The vulnerability of a kangaroo mob
The baby joey was hopping about her mother in an agitated way and the mother was lying so still, I stepped outside for a closer look. At about five meters the mother looked somehow flat and the joey was circling the mother’s head and trying to suckle and get into the pouch, to no avail. It was heart-breakingly sad.
I kept a distance and this went on for some time. After a call to Wildlife Victoria’s 24/7 hotline, I reported an orphaned joey, about the size of an adult hare, and they canvased for a rescuer for the Hepburn area. For an hour or so I monitored the joey from a distance, looking for foxes and the eagle pair who cruise the area. Some of our wildlife rescue centres are already full. Luckily, an experienced rescuer from Whittlesea was in the area. Holding an open fabric pouch, she expertly advanced every time the joey looked away and took up a squatting stance next to the mother. The joey came and sniffed the pouch and she flipped him into it.
The mother was cold and clearly dead for some time, but looked otherwise in good health and didn’t appear to have a gunshot wound or any clue as to the cause of death. The rescuer towed the mother across the paddock and in matter of hours will succumb to nature’s gruesome fate.
Most remarkable of all, as I held the joey in the new pouch close to my body as you would cuddle any animal or child, she fidgeted a bit and then gave a big sigh. I felt as you do holding a baby close to you and feel the fragility and comfort of a living breathing thing.
I learnt the most from the chit-chat with the rescuer. I’ve been at Elevated Plains for 10 years and admired the local mobs of kangaroos, their peaceful grazing and the males’ boxing while the joeys feel safe enough to feed overseen by the big ‘boomer’ males and their mothers. Overseas visitor and Melbournites can’t believe seeing such magnificent creatures up close, happily grazing, provided you keep a safe distance.
I mentioned a neighbour from Melbourne farming sheep, with a new gun license. Some farmers shoot to protect their fences from roos or their pastures. Remarkably his shooting license from DEECA [Victorian Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action] specified the license was to cull 20 male kangaroos a year. I guess the other perhaps less palatable alternative is female roos nurturing suckling joeys.
It is clear ferral deer do more damage to fences and eat more pasture [and roses] than roos or sheep. Researchers have estimated an average 150-pound (68 kg) adult deer eats roughly 2.7 to 5.4 kg of dry food or up to 13.6 kg of fresh forage. This is so much more than adult roos. Adult Females (17–40 kg) consume roughly 0.5 to 1.2 kg of fresh grass per day and adult Males (50–66+ kg) consume roughly 1.5 to 2.2 kg of fresh grass per day. This is far less than same-weight domestic stock because roos are foregut fermenters with a highly efficient metabolism, making their nutritional needs lower than those of similarly sized domestic livestock. This points to the smart farmer integrating native roo conservation with livestock farming.
Here comes the most relevant fact. Both male and female roos play functional roles within their mob. Culling the males is highly destructive because the dominant leader, ‘alpha’ ‘jack’ or ‘boomer’ males stand guard and protect the females from competing males, not out of some feminist projection of protecting all females, but because the leader has won exclusive mating rights. The muscular, dominant roo also continues an inheritance line that is strong on survival. Over the years we’ve seen excluded aged male roos on their own after a fight for dominance. We generally find them dying somewhere alone.
You might have seen an alpha male standing tall front-on to alert the mob to potential risk, protecting his mob from predators. You might have heard him hiss or growl or even charge males in his mob if they get too close to a female. Standing tall makes him a dead cert for a gun toting pasture owner.
I wonder if ‘alpha male’ shooters [or the DEECA gun licensing authorities] realise that picking off the dominant protective boomer male degrades genetic strength, is extremely disruptive to the mob social culture and not only for his sentry role. ‘Boomers’ are a repository of generational knowledge for migratory pathways central to survival and if they are picked off, the social hierarchy is shattered and the females can be raped, also affecting joeys in the pouch. It also means the strongest, healthiest genes are not passed down and degrades the resilience of the mob.
As the global movement Kangaroos Alive observes, kangaroos date back over 16 million years. They eat native grasses and regenerate the bush and control their own fertility according to environmental conditions. So why do we hunt them?
In the meantime, local animal rescuers have taken our baby orphan in her fluffy-lined pouch and will need to protectively raise her for another two years. In tribute to the dedication of these volunteers, the rescuer who came to get her had two dependent joeys in her car – given the 24 hour care they require while she’s out and about.
Key take-aways are how the DEECA can issue a gun license dictating shooting the males and how wonderful wildlife carers truly are. There’s also the controversy about how they conduct roo counts that determine “pest” levels. Of course, it is about balance but how this is interpreted and why for example, feral deer are not declared a pest in Victoria [compared to most other states and territories.]. This is left hanging – unless we protest.
Thank you Wombat Hill House for the warm fire at my back
Useful sources
- Wildlife rescue: https://donate.wildlifevictoria.orgau/love
- Free article Campbell and Ord Wild kangaroos become more social when caring for young and may maintain long-term affiliations with popular individuals
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347223001999#fig2
- Kangaroos Alive – a global movement for ethical treatment of kangaroos
- https://www.kangaroosalive.org/about-roos
Linda is a long term resident of Daylesford. She is a researcher, writer and public interest advocate
