By Callum Ludwig
Leanne Kelly and Tamsin Ramone are doing a 40km walk from Lilydale to Warburton on the trail to raise money for the Victorian Kangaroo Alliance.
The Victorian Kangaroo Alliance was founded by their sister Alyssa Wormald and other concerned locals, as Save the Kinley Kangas in July 2020, following the outcry over the proposed culling of a mob of kangaroos in the developing Kinley Estate.
Ms Wormald, who now operates as the secretary of the community-led group, said she was very touched by her sister’s gesture.
“They do these long walks as fundraisers for different organisations and charities,” she said.
“Now, they are running one for the organisation I founded because they share my concerns about the kangaroo situation. They are keen to support which is really lovely.”
After a year, the Kinley mob was relocated and the STKK was rebranded as the Victorian Kangaroo Alliance(VKA) to extend its focus on protecting kangaroos state-wide.
Ms Wormald said she is receiving reports from across Victoria from concerned residents who are noticing a reduction in kangaroos.
“I’ve seen it myself. I’ve done quite a bit of driving out in the country recently, about 20 hours. I saw one dead kangaroo, no live ones,” she said.
“The community is really distressed. most people love kangaroos. I would love to see more people speaking out for kangaroos before it’s too late.”
The ‘2020 Statewide Abundance of Kangaroos in Victoria’ survey prepared by the Department of Environment, Land and Water Planning estimated there are 34,600 Eastern Grey Kangaroos in the Yarra Ranges, up approximately 42 per cent from 14,500 in the 2018 report.
There was also a drop from 12,200 in the neighboring Nillumbik shire to 5100 over the same period, with popular hunting grounds in the area including Kangaroo Ground and Christmas Hills.
However, research and comparison from Mjadwesch R 2011 Nomination to List the Large Macropods as Threatened Species under the NSW Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 MESS Bathurst states a comparison to a Dawson 1995 suggests eastern Grey Kangaroos can only achieve a population growth rate of 10 percent per year in favourable conditions.
DELWP’s growth figures in the Yarra Ranges from 2018 to 2020 are twice as large as the previous research suggests is possible.
Ms Wormald said the commercialisation of kangaroo hunting has furthered the reduction of kangaroos in the state.
“The issue begins with the authority to control wildlife permits. If someone has trouble with kangaroos on their property, the government can provide a permit for them to a certain number of kangaroos. Like at Kinley, property owners tend to be left with few alternatives to a permit,” she said.
“Then a commercial harvesting trial was run in 2018 to prevent waste of kangaroo bodies and skins. The trial showed it had massively increased the killing, likely increased waste, was risking sustainability and was rife with corruption, lawlessness and an inability to properly regulate.”
Despite this, the Kangaroo Harvesting Program still came into force in 2019 to operate as a full-scale commercial industry.
Yarra Ranges residents have also shared their distaste for the lack of protection afforded to kangaroos, with one woman recounting to the VKA her horror at being stuck driving behind a shooter on Healesville-Koo Wee Rup Rd with approximately 20 headless and eviscerated kangaroos dangling off it.
Lilydale resident Susan White has also been conducting solo protests in the city regarding the issue and said she has seen shocking acts of cruelty inflicted upon the animals.
“I feel it is greatly important that the public is fully aware of what is happening here, the joeys bludgeoned to death, mobs wiped out, the cross-contamination with diseased feral pigs, the international outrage,” she said.
Anyone who wishes to donate to the GoFundMe page for the walk can do so here: https://gofund.me/6a5e1e40
