Roo Roundup

January 2023
Edition #2

In this edition:

• Three exciting projects funded through our grant program

• 'Talking roos' at the 2022 NRM Knowledge Conference

• Other news: potential future projects, joint website, media and more!

Announcing KPP grant program funded projects

Following the closing of the grant program for applications, the assessment panel went through the careful process of considering each application alongside the priority themes of the KPP:

1. Animal welfare
2. Economic development and livelihoods
3. Environmental conservation, landscape management and sustainability
4. Improving social licence (community understanding and acceptance)
5. Moving forward together, engagement and alignment

Funding was awarded to Australian Wildlife Services, Kate Greenfield and collaborators, and the Nature Conservation Society of South Australia.

You can read more about each project below. If you are interested in receiving more information contact Emily Gregg (coordinator@sakangaroopartnership.com).

Making greater use of overabundant kangaroos to improve drought resilience – increasing value and reducing waste

Australian Wildlife Services (AWS) is preparing a report to identify steps and opportunities that would increase the value of kangaroos taken by commercial harvesters on pastoral properties. 

Managing overabundant kangaroos purely as ‘pests’ is expensive, non-productive, and has not achieved the objective of preventing drought-induced pasture degradation and wide scale kangaroo starvation. AWS is examining how adjustments in processes and activities on-farm by kangaroo harvesters, by graziers who are after all the ‘kangaroo producers’, and by processors can increase the quality, demand and hence the value of harvested kangaroos.  

Existing meat science knowledge is being reviewed to identify steps that might increase the proportion of the allowable quotas that are taken and so alleviate unwanted grazing pressure of overabundant kangaroos and increase drought resilience.

Product from harvesters could be differentiated along the value and processing chain on the basis of provenance (habitat of origin), sex, age, species and time since care since harvest. While there has been some application of this process, we believe that there is scope for more premium products. Business as usual under current costs and value structures means kangaroos are harvested in the same way for both pet food and human consumption. Provenance and traceability of age, sex and species is often lost.  

AWS has submitted a proposal to the Future Drought Fund for support for a project to research and create stronger incentives to enable total grazing pressure goals to be met at lower cost to landholders and within agreed kangaroo quotas. Higher value premium quality kangaroos will be produced for human consumption, while their waste and poorer-quality kangaroos will be used to generate fertiliser. If successful in obtaining funding AWS will be seeking engagement by kangaroo producers to emulate the innovations which have been applied to beef, lamb and goat industries. Such practices would improve product quality, accuracy of product description, reliability of supply, and enable environmental, social and governance (ESG) branding. Please contact the project team via the details below if you wish to be involved.

Melanie Edwards 
melanie.edwards@awt.com.au
George Wilson
george.wilson@anu.edu.au

Kangaroo Management Collective Pilot

A landscape scale Kangaroo Management Pilot Project has been granted funds to engage land managers to link together with the support of the Kangaroo Management Team, SAAL staff and local ecologists to collaboratively manage kangaroos in the SAAL region.

Kate Greenfield was awarded $20,000 from the Kangaroo Partnership Project Grants to work with land managers in the Kingoonya and Gawler Ranges regions of the SAAL, effectively along the western shores of Lake Torrens and west as far as Lake Gairdner, incorporating a land area of approximately 18 000km2. The pilot aims to draw on local knowledge and adaptation to improve kangaroo management outcomes in areas that have traditionally been very difficult to get over abundant kangaroo numbers under control. Previously only 19% of the kangaroo quota for the Gawler Ranges region has been filled, leaving at least 80% higher numbers than ecologically is sustainable, increasing risk of desertification, putting undue pressure on multiple vulnerable plant and animal species in the project area and putting added pressure on pastoral incomes.

A key aim of the pilot is to create a replicable approach to managing kangaroo populations at landscape scale and creating a system that breaks down barriers to effective kangaroo management in the Southern Rangelands. It is anticipated that kangaroos will be more effectively managed through the pilot project with positive long-term outcomes.

Raising awareness for kangaroo management

Through the Kangaroo Management Awareness Raising Project the Nature Conservation Society of South Australia seeks to build an effective awareness-raising campaign to amplify the narrative that kangaroo management is necessary for biodiversity and welfare outcomes.

This campaign will bring together various stakeholders, and compile and amplify the environmental and social research on kangaroo management including reports, interviews, opposing perspectives and footage. A range of case studies will be used to showcase the outcomes of managing overabundant native animals. This content will be shared and collaboratively communicated across the platforms of multiple eNGOs.

The project will also deliver a broad range of content that will be published strategically across social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Tik Tok and YouTube, as well as utilising conventional media. Interviews with kangaroo management champions, community leaders, Traditional Owners, and community members will be conducted, and high-impact imagery will be used to highlight the importance of kangaroo management.

Outcomes from this campaign aim to drive a movement of change that encourages South Australians to accept and support the need for kangaroo management. In addition to delivering a final report, NCSSA will design and deliver a workshop at the end of the project with key kangaroo management stakeholders. This interactive workshop will discuss and demonstrate the tools and strategies that NCSSA used throughout the project and evaluate its uptake and effectiveness in changing public opinion. We will also present options for future improvements and direction.

Are you interested in hearing more about these projects through webinars or email updates? Have other ideas for potential KPP workshops or projects? Please share your thoughts below.

'Talking roos' at the 2022 National NRM Knowledge Conference

The KPP coordinator, Emily Gregg, and steering committee chair, Jodie Gregg-Smith, co-facilitated a workshop on kangaroo management at the National NRM Knowledge Conference in Margaret River in late October. We facilitated the workshop in partnership with Fiona Garland from the NSW Kangaroo Management Taskforce (KMT) and Graeme Finlayson from Bush Heritage Australia (also a KPP steering committee member).

The workshop had around 26 attendees and provided an opportunity to hear about kangaroo management across Australia, from both presenters and participants in the workshop. The workshop was designed around the KPP themes. Short presentations were given to provide more information on these themes including:

• Trish Fleming from Murdoch University (WA) on social licence

• Trudy Sharp from NSW on animal welfare, NSW

• Steve McLeod (NSW KMT), 

• Graeme Finlayson on conservation and land management

• Emily Gregg on social license

• Jodie Gregg-Smith on partnerships (SA Kangaroo Partnership Project)

• Fiona Garland on partnerships (NSW KMT)

Unfortunately Neil Finch (Qld government) was unable to present but Fiona Garland ran through a summary of his presentation on Aboriginal Engagement.

As a result of the workshop and the substantial interest shown (15 out of 16 participants who completed our feedback survey expressed interest), we have created an NRM Regions Australia community of practice around kangaroo management, that will facilitate further cross-jurisdictional collaboration and knowledge sharing beyond the reach of the KPP. If you work for an NRM organisation and would like to be a part of the community of practice, please email coordinator@sakangaroopartnership.com.