The inevitable suffering when kangaroo shooting goes wrong was plain to see when a kangaroo was found severely wounded on Wednesday 22 October.
Later euthanised by Vets for Compassion, it was the second kangaroo in as many months to suffer a serious gunshot wound in the Yarra Valley, following another incident in Dixons Creek at the start of September.
Vet and chief executive officer of Vets for Compassion Elaine Ong said the kangaroo had been spotted the day before but rescuers couldn’t find it again.
“The rescuers went back the next day and because there was so much publicity about it, fortunately, a member of the public called in and the rescuers managed to tranquillise him,” she said.
“It was fortunate that we could find him again because sometimes they go away and hide.
“We had an experienced vet there and we can tell it’s a gunshot wound, it’s not a car because there’s no other injuries, it was just the lower jaw and it was completely gone.”
The kangaroo was found on the evening of Wednesday 22 October, meaning it spent at least two days with the inflicted wound.
Dr Ong said if a shooter is shooting a kangaroo, for whatever reason they do it, she thinks they owe it to the animal to do it properly.
“To find it, if you’ve injured it, that’s at the very least you could do, I think we have to be humane with all animals,” she said.
“A kangaroo or any animal left like that cannot eat, cannot drink and if it’s still healthy otherwise, it’s going to suffer from pain and infection and die slowly.
“Whoever took the shot should really go out and go looking for him, really, to me that’s reasonable to say.”
The search for the kangaroo in Dixons Creek at the start of September went on for three days and it was found carrying a non-viable joey within its pouch.
Founder of the Victorian Kangaroo Alliance Alyssa Wormald said shockingly, cases like this poor kangaroo are not uncommon.
“Wounding is an unavoidable facet of shooting, and the National Code of Practice (so often touted by those who haven’t read it as the safeguard against cruelty) acknowledges this inevitably,” she said.
“Whilst the Code states that wounded animals should be found and euthanised, any wildlife rescuer will tell you it can take days to find wounded kangaroos.
“For shooters, time is money and they will not sacrifice days searching and waiting as volunteers will do out of love and concern.”
The incident occurred amid ongoing calls from local kangaroo advocates and Yarra Ranges Council to be exempt from the Victorian Kangaroo Harvesting Program (KHP), which was denied by the Victorian Government.
Under the KHP, authorised harvesters can control kangaroos on private land and sell the carcasses within an annual quota set by the government. This is in addition to Authority to Control Wildlife (ATCW) permits which allow landholders to control a specified number of certain wildlife on their properties and sets the method of control, with carcasses unable to be sold.
The Victorian Government sped up the process of landowners receiving ATCW permits to kill kangaroos in response to drought conditions in parts of the state in June this year.
Ms Wormald said we know that commercial kangaroo shooting has significantly increased the number of wildlife rescuer call-outs to kangaroos with gunshot wounds.
“Wildlife Victoria statistics show a 55 per cent increase in these traumatic cases attended by their volunteers,” she said.
“However, the tragic reality is that the vast majority of wounded kangaroos will suffer and die slowly, unseen in the bush.”
