Protest seeks end to roo shooting

LAST Saturday a small but peaceful protest outside the Ballarat Town Hall aimed to raise awareness around the harm faced by kangaroos.

The protest was led by Dr Holly Sitters, a wildlife ecologist from Western Victoria who said she’s concerned about the exploitation of kangaroos in the state.

“We are horrified at the rate kangaroos are being killed in Victoria,” said Dr Sitters. “It’s unethical and unsustainable.

“We are coming together to raise awareness about what is going on because a lot of it is out of sight, out of mind and occurs in rural, remote areas at nighttime.

“The kill quota for kangaroos in 2223 in Victoria is over 230,000 so that represents quite a large percentage of the total estimated numbers in the state.”

Dr Sitters said she’s worried about how kangaroos are killed under authority to control wildlife permits or as part of kangaroo trade.

“The requirements of the code are to shoot a kangaroo in the head with a single gunshot wound and that’s very difficult to achieve in the darkness,” she said.

“If kangaroos are wounded, they will often survive for days or weeks but are unable to feed.

“It’s absolutely, unfathomably horrific the level of suffering.”

Following last weeks protest, Dr Sitters said she hopes the State and local governments and, as well as individuals will take action to end harm to kangaroos.

“We would like to see the State Government put an end to all killing of Kangaroos in the state,” she said.

“We’ve seen two councils recently advocating against the killing of kangaroos so local councils are becoming increasingly aware.

“Importantly at the level of the individuals we can all act now by stopping the purchasing of kangaroo products.”