Author: AWPC

Share this page Kangaroos nursed back to health after a planned fire escalated out of control now face a cull on the orders of the same department that ordered the burn. The very same department, DELWP, responsible for the care of wildlife, actually turned tail and permitted a “cull” of kangaroos, despite being tirelessly and lovingly nursed back to health by wildlife carers! After a planned burn that started the Lancefield fire, they approved a six-month culling permit for the owner of a property that borders the shelter  – because of “damage caused by the kangaroos to the land”, where he runs sheep, and fences.  Surely more “damage” would be done by sheep than kangaroos?  However, the latter animals are economic assets, whereas kangaroos only have economic value when dead – for the pet meat trade! The Authority to Control Wildlife permit application was approved, thanks to the farmer citing his desire to repasturise the land.  So, he can’t live harmoniously with native animals than have a minimal impact on grasslands?  This farmer got the go ahead to kill kangaroos on his property, which neighbours the Macedon Ranges (Victoria) Pastoria East Wildlife Shelter.  “All of the wild kangaroos here have been through that fire, they’ve all been impacted by it. They’ve lost habitat and food, they’ve been traumatised,” owner Christine Litchfield said. Wildlife carers Ms Litchfield and Mr Ward say they are bemused by the department’s “heartbreaking” decision, considering DELWP formerly praised the work of the pair and wanted photos for an internal magazine! “… Keep in mind we’re in a conservation zone, we are up against a large crown land forest. The idea that you’re going to kill kangaroos to stop this problem is unlikely to work completely,” Marcus Ward said.  What part of “conservation” do DELWP not understand?  What sort of Department, except an Orwellian one, would endorse the care and protection of wildlife – injured by their own “controlled burn” that got out of control – and also permit their “cull”?   Wildlife carers say they cannot continue to nurse injured kangaroos back to health only to risk having them shot by a neighbouring farmer    once they are released.  These amazing people spend their own time and money on compassion and care for injured animals, only to    have them lethally “managed”!  Marcus Ward, owner of the Pastoria East Wild Life Shelter, says he will have to close his doors   after 30 years. Under such a contradictory and twisted State government Department, presumably meant to be responsible for our wildlife, administer the Wildlife Act 1975, but at the same time approve of “culls” and the kangaroo meat industry in Victoria!  They can’t be the carers, conservationists and the killers at the same time – they are deeply embedded in conflicts of interests. The Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) decided not to prosecute the neighbouring property owner for animal cruelty, after kangaroos were shot in the body and left to bleed to death.  So, what and when do they actually do to protect wildlife in Victoria? “We can’t continue… knowing any animal that comes here is under risk,” Mr Ward said. PETITION: Call of plan to “cull” kangaroos “That won’t change until we’re confident the culling won’t proceed.”  Without Macedon Ranges’ Pastoria East Wildlife Shelter, Mr Ward said rescuers had few local options for shelters to take kangaroos. “The shelter in Kilmore is overloaded from the area, and the one in Hepburn that we rely on a lot closed their doors to any new animals last week,” he said. Native animals, especially kangaroos, are enemies of Victoria, and land-holders – apparently.   The facade that DELWP have any care of responsibility for native animals is becoming thinner and they are being exposed as more interested in commercial kangaroo meat – and cleansing the State of our iconic native animals – in the name of “progress” and profits!  

Share this page KILLING COUNTRY   Taken from https://www.creativecowboyfilms.com/blog_posts/killing-country   In Australia’s State of Victoria, ATCWs are authorities to control wildlife, for the majority of permits issued and for the majority of animals, control means kill. “In a place where nature does not count, counting nature can be a grim business. The reality is that the Victorian Government knows very little about the outcomes for the animals they issue these permits for. Most of course will be killed, just how many (more or less) is a matter for speculation. What has occurred regarding Macropod species for example is a complete disgrace” CLIMATE CHANGE What is also particularly disgraceful, the usual head in the sand stuff we get from Australia, is that no account at all is taken of the impacts of climate change, which are severe. So instead of taking the plight of numerous species into account, the numbers of ATCWs granted and the numbers of animals involved have increased at scale. The most basic applied logic would give you an understanding that increasing the numbers of animals subject to so called control will only result in one outcome – that is putting more species at risk. We are also disrupting the web of life. “The reality is that most people do not have a clue about what is going on in relation to these matters – the spin from all Australian governments makes it look as if all Australian wildlife is protected and so that is what they believe. And what I find another big problem is that this story is believed around the world. We have done something to dispel this myth in Australia, but not nearly enough”. Peter Hylands There are gross acts of cruelty involved here too. Duck shooting has continued despite the most dire climate conditions including the condition of wetlands and associated breeding sites.   In Victoria, tens of thousands of waterbirds are shot on internationally significant wetlands, Ramsar sites, each year. NUMBER CRUNCH – COMPARISONS In  Victoria in the ten-year period 2009-2018 inclusive a total of 32,147 ATCWs were issued for Australian species covering 1,513,605 animals. In Victoria, the total number of animals subject to ATCWs in the period 2016-2018 was 2.3 times higher than the number of animals subject to ATCWs 2009-2011. The number of ATCWs (permits) issued in 2016-2018 was 1.66 times higher than the number of ATCWs issued in the period 2009-2011. Victoria is also not the place to be if you happen to be a bird, 73 per cent of species subject to control in Victoria were bird species with a total of 397,549 birds, of which 182,721 or 45 per cent were from a range of parrot species. We also need to remember that ATCWs are not the only way animals in Victoria die, so we can add another 4 million dead water birds (I am being modest in my calculations) in the last ten years to the tally in Victoria because of duck shooting in the state. So all up, that is around 4.5 million birds in the state in the last ten years. Politics and nature: 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 (a government described to me by friend Dr Hugh Wirth, President of the RSPCA and WSPA (the world body) as extremely cruel) issued 11,146 ATCW permits covering 461,593 animals, 54 per cent of the Labor total. IMPACT OF KANGAROO PET FOOD TRIAL AND SUBSEQUENT TRADE IN WILDLIFE In Victoria, 750,000 Kangaroos were authorised to be killed by ATCW / KPFT permits in the years 2014 – 2018. The number of Kangaroos authorised roughly doubled once the pet food trial really got underway despite government statements that there would be no increase in killing rates once the trial commenced. 390,886 of these animals were authorised under KPFT of which around 212,000 were actually processed. There was a marked step change in the killing rates of all species in 2013, the number again increased significantly after the year the Victorian Labor Party won government in the state. What was going to happen was always very obvious, and when it did occur, little was done to moderate the situation. The numbers tell us that story. ATCWS FOR AUSTRALIAN WILDLIFE IN VICTORIA The first number in bold is the number of ATCWs issued, the second number is the number of individuals of the species subject to control. The period covered is for ten years, from 2009 – 2018 inclusive. For a number of species on the list the number subject to control has increased rapidly in the last few years. Australian King-parrot Alisterus scapularis –2/10 Australian Fur Seal Pusillus doriferus – 8 / 258 Australian Magpie Cracticus tibicen – 195 / 3,565 Australian Magpie Lark Grallina cyanoleuca – 52 / 460 Australian Raven Corvus coronoides – 862 / 25,163 Australian Shelduck Tadorna tadornoides – 120 / 4,978 Australian White Ibis Threskiornis moluccus – 41 / 2,411 Bell Miner Manorina melanophrys – 7 / 570 Black Kite Milvus migrans – 9 / 185 Black Swan Cygnus atratus – 17 / 530 Black Wallaby Wallabia bicolor – 1,337 / 17,682 Black-tailed Native-hen Tribonyx ventralis – 10 / 240 Broad-shelled River Turtle Chelodina expansa –1 / 100 Brolga Grus rubicunda – 2 / 51 Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike Coracina novaehollandiae – 15 / 155 Cape Barren Goose Cereopsis novaehollandiae – 31 / 1,890 Chestnut Teal Anas castanea – 7 / 90 Common Brushtail Possum Trichosurus vulpecular – 56 / 1,850 Common Long-necked Tortoise Chelodina longicollis – 4 / 10,119* Common Ringtail Possum Pseudocheirus peregrinus –19 / 324 Common Wombat Vombatus ursinus – 2,044 / 26,507 Crimson Rosella Platycercus elegans – 180 / 4,702 Dingo Canis lupus dingo  – 14 / 134 Dusky Moorhen Gallinula tenebrosa – 4 / 270 Eastern Banjo Frog Limnodynastes dumerilii – 1 / 10 Eastern Brown Snake Pseudonaja textilis – 29 / 387 Eastern Grey Kangaroo Macropus giganteus – 18,715 / 889,488 Eastern Rosella Platycercus eximius – 74 / 1,535 Emu Dromaius novaehollandiae – 756 / 9,961 Landing image Eurasian Coot Fulica atra – 30 / 1,271 Fairy Martin Petrochelidon ariel – 3 / 320 Rose-breasted Cockatoo (Galah) Eolophus roseicapilla – 422 / 32,082

Share this page Ecologist Hans Brunner: Bandicoots, the problems and the answer. MY CONCERN IS the survival of Southern Brown Bandicoots (SBB) east of Melbourne and especially within the biosphere region around Western Port Bay. This is the site where during the last twenty odd years 95% of them were lost. The reason for the loss of the SBBs was the combination of incompetent and unwillingness by the then governments of Department of Environment and Sustainability, and Parks Victoria, failure to properly protect them there. (So the very government agencies we expect to uphold the protection of wildlife and habitats are actually failing!  Promoting urban sprawl now is endemic to our culture, our economy?  Editor) And now, the new Department of Environment, Land, Water & Planning (DELWP) plans to create a large new urban estate adjacent to the Royal Botanical Gardens Cranbourne (RBGC) called the Botanic Ridge & Devon Meadows. This area was previously covered with prime bandicoot habitat land — and now have to be somehow compensated for. (Strange how the names of some streets and housing estates take on names that represent exactly some of the natural features lost under concrete — “botanic” and “meadows”, editor.) Since then. I have attended four workshops with DELWP, SBB experts, public servants and environment consultants, about 25 people per session. IMAGES: Used with permission from Reiner Richter.  I was extremely disappointed that DELWP still insists in the continued use of only narrow corridors as a compensation for the loss of all the   SBB habitat. I have earlier explained to them in great detail why these narrow corridors will definitely not be suitable for     SBBs.     Unfortunately, there seems to be absolutely nothing that I could do to change their mind. They were also not prepared to apply an  actual     Population Viability Assessment (PVA) to the area. All they did was talk about the use of it, but did not apply it, in order to prove that SBBs   could safely survive in these conditions for at least the next hundred years! To me, this looked like 90% of political overbearing and only    10% of environmental input.    No way could a PVA pass a test here and neither can artificial and narrow corridors be used for SBBs.  I have therefore consistently insisted that SBBs can now only be properly secured within large reserves surrounded by a   predator proof fence. There are several such reserves suitable for this purpose such as the Pines, the Langwarrin Reserve and the   Briars.   SBBs can then be safely protected from dogs, foxes, feral cats and from competition from rabbits. Why has so much gone wrong   with DELWP? Is there not one person among them who understands and loves SBBs enough to give them the deservedly highest   protection available? I now urge DELWP to urgently carry out their obligation and to put those SBBs safely into some large reserves the same way they are protected in the RBGC. I will be extremely frustrated if this is not done. Only the highest possible protection for them can now do. — Hans Brunner

Share this page AS THE BUSHFIRES continue to kill kangaroos, The Victorian State Government has lifted their emergency moratorium of the commercial killing of kangaroos. No wildlife assessment has been completed. The number of surviving kangaroos is unknown. Write directly to the Victorian Premier Daniel Andres today to voice your concerns daniel.andrews@parliament.vic.gov.au Or phone directly (03) 9651 5000 #ShameAustralia #KangaroosAlive #AnimalWelfare

Share this page AWPC committee member and long-time wildlife rescuer Chris Lehmann spent three days on the post-fire ground between between Victoria and NSW around Albury and Corryong in early February.  Here is his first hand initial report and also a youtube clip from that journey. The new AWPC committee supports all community efforts to help bring emergency assistance, including food and water drops, to fire survivors as well as to areas that are so dry that animals have lost their natural sustenance (and that might burn next!) State governments in Victoria and NSW have yet to take leadership or action on helping the wildlife survivors bar a few well-publiced food drops to endangered wallabies. Landholders and the wider community, including volunteers from overseas are leading the way with generosity and dedication. My first expression of what I saw at Corryong: https://youtu.be/NDCmr5BuJpc A 2nd report from the Corryong Fire Grounds, February 2020. (Click above text to link to the written post on the Kangaloola Wildlife Shelter Inc. Facebook page.)   Longing for life We spent 3 days in the fire grounds of Corryong, some 30 days after Corryong was evacuated because of the fire storms that had destroyed Woormargama, Burrowa, Pine, and Mittamatite Forests plus much of the farmland and many homes around. We spent 3 days in the fire grounds of Corryong, some 30 days after Corryong was evacuated because of the fire storms that had destroyed Woormargama, Burrowa, Pine, and Mittamatite Forests plus much of the farmland and many homes around. We were searching for life. Mt Mittamatite is a local mountain forest covering about 100 square kms. There might have been 100,000+ furred and feathered animals living on just Mt Mittamatite. Now, 30 days later, as a result of daily searches (over the last few weeks) well into the early hours of the morning, a local wildlife carer estimates there is 50–100 animals surviving there. He has identified the very few patches of forest that have enough cover and dregs of food for survival and has committed to providing water and food for those few survivors. Those 50–100 kangaroos, wallabies and wombats will be the genesis of the recovery of the mountain. Life is there, we found it — but the lack of water and good food is too real. We need to support these animals for a few months. On Tuesday we [sent] 30–40 bags of carrots up to Bellaboo Wildlife Shelter who will lead the water station and food drop effort.

Share this page I HAVE BEEN TREATING this wombat for sarcoptic mange since early June. The 2nd major treatment was yesterday afternoon, when myself and the local landowners were enjoying seeing the improved condition and alertness of this animal. She was definitely on the road back to normal. Julie, who is the landowner, contacted me this afternoon because she found our dear wombat dead on the grass. Someone had deliberately run over her while she was eating grass. The tyre tracks are pretty obvious.                                                                                                                                                                                            — Chris Lehmann,                                                                                                                                                                                  Facebook post. 23 July 2020

Share this page AWPC has learned: THE FEDERAL COURT just delivered final orders for our historic win for Friends of Leadbeater’s Possum that protects the forests subject to the case from logging!  Although the court reached its conclusion in this case in May, until today it had not yet decided how the judgement would apply practically.  IMAGES (from L): Greater Glider, Steve Parish; Steve Meacher, President, Friends of Leadbeater’s Possum; Leadbeater’s Possum, Dan Harley. SOURCE. Justice Mortimer’s orders today grant final injunctions to protect the 66 areas of forest home to the threatened Greater Glider and critically endangered Leadbeater’s Possum subject to the case.  The judge also made formal declarations of unlawful logging by VicForests in those 66 areas and ordered VicForests pay Friends of Leadbeater’s Possum’s costs of running the case.   This is huge and sets a national precedent! This case will have national implications for species threatened by logging under Regional Forest Agreements across the country which will now face much greater scrutiny.  Just yesterday, the Bob Brown Foundation launched a similar Federal Court case, challenging logging under Regional Forest Agreements in Tasmania’s forests.  We echo the sentiments of our client, Friends of Leadbeater’s Possum below:    “We are immensely grateful to the public for the donations that have enabled us to pay the costs of mounting a case on this scale and   to     all those who have worked on the case and supported us in so many ways on this long and challenging journey.     And to the surveying team from WOTCH and the expert witnesses who provided an unassailable body of detailed evidence.”  This is the first time the Federal Court has granted a final injunction to prevent logging of threatened wildlife habitat and the first time Victoria’s logging industry — the largest in Australia — has been held to account under federal environment law for its devastating impacts on endangered wildlife. The outcome of this case demonstrates that properly enforcing our environment laws is critical to stem the loss of wildlife in this country. We are so thrilled that the Greater Glider and Leadbeater’s Possum in these areas of forest can rest easy for now — protecting these areas of habitat is vital to their recovery. We hope this is a message to all industry and governments across the country that if they flout the law at the expense of our threatened wildlife, the community will hold them to account in court.

Share this page Amid claims from the Victorian Government that various native species are overabundant, and extraordinarily these claims still continue in various plans being issued by the Victorian Government, despite the vast scale loss of wildlife in the devastating fires. Here is an updated analysis of some of the Victorian Government’s numbers (publicly available or obtained under FOI) from our President, Peter Hylands, as he describes the real situation for Australian wildlife in the State of Victoria. The question we need to ask is why is so much wildlife dying in Victoria because of the enabling and often promotion of these killing activities by the very government responsible for the welfare of these precious and unique animals? 2020 WAS A very grim year for Victoria’s Australian species. What we can tell you is that Australian wildlife in Victoria is anything but protected. Wildlife in Victoria is also subject to extreme acts of cruelty. Much of this activity is encouraged and enabled by its current government. “As we managed to get caught in Melbourne’s extensive lockdown and ring of steel which locked up the city for many weeks, I have taken some of that time to investigate the current circumstances for Victoria’s native species. As always, marsupials and birdlife are in the forefront of the abuse. I have created this as a reference document for the reader to use”. Here are some simple facts for Victoria that tell a very grim story, yet the killing continues and is encouraged by the Victorian Government, and oddly by organisations such as the Country Women’s Association (CWA) as has recently been the case in Central Victoria. At a time of dire environmental conditions, including vast scale bushfires, the killing of Australia’s wildlife in Victoria has continued at scale. Permits to kill Kangaroos on a very large scale have been issued across Victoria’s regions (including Central Victoria) and populations are declining rapidly region by region, as remaining populations are targeted by commercial and non-commercial shooting activities. As is the case for the rest of Australia, the Victorian Government Kangaroo population estimates are exaggerated and this means that commercial quotas are most often not met (because the Kangaroos are not there in the numbers stated) and in at least one case in Victoria, and for one species of Kangaroo (it is now coming close to being more than one species), the number of permits being issued and the number of animals covered by these permits is likely to exceed their entire state population for that species. Victoria has been converting its Authority to Control Wildlife (ATCW) Kangaroo permits to commercial permits, a process that commenced in 2014. We can however expect to see a drop off of animals killed in Victoria against commercial quotas as populations dwindle. Australia, including Victoria, is the leading exterminator of mammal species in the world.   “In early March 2020 I was working in the desert country to the   west of Alice Springs, a remote place where I often stay. Coming   in to see our friends in Hermannsburg I rang the Victorian ecodev    number 136 186 to enquire how the latest Kangaroo harvest   quotas had been calculated for each Victorian region. I was put   through to a staff member in Ballarat and initially told there had   been surveys in both 2019 and 2020. I knew this to be incorrect   so  when I queried the response, I was given a lecture about how   terrible these animals are and told that people (like me) living in   cities do not understand the issues. Given that I have owned two   significant rural properties, one in Central Victoria over many   decades and another near the Endeavour River in Far North   Queensland and I spend time working in the remotest places in   Australia and I know a lot about numbers, these claims seemed   pretty outrageous”. — Peter Hylands Impact of the commercial trade in Kangaroos on killing rates in Victoria The repugnantly named Kangaroo Harvesting Program (KHP) began in Victoria on 1 October 2019 following the Kangaroo Pet Food Trial (KPFT) which commenced in 2014. If the periods 2009–13 and 2014–18 are compared, the rate of killing roughly tripled from 259,288 to 747,659 animals when those periods are compared. Sadly, having saved the Red Kangaroo from the pet food can in Victoria over concerns with vastly exaggerated population numbers, the high level of animals subject to the non-commercial ATCW permit in 2019 (10,073 animals) can only be described as malicious conduct. These next numbers required a bit of guess work so may be out by a small margin, but it looks like since 2009, much of it occurring from 2014 on, permits were issued to kill 1,385,339 Kangaroos, of which 555,026 were victims to the commercial trade in wildlife, across three species, that is the Eastern Grey, the Western Grey and the Red Kangaroo (other species were also killed in substantial numbers). If we add another 20 percent to that number for the number of Joeys killed by these activities that adds yet another 277,000 animals to the slaughter since 2009.    “The claims from both politicians and public servants in Victoria that the Kangaroo Pet Food Trial would not increase the rate of Kangaroo      killing, and then, once the trial had commenced, claims that significant increases in the killing   rate (for example an increase of the killing      rate for the Red Kangaroo of 759 times over the 2011 control total) was due to favourable climatic conditions, and hence conditions for   breeding resulting in population increases, are simply untrue. This becomes entirely obvious once the increases in kill rates are analysed   by region. The very significant increases in kill rates occurred in the Kangaroo Pet Food Trial zones. This is simply disgraceful, particularly   given the rates of killing from the period the trial commenced, that it is most probable that populations had started to decline rapidly during    2016.”      — Peter Hylands, 2018 The most Eastern Grey Kangaroos for which permits were issued in the period 01/01/2017 to 31/10/2019