land clearing was 20,000 per annum, that is until they ran out of them.  The killing of protected Australian species by Indigenous peoples is not included here.

The illegal trade in wildlife which impacts bird species and reptiles in particular is not included. We have not included the unaccounted for young killed as a result of various permit types (with the exception of killing for commercial gain of Macropod species on mainland Australia).

Even the grass is not safe. Australian landscapes are covered by plant life from somewhere else, some of these plants cause harm to Australian wildlife, including Phalaris, a grass toxic to Macropods, causing the distressing to watch, Phalaris staggers, caused by the neurological damage this grass causes when eaten.

Animals also die as they get caught in fences, these fences are now far grimmer in nature, entrapment fences set at 45 degrees, once stuck wildlife cannot extract themselves, exclusion fencing that traps and kills large numbers of native animals, the extensive use of barbed wire, so deadly to wildlife, all of it blocking access to water and locking wildlife out onto roadsides where the inevitable happens. Many of these fences are built from grants provided by governments.

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Australia also uses poisons to kill foxes, ‘wild dogs’ and other species such as rabbits, and shockingly protected Australian species, the latter in at least some states, this killing is vast scale and indiscriminate and include 1080 (banned in most countries) and Pindone poisons. Vectors for the poisons include carrots, oats and Kangaroo meat. These poisons are used extensively in National Parks and Ramsar sites as well as on other public and private land and there are various methods of distribution, including dropping 1080 baited Kangaroo meat from helicopters. Protected native species impacted by these activities include reptiles, birds of prey (including Owls), Marsupials of various kinds including carnivorous and herbivorous species. The use of poisons is so indiscriminate and wide use we cannot know the outcome.

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All of this is underpinned, and I made that point to Australia’s Environment Minister Murray Watt, just this week, by poor standards of governance, mis and disinformation coming from government departments including the carefully crafted holding lines, it is all sustainable, it is all humane, the numbers are booming and other arrant nonsense that has no basis of truth or in reality.

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Number of protected Australian wildlife killed at government behest in 2024 by state and territory

• Australian Capital Territory – 17,000
• New South Wales – 970,000
• Northern Territory – 280,000
• Queensland – 969,000
• South Australia – 243,000
• Tasmania – 700,000
• Victoria – 1,158,000
• Western Australia – 300,000

TOTAL 4,637,000

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Tasmania has the highest number of animals killed per capita at 1.22 and per square kilometer at 10.23. The Northern Territory has the second highest per capita kill rate at 1.06, while the ACT has the second highest kill rate per square kilometer at 7.21, while it has the lowest kill rate per person at 0.04.

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Wildlife killed per square kilometer by state or territory

• Australian Capital Territory – 7.21
• New South Wales – 1.21
• Northern Territory– 0.21
• Queensland – 0.56
• South Australia – 0.25
• Tasmania – 10.23
• Victoria – 5.09
• Western Australia – 0.12

Wildlife killed per capita by state or territory

• Australian Capital Territory – 0.04
• New South Wales – 0.11
• Northern Territory– 1.06
• Queensland – 0.17
• South Australia – 0.13
• Tasmania – 1.22
• Victoria – 0.16
• Western Australia – 0.10

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The Victorian Fisheries Authority (VFA) and Game Management Authority (GMA) merger

The Victorian Fisheries Authority underwent significant workforce changes in 2025, cutting 35 jobs (from 192 to 157 staff). The current re-organisation brings together the VFA and GMA, with as we understand it, no further job losses.

“Over time, a single entity would enhance data sharing, streamline enforcement, and provide a more consistent regulatory experience for recreational and commercial users, while supporting a holistic approach to ecosystem and species management”.

This is another very big problem for wildlife in Victoria and the likelihood, that in a state were conflicts of interest in environmental matters are already very significant, there will be a further deterioration of standards, particularly directed at those who care about wildlife and conservation in the state.

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