On the afternoon of Sunday 18 October, local residents watched a mob of kangaroos bolt from dogs in the parkland beside the Point Fullarton wetlands, just above the end of the Burden Place canal in Paynesville. The mob ran straight into the fence at the entrance to the Paynesville to Eagle Point walking track. A female was critically injured. Even stunned and distressed, she struggled a short distance away when dogs on leads came towards her. She died soon after. The picture below shows her at the entrance to the track. Residents recorded what happened and sent us their photos and video.
That’s nine kangaroos since August.
The fence is what turned a frightened kanagroo into a dead one.
These kangaroos are part of our community, and we are displacing them. They have used this land to reach the Ramsar reserve for generations, and the fence cuts straight across the corridors they rely on, squeezing them into a narrow strip that walkers and cyclists use every day.
That puts people and panicked kangaroos in the same bottleneck. There’s no stopping a kangaroo in full flight, and we fear it’s only a matter of time before someone on the track is seriously hurt.
Last Sunday showed how quickly a mob can panic. Kangaroos bolting through a narrow corridor put walkers, cyclists and families directly in their path, and a collision with a large kangaroo could potentially kill someone.
Why is the fence still there?
Council has told the community the Commonwealth regulator wants the fence to stay. We’re asking why it must stay now, when it serves no purpose, keeps killing wildlife and puts people at risk.
If someone on the walking track is seriously hurt this summer, when children, older people and families are out in numbers, who will take responsibility for a fence that didn’t need to be there yet?
If this is the No Go Zone fencing the EPBC approval requires to protect native vegetation, it only has to be in place before clearing or construction begins. The same approval bars any works until the Latham’s Snipe have migrated, which is unlikely before February or March 2027. That fencing is there to keep machinery, vehicles and construction materials out of the protected vegetation. It was never meant to keep wildlife out, or to funnel panicked kangaroos into the path of people on the walking track.
If it’s the temporary fencing for the offset site, the answer is the same: the approval only requires it during construction, and construction can’t begin until the snipe have migrated.
What you can do
Please call or email Council, the National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA) and the developer. Ask that the fence be removed until it’s actually needed or, at the very least, made safe as the developer’s own wildlife plan sets out: sealed at the base, marked so animals can see it, and open on the mob’s route to the reserve. Ask Council, too, how it is working with NEPA to resolve this.
East Gippsland Shire Council
(03) 5153 9500
feedback@egipps.vic.gov.au
National Environmental Protection Agency (EPBC compliance)
environment.compliance@nationalepa.gov.au
Resi Ventures (the developer)
1300 031 260
land@resiventures.com.au
A short message is enough, for example: “A ninth kangaroo has died at the Fullarton Drive fence. Please have it removed until it’s needed, or made safe, before someone on the walking track is hurt.” Please keep it polite. The people answering the phones aren’t the decision-makers, and courteous messages get read.
To dog owners
Please keep dogs on a lead near the wetlands and, if you can, avoid walking them there in the early mornings and late afternoons, when kangaroos are most active. While the development’s temporary fence is up, a startled mob can bolt straight into it.
In fairness to dog walkers, there are no signs asking for dogs to be on a lead, or explaining that the parkland is part of the Point Fullarton Reserve, within the internationally listed Gippsland Lakes Ramsar site. Until the fence comes down, we encourage people to walk their dogs on the Fort King Island walking track, on the other side of the canals and only a minutes’ drive away.
The Conservation Regulator has asked that anyone who sees off-lead dogs chasing wildlife in the reserve or on the walking track call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or report it online.
Thank you