HUNDREDS of kangaroos trapped on a private property at Cape Schanck are being offered a chance to escape back to the neighbouring national park.
The kangaroos have lived on the Cape Schanck property for years but were trapped late last year by high fencing that did allow them a way out.
The kangaroos were also caught in a web of bureaucratic argument – which saw the issuing and later rescission of a licence to kill them – between the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Environment, Mornington Peninsula Shire Council, animal activists and the property’s manager Ken Neff.
Mr Neff says he feels stuck between a “rock and a hard place” and just wants the best outcome for the kangaroos, while still being able to use the land for market gardening, as intended.
He said he had received death threats and been painted as the “evil protagonist”, but that DELWP had only given him the option of culling the kangaroos.
“They won’t allow me to herd the animals out, so what option am I left with?” he said.
“I really want the best outcome for the kangaroos, but I have been given few options”.
In a last ditch effort to get the kangaroos to leave, he has now peeled back fencing in two spots as “escape routes” and installed a gate to allow the kangaroos to leave.
However, as herding was still banned, he said the cull option was still on the table as a last resort.
“Hopefully, if that eventuates, the noise and movement of people will force most of the kangaroos to leave,” he said.
A one-way gate, as earlier suggested, was not an option “at this stage”, he said, as it would take too long for the kangaroos to learn to use it and risked separating mothers from their joeys.
“I hope the kangaroos leave, because that’s the best welfare option,” Mr Neff said.
Mary Waterman, from Save the Kangaroos of Mornington Peninsula, said volunteers were “greatly relieved” to see that a gate had been opened and small sections of the wildlife exclusion fencing rolled back.
She said there was evidence that the kangaroos may already be moving back to their home range in the Greens Bush section of Mornington Peninsula National Park.
But she said it did not make sense that Mr Neff was now refusing to install the one-way gates, which DELWP had agreed to pay for.
“Ideally, we want to see the one-way gates put in place, because now they will just go back and forth,” she said.
“One-way gates will ensure that the kangaroos leave the property and do not return.
“With the current arrangements of open gates and fences some kangaroos may remain on the property and others may go back in to be with their mob.
“The land manager had agreed to install one-way gates as offered by shire CEO John Baker, to allow the gentle release of the kangaroos. However, DELWP has advised us that he has now changed his mind. We do not know why.
“We need wildlife cameras in place to monitor what the kangaroos are doing, also offered by the shire”
Ms Waterman said evidence showed that all kangaroos would safely leave the property once they were confident to use the gates.
“It may take a number of weeks for this to happen … patience and monitoring of the situation will be essential now.”
First published in the Southern Peninsula News – 5 April 2022
