Chloe got up just as the alarm was about to go off. She dressed quickly and sat at the breakfast table. On the counter was the daily newspaper, so she picked it up wondering if there might be news about her trip.
Shocked she sat there with her mouth open and eyes bulging, unable to believe what she was reading. On the front page it said:
‘The Department of Sustainability and Environment revealed today that it has culled 21 Eastern grey kangaroos at Mill Park, South Morang. It was done in secret to avoid public interference.’
Her mother came to the kitchen and saw Chloe reading the paper. She had never seen her daughter’s face show so much pain and it made tears flood her eyes and spill down her face.
Chloe looked up at her mother and shouted ‘Mum they killed them! They killed all of Joey’s family! WHY, WHY, WHY?’
Chloe ran to her room and threw herself on the bed, unable to stop sobbing.
After a few minutes her mum went into Chloe’s room and gently stroked Chloe’s hair. “I’m so sorry, baby. It is terrible what they did. Do you understand why they did it?”
Chloe was not interested in reasons. She was only feeling her deep grief about how Joey would feel knowing not just his mother but his whole family – his father, uncle, sister and brother – were now dead. It just wasn’t right for a little joey to be all alone without any of his family! How would he cope? And if Mrs Johnston released him where would he go now? What if Joey ended up with a mob of kangaroos also trapped in an area being developed, that were then culled? It was all just too much.
Chloe’s mother went to the kitchen and finished reading the article. It went on ‘The mob had lived on bushland next to Westfield Plenty Valley for several years but had become landlocked as commercial and road development encroached on the space.’
Chloe’s dad came into the kitchen and saw his wife reading the article. “Disgusting isn’t it? DSE says the kangaroos were starving, what rubbish! They looked perfectly healthy to me when I saw them last week!”
“Yes and the guy from DSE expected them to somehow move from the area, safely crossing freeways and busy highways all by themselves” replied Chloe’s mum. The wildlife organisations could have collected the money to relocate them and already had safe locations to move them to. All they needed was the permission but instead the DSE went and killed them without warning! And to think there were four joeys that were killed. It is so wrong that they can do this,” she added.
Brooke came into the kitchen and joined the discussion. She had been the first to read the paper and had also read about it on the Internet. “Mum, the article says that the reason why the kangaroos were killed was so kangaroos in other areas around the country would not be moved too. Why can’t the government just spend the money and take care of kangaroos? The Wildlife organisations had advice from Australia Zoo on how to make the relocation a success. Why wouldn’t they at least try it? I don’t understand.”
“Well, dear,” said Brooke’s mother “It’s cheaper and easier to shoot kangaroos than to move them. I can’t think of any other explanation. It all boils down to money. Whittlesea council, Victoria Police and VicRoads were working with the wildlife organisations, why couldn’t DSE?“
Chloe was now listening to them behind her closed door.
“It is such a tragedy” said Brooke’s father. “The wildlife organisation had made submissions and were waiting to hear back from DSE about their relocation proposals but the department killed secretly without giving any warning. These people worked for four long years trying to rescue these kangaroos and then the department went and pulled the rug from under their feet. Can you imagine how devastated they must be feeling right now?”
Chloe’s dad continued to read the article out loud; “Mr Waters said it was State Government policy not to move common wildlife due to welfare concerns, public safety and cost.”
“Oh so does that mean that it’s in the wildlife’s best interests to kill them!” shouted Brooke. Her eyes were red from crying and now she was feeling angry, really angry.
“It says ‘Wildlife Victoria will hold a candlelight vigil for the kangaroos in Oleander Drive on Sunday.’ I suppose that is the last chance for us to say goodbye to our friends, the beautiful kangaroos?” Brooke ran into her room and locked the door. Everyone could hear her crying loudly and shouting her feelings out.
Chloe did not end up going to school that day, or the next. She had a lot of thinking to do and she needed to be alone. She stayed in bed under the covers and did not want to eat anything. Her mother took her some water and orange juice and asked her if she wanted anything to eat, but Chloe just stared blankly at the wall as if she was dead.
The only good thing Chloe could think of was that at least Joey had been saved. If his mother had not been killed by the school bus that day and if Mrs Johnston had not cared for Joey, he might be dead now along with the rest of his family.
This thought gave her strength. She couldn’t give up the fight now! Kiwi said there were kangaroos everywhere in need of help. If Chloe and Joey could not stop the kangaroos being killed at Mill Park, maybe they could stop kangaroos being killed somewhere else. They still had the magic green stone, maybe that would give them secret powers to stop the killing of kangaroos in the future?
She remembered the wise words of Kiwi about changing the attitude of people to wildlife if extinction was to be avoided. There was a lot of work to be done and she needed help from the kind people at the wildlife organisation.
Chloe’s lips smiled slightly as her eyes narrowed and her brows furrowed with grim determination. She wanted to do everything in her power to protect kangaroos. Her fighting spirit was born!
She reached for the phone.