A CENTRAL Victorian group has called for better localised data on kangaroo populations in response to calls for a national kangaroo management plan.
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But central Victorian landscape restoration support group Biolinks Alliance workers say better regional data on kangaroo numbers is what is vital for management.
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Alliance ecologist Paul Foreman said Victoria could learn from other states' more progressive management approaches, but management hinged on monitoring population densities.
Mr Foreman said kangaroos were an important part of Australia, but European settlement had modified the system creating a "kangaroo heaven" in some areas, with plentiful food and water, and no predators.
Mr Foreman said this meant population booms, which could affect the health of both farmland and bushland.
But Mr Foreman said any steps to restore kangaroo populations to a healthier level needed to be taken humanely and transparently.
Mr Foreman said Victoria was without a coherent or effective kangaroo management strategy, so could to learn from other states, but this would need to be carefully managed, with appropriate consultation and adaption.
Victoria's 2021-23 Kangaroo Harvest Plan permits the commercial harvest of eastern and western grey kangaroos on private land and in designated harvest zones.
It flags that restrictions on harvesting kangaroos for pet food may be relaxed during the period the plan covers. The program allowing kangaroo harvest for pet food has drawn criticism from wildlife groups, and praise from kangaroo shooters.
Castlemaine-based Australian Society for Kangaroos argued against management programs which killed kangaroos in its 2020 submission into the Inquiry into Ecosystem Decline in Victoria.
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The submission argued it was not possible for kangaroo numbers to explode, and that there was no scientific basis to the claim they ate and destroyed crops.
The proposal for a unified national kangaroo management plan was put to federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud by ANU professor George Wilson and NSW Kangaroo Management Task Force chair Geoff Wise during a meeting in Canberra in June.
A briefing said the proposed national kangaroo management plan would better integrate agricultural and environmental aspects of the programs previously run by states and territories.
The Australian Society for Kangaroos was approached for comment.
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