Reports from across the state about severely ill kangaroos have animal advocates worried about how their populations will survive with the rising pressures of being the target of shooters, urbanisation and climate change.
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Wildlife rescuer and carer Helen Round, from Five Freedoms Animal Rescue and the East Trentham Wildlife Shelter, said she had been receiving a "massive influx" of worrying calls in recent months.
"We are getting calls from property owners that are finding skinny little joeys on their properties, on their verandahs and in their car ports.
"These are little joeys or kangaroos that weigh between eight and 15kg."
These reports have come in from across the state - from Ballarat, Bendigo, Lysterfield, St Andrews, Daylesford, Woodend and Sunbury - and Ms Round said many landholders had expressed they had seen many of these sickly kangaroos on their properties this year.
Once assessed, Ms Round said these kangaroos were found to be emaciated with white gums. Some have crusting around their ears.
Of the dozens of these kangaroos that have been taken in by the shelter, only two have been successfully saved.
Ms Round said a few weeks ago she had six dead joeys in her woodshed.
These animals are in absolute agony.
- Helen Round
"They come in and we give them antibiotics and a worming agent. None of the medication is working. We throw treatments at them, put them on life support drips and try to improve their protein because their blood protein is absolutely destroyed.
"Their body cavities are full of fluid because they can't get the toxins out of their blood. And their blood is so thin and watery, like strawberry jam.
"These animals are in absolute agony."
Ms Round has had several post mortems conducted on some of the kangaroos, with their stomachs found to be full of worms and ulcers caused by bites.
It is looking likely to be a globocephaloides outbreak.
Climate change effect
Ms Round believes the increase in illness and death to be the result of continued wet weather without a hot summer in between, which would normally kill off much of the bacteria in the environment.
"We've had a cool summer without the baking dry, and then we've had a long, wet winter so the conditions have been terrible for kangaroos but the moisture has been fantastic for worms and other parasites and anaerobic bacteria," she said.
Rescuers and carers have also seen increased numbers of kangaroos with lumpy jaw - a disease where bacteria gets into the bones of the jaw.
"So after the horrific black summer fires and the years of drought in Gippsland before then that were battering kangaroos, now kangaroos are being battered by this wet spell and these damp conditions."
Despite many people believing that kangaroos are robust, they have a less than 30 per cent chance of surviving until adulthood.
"Even in good conditions, the odds are stacked against them," Ms Round said. "This year, because the conditions have been so bad, it's even less."
She said younger kangaroos, which typically are not weaned from their mothers until they are about 18 months old, may be being more affected as they are not being fed by their mothers.
"The diseases are high, the temperatures are low, and it's a harsh environment. They have been pushed out of their environments and they're being forced to cohabitate with humans and with livestock, and they're under pressure."
She said it was not an overpopulation problem or due to a shortage of food as many of the calls were from property owners who reported small mobs and did not run livestock.
This is backed up by the kangaroo count in 2020, which found the macropods tend to live on properties around remnant forest rather than on farmland.
"These are small family groups, this is not a natural dieback event to control kangaroo numbers because they're over-populating.
"This is ecological collapse. These are the effects of climate change, it's not just the planet that gets warmer, it's that nature is thrown out of balance and a keystone species has been seriously affected."
With another wet summer predicted, Ms Round said wildlife as well as livestock and birds could face further troubles if coccidia spreads.
Call to report
Ms Round called on landowners who spot skinny, unkempt looking joeys by themselves to call a wildlife rescuer or shelter.
"Call it in as soon as you can. Kangaroos are mob animals so a young kangaroo by itself is in trouble.
"Call Wildlife Victoria and we'll send rescuers out. If we can try and save them we will but if they are too far gone then we will euthanise them so that they don't go down being torn apart by foxes or dogs and we'll end their lives and suffering humanely."
Concern disease could spread further
Ms Round is worried the unconfirmed disease could be zoonotic, prompting a call to stop wild kangaroo harvesting for human and pet consumption.
Data from the World Health Organisation shows about 60 per cent of emerging infectious diseases reported globally are zoonotic - meaning they have been transmitted between humans and animals.
More than 30 new human pathogens have been detected in the last 30 years, with 75 per cent originating in animals.
"Here we are in a global pandemic, caused by eating bushmeat, and we've got the Victorian Government running a bush kangaroo meat industry," Ms Round said.
After a kangaroo is shot, the carcasses are envicerated - often in the dark and on the back of a truck - in the field amid dust, dirt and flies.
While the meat is marketed for human and pet consumption in Australia, imports have been banned in other countries due to high levels of bacteria.
Russia has banned kangaroo meat imports twice - in 2008 and 2014 - after unacceptable levels of E.coli were detected.
Harvesting impact
Ms Round said the kangaroo meat industry was "not clean, not humane and not sustainable" and that it and disease was affecting the long-term genetic integrity of the species.
The government has set a quota that a 'total take' of 191,200 kangaroos can be killed across Victoria this year - equivalent to about 10 per cent of the population - inclusive of ACTW permits.
"How are kangaroos supposed to survive disease outbreaks and conditions like this, if all the big, healthy strong males who have traditionally provided the breeding material are been killed off?
"Lesser males are opportunistically breeding and that means that kangaroos are getting smaller. So what's going to happen to future generations as the effects of climate change get worse and kangaroos get weaker?"
Related coverage: Kangaroo shooting is 'soul destroying', says advocate
Ms Round would like to see the quota revised, or stopped, to allow kangaroos to recover.
She said people got upset about the slaughter of dolphins in Japan and of baby fur seals in Canada but that the kangaroo harvesting industry in Australia resulted in the slaughter of tens of thousands of kangaroos and their joeys, which are clubbed to death or left to starve after their mothers are killed.
These joeys are not counted in the official statistics, with Ms Round describing them as "the hidden victims".
"We've got something beautiful and exotic that is found nowhere else in the world, but kangaroos are shot because they can be taken for free. They're opportunistically stolen.
"Shooters come and they take. They don't invest in properties, they don't invest in fencing or bloodlines or irrigation or anything farmers do but they opportunistically come and take for money."
Investigation underway
Ms Round said the government was "morally, ethically and lawfully obliged to thoroughly investigate" the disease and how far it was spreading as her observations and autopsies were only a snapshot.
A Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning spokesperson confirmed the department was investigating.
"DELWP is working with other agencies, including authorised wildlife shelters and DJPR, to investigate the cause of higher than normal numbers of kangaroo deaths being reported across Victoria."
DELWP is working with other agencies, including authorised wildlife shelters and DJPR, to investigate the cause of higher than normal numbers of kangaroo deaths being reported across Victoria
- A DEWLP spokesperson
They said reports of the symptoms were currently confined to kangaroos and at this stage there was nothing to suggest other species were affected.
A range of potential natural causes could be at play and these would be considered as part of the investigation.
In response to questions about how the department regulates the kangaroo meat industry to ensure the meat is safe for consumption, the spokesperson said:
"Kangaroo harvested for human or pet consumption in Victoria has to be processed at a PrimeSafe licensed game or pet meat processing facility."
PrimeSafe is Victoria's food safety regulator for the meat, poultry and seafood industries.
"For harvested kangaroos to pass as fit for human consumption it must comply with the Australian Standard for the Hygienic Production of Wild Game Meat for Human Consumption or for pets the Australian Standard for the Hygienic Production of Pet Meat.
"These standards include inspection requirements to ensure that carcasses showing signs of disease are excluded from supply chains."
Members of the public should ensure good hygiene and wear appropriate protective gear if handling sick animals.
Wildlife can only legally be cared for by DELWP authorised wildlife shelters, carers or veterinarians.
"Wildlife require skilled care, treatment and rehabilitation to recover sufficiently to be returned to the wild. Without this skilled care, wildlife may not recover or may lose their natural behaviours."
It is illegal to keep sick, injured or orphaned wildlife as a pet. Taking wildlife from the wild without authorisation is an offence under the Wildlife Act 1975 and carries a fine of up to $9087 and/or six months' imprisonment.
DELWP encouraged anyone who finds a sick kangaroo to contact Wildlife Victoria on 8400 7300 for an emergency rescue response, a local wildlife shelter or a veterinarian.
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