However, wildlife volunteers say the kangaroos have been landlocked on the site since 2017, when they became stuck between two main roads and a housing development when construction on the new Mernda railway line prevented the mob from accessing their home on the adjacent Plenty Gorge national park. Australian Society for Kangaroos president Nikki Sutterby said wildlife volunteers had been willing and ready to help sedate and relocate the kangaroos to Plenty Gorge for more than a year with Woolworths' co-operation, but had been stone walled by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning. “We said that once the rail line opened in August it was going to be dangerous,” Ms Sutterby said. “We were ready to go and they [DELWP] ignored us for over a year.” Ms Sutterby has been involved in the relocation of kangaroos mobs in the past where vets and volunteers contained, sedated and transported kangaroos in small groups over a period of nights until the whole mob was moved. “It’s not complicated as long as you know kangaroo behaviour,” she said. “Thirty or 40 kangaroos you can get done in a week.”

An online petition, which started a year ago, has so far has garnered more than 17,000 signatures and counting and is demanding the immediate relocation of the mob. Local volunteer wildlife carer Krysti Severi believes more than a dozen kangaroos have been killed while they have waited for the bureaucratic red tape to be lifted. "We believe there were initially about 60 kangaroos that were stuck on that site and now there's only 30 or 40 there," she said. "I know of at least eight that have been killed by cars that we've found dead or that we've had to euthenise. "It's hard to know what has happened to the others.

A dead roo near a busy intersection in Mernda. Credit:Scott McNaughton "It's dangerous. Not just to the kangaroos but to the public. These roos have caused some significant damage to the cars that they've hit too." In a statement, DELWP confirmed that an Authority to Control Wildlife permit for Woolworths to relocate the roos had been signed off in early June. “An ATCW is a permit from DELWP to scare, disperse or destroy wildlife,” a DELWP spokesperson said. “In this case, the ATCW issued to Woolworths does not permit the lethal control of the kangaroos, but will facilitate the safe return of the kangaroos to Plenty Gorge later this year.”

On Sunday, Woolworths confirmed that after waiting more than a year for permission to relocate the roos, it now had all the required permits to begin the relocation process, but would not say exactly when it would begin. "We now have all our permits in place and expect to be able to undertake the relocation of the kangaroos very shortly, following some final minor fence improvements," said Don Foulds, Woolworths Senior Development Manager. Mr Foulds has been working with local wildlife groups, DELWP, Park Victoria, and Whittlesea City Council to move the roos since learning of the issue last year. Woolworths also confirmed the relocation of the kangaroos would not be done under sedation, which was the preferred method of local wildlife volunteers. Rather, it will involve creating a temporary path and encouraging the kangaroos through a gate to to return to their home on the adjoining Plenty Gorge.

It said the method of relocating the roos was agreed in consultation with expert consultants and DELWP. It denied the method was a form of "herding" but would encourage them back to their home using gentle methods such as placing food along the path back to the gorge. However, Ms Severi insists sedating, otherwise known as 'darting' the animals would be a much more humane way of doing it. "Darting is a much nicer experience for them and also reduces the risk of families being broken up," she said. "The way they are going to do it isn't going to be pleasant and there is a risk of some kangaroos getting scared and taking off and getting separated from their families or getting injured." The Mernda case is one example of an ever present problem in peri-urban areas as development encroaches on bushland and grasslands on the city’s fringes.

A report by an Australian insurance company, released this month, found more than 7000 drivers are involved in, and claim for, kangaroo collisions in Australia each year. Huddle Insurance's 'Roo Report' found Mernda and nearby Doreen is home to the highest number of claims for kangaroo collisions in the state. In fact, the kangaroo problem in Mernda and Doreen has become so bad that earlier this month the City of Whittlesea held a community drop-in session for residents to learn more about how to live safely with kangaroos in urban areas. It has also launched an interactive map the enables local residents to record details of their encounters with kangaroos in the area. The map shows the intersection of Plenty Road and Bridge Inn Road is a hot spot for such encounters. Ms Sutterby said given the increasing encroachment of kangaroos and wildlife in peri-urban areas, they needed more acknowledgement in environmental assessments and planning permit conditions to begin with.