MEDIA RELEASE: 21/06/2023
Robyn Parnell
SA Kangaroo Alliance
M: 0435 339 345
SOUTH AUSTRALIA: Concerned South Australians unite to form the SA Kangaroo Alliance to advocate for South Australian kangaroos. The SA Kangaroo Alliance is an initiative of Robyn Parnell, who lives in the Mid-North after kangaroos disappeared from the landscape. Red kangaroos are now a rarity in the Mid-North. Robyn hasn’t seen a red kangaroo for many years.
An investigation into the demise of the red kangaroo in the Mid-North made Robyn realise that the commercial slaughter of kangaroos was unsustainable. For instance, in 2018, the Department for Environment and Water (DEW) estimated that there were 6,227 red kangaroos in the Mid-North, which is less than one kangaroo per square kilometre. DEW set the 2019 commercial quota at 17% (1,000). A total of 2,094 red kangaroos were killed by commercial shooters in 2019 – double the quota and 34% of the entire population.
Instead of terminating the commercial killing of red kangaroos in the Mid-North, DEW expanded the region to include the Yorke Peninsula. During the 2019 aerial surveys, fewer than 100 red kangaroos were spotted in the Mid-North and zero were spotted in the Yorke Peninsula. Based on fewer than 100 red kangaroos, DEW estimated that the red kangaroo population in Yorke Mid-North was 8,942 and set the quota at 17% (1,500).
2019 was South Australia’s driest year on record. Red kangaroos do not breed during drought. Therefore, the 2019 population in the Mid-North could have been 6,227 – 2,094 = 4,133. A quota of 1,500 was set on a possible population of 4,133.
These figures and Robyn’s experience suggest that the red kangaroo is now functionally extinct in the Mid-North due to drought and commercial killing. However, DEW claimed that the 2022 estimated population of red kangaroos in the Mid-North was 12,497 and set the quota for 2023 at 17% (2,100). According to DEW, between 2021 and 2022, the Mid-North red kangaroo population increased by 66% and the western grey kangaroo population increased by 60%. DEW estimated that there are currently 9.3 red kangaroos, western grey kangaroos and euro wallaroos per square kilometre in the Mid-North. Robyn disputes the estimates. She rarely sees a kangaroo, even on her weekly drives around the region.
Robyn’s faith in DEW’s population estimates is low. Between 2021 and 2022, DEW estimated that the Kangaroo Island Tammar Wallaby population increased by 811%, the Lower South-East western grey kangaroo population increased by 398%, the Lower South-East eastern grey kangaroo population increased by 341% and the North-East Pastoral euro population increased by 701%.
South Australia needs urgently an independent animal welfare office and an independent estimation of kangaroo populations, instead of the current methods conducted for and on behalf of the commercial kangaroo industry.