Wildlife Victoria is calling for an immediate halt to kangaroo culling in the state, accusing the government of ignoring the impact of flooding on populations of the native animal.
The Victorian government last week released new quotas for the state's kangaroo harvesting program, allowing a 30 per cent increase to kangaroo harvesting this year.
A total of 166,750 kangaroos can be culled, up almost 40,000 from the 2022 quota.
A state government spokesperson said in a statement the quotas had risen in line with a "significant increase" in the kangaroo population.
Wildlife Victoria chief executive Lisa Palma said the new quotas were based on aerial surveys conducted in September and October 2022, before significant flooding across the state.
"That renders them inadequate in our view," she said.
Ms Palma said thousands of kangaroos had died in Victoria since October from drowning or starvation while stuck surrounded by floodwater in areas with no food.
"The impacts on the species have been heartbreaking and very serious," she said.
Dispute continues
Ms Palma wanted the government to halt all kangaroo culling until an independent report was undertaken to determine the impact of the floods on populations.
The Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research, the government's biodiversity research organisation, currently completes kangaroo population surveys used to determine harvesting quotas.
A Victorian government spokesperson said the institute did take flooding into account in modelling and there was no evidence of significant impacts on the kangaroo population.
Controlling populations
The kangaroo harvesting program began in Victoria in 2019, allowing authorised harvesters to cull grey kangaroos on farms where kangaroos often compete with livestock for pasture and damage fences.
The carcasses are processed for food and other products.
Victorian Farmers Federation president Emma Germano said she wanted to see the kangaroo harvesting program continue, as long as quota decisions were made based on "properly" collected data.
She said it made sense flooding did not impact this year's quotas as the majority of kangaroos harvested were in areas not hit by flooding.
The ABC understands the Victorian government can adjust kangaroo harvesting program quotas during the year in response to situations that may affect kangaroo populations.
Quotas must be less than 10 per cent of the total estimated kangaroo population.
