Almost 6 million roos die in two years in drought

It's led to a price hike for kangaroo meat - now at 120 cents a kilogram with tails, as demand outstrips supply. The roo meat price for commercial harvesters has risen 10c/kg in just a week.

Independent chairperson of the Kangaroo Management Taskforce Geoff Wise said it is estimated that up to six million kangaroos have died between 2016-2018 in NSW from the drought and through disease, a situation he says is an "animal welfare crisis". An updated figure from last year was still to be released by the NSW Government.

He said it was very wrong to link bushfires in the east with any roo decline.

"Numbers have plummetted because of the drought creating horrific animal welfare concerns," he says. He said recent rain may have dispersed some of the population. Red kangaroos may also have moved away.

Senior Vice President of the Pastoralists' Association of West Darling Lachlan Gall said talking of the price rise: "It's demand outstripping supply (which no doubt is affected by the rain over east, preventing harvesters from getting out). Roos have dispersed in the far west, making it harder to find a load."

Mr Gall said the commercial industry was part of the problem, not part of the solution, in as much that the male bias in the commercial harvest in NSW has been sitting at over 90 per cent for a number of years.

"Some processors enforced a "male only" harvest rule until just recently, and shooters preferentially target large males regardless, leaving females behind to continue breeding," he said. "As a result, the commercial harvest has been ineffective in reducing kangaroo numbers to sustainable levels.

"Severe drought conditions in western NSW have been exacerbated by record numbers of kangaroos at its onset, with pastoralists unable to save feed, or inundated by large number of roos if they were lucky enough to catch a shower of rain.

"Nevertheless, the Pastoralists' Association of West Darling and many other stakeholders support commercial harvesting of kangaroos as the most desirable and ethical method of managing roo populations. Accordingly, the recent rise in value for commercially harvested kangaroos is good news, as it should encourage an increase in commercial harvesting.

"The actual harvest as a percentage of the available commercial quota has been very low for a number of years running, and increasing this percentage towards 100 per cent would reduce the requirement for non-commercial culling and deaths due to starvation. I am hopeful that there might be further price rises, as "farm gate" value for roo meat sits at a significant discount to the value of lamb, beef and goat.

"The push back against non-commercial culling from the commercial sector is frustrating, as it ignores the harsh reality that the drought has killed many millions more kangaroos than have been culled. It is also totally unreasonable for industry to expect family farming businesses or the environment to suffer the ongoing impact of too many kangaroos just for their benefit.

"Legal non-commercial culling undertaken in accordance with licence conditions and the relevant Code of Practice is frequently the only option available for land managers to reduce kangaroo numbers, and its continued availability as a control method is non negotiable.

"If non-commercial culling was no longer available as a control option frustrated land managers would increasingly adopt alternative control methods, such as fencing, to permanently reduce kangaroo numbers to sustainable levels. Industry would be well advised to consider their position carefully, because their current approach is alienating the very people their business is entirely dependent on."

Mr Gall said he wanted to clarify a recent article in The Land that he supported "culling" kangaroos. "It said the price rise would encourage harvesters to get out there and "cull" roos. I would never say that - commercial harvesters "harvest" kangaroos on commercial licences, farmers and graziers "cull" kangaroos on non-commercial licences."

The Kangaroo Management Taskforce recently said it was very disturbing to see so many commercial harvesters leaving the industry.

In a Facebook post it said: "The long term outcomes of harvesters leaving the industry are very concerning. What will happen when kangaroo numbers increase dramatically as conditions improve? Land managers will need to resort to damage mitigation permits to reduce impacts of large mobs of kangaroos overgrazing landscapes. Those animals will then mostly be left to waste in paddocks rather than being utilised as a valuable resource. The whole kangaroo management system in Australia requires urgent reform!"