Help stop the aerial culling in Victoria's western district! The Victorian government has increased its aerial culling of deer in the western district of our beautiful state, and it needs to stop. After a severe bushfire season, many of these areas no longer have a large number of deer. The proposed aerial culling extends beyond national parks and reserves to include state forests. Those who use the bush and those who hunt know how difficult it can be to find a deer in this area, and now they want to remove the few that are left.

It's time to say enough is enough. The locals don't want the deer gone, the hikers and bush users don't want the deer gone, and the hunters don't want the deer gone.

 The Australian Deer Association released some figures regarding the most recent aerial culling and its cost.

The cost-of-living crisis raises concerns about justifying government expenses for relatively small returns. How can we justify allowing natural resources to go to waste and nurture invasive species like feral dogs, cats, and foxes, while there are struggling families unable to put food on their tables?

The Game Management authority published its statistics for the last year. In 2023, there were 52321 licensed hunters who took an estimated 137090 deer in Victoria. This means that 52321 people paid for license fees, bought food, and fuel from small towns and local businesses—towns that struggle during the off-season. If the government were to remove the same number of deer, it would cost an estimated $270.88 per deer, according to the statistics. This would amount to a total of $37134939.2, just to achieve what hunters are already doing, and we pay for that privilege. This amounts to $37 million that could be used to address the housing crisis, fix our shocking roads, and more. Like spending on our emergency who have been understaffed, underpaid and under-supported for years now. We could use funds to back burn and properly manage the fire season to come.

 This area that is being suggested is much more than we think and can be viewed at.

DEECA Grampians Deer Management Program 2024-25 (mapshare.vic.gov.au)

Please don’t wait. Help us put a stop to this waste of taxpayer money and this waste of a natural resource. If we can gather enough signatures, we can hand it over to the right people who can make a case for us. But we need to start somewhere.