A 74-year-old antiques store owner from Kyneton was fined $10,000 in court on Tuesday after pleading guilty to 13 charges, including possessing and selling protected wildlife and failing to provide treatment to a sick animal, theguardian.com reported. Conservation regulators seized more than 700 native animals—including dozens of frozen emus, possums, and echidnas—during raids on the man’s property and store in April of last year.
Seizure of 700 dead native animals and frozen freezers
Investigators executing search warrants discovered 14 freezers packed with hundreds of dead native birds, mammals, and reptiles. The haul included 78 emus, 42 brushtail possums, and 26 echidnas, alongside the remains of threatened species such as the barking owl, diamond python, and Murray River short-necked turtle. The property also housed 15 live reptiles in enclosures, including corn snakes and North American red-eared slider turtles, with six failing to meet required animal welfare standards.
Magistrate and regulator reactions to wildlife laws
Appearing at the Kyneton local court, Magistrate Patrick Southey rebuked the defendant during sentencing. “It is bewildering that a man of your intelligence and knowledge and love of wildlife would arrogantly flout the law so comprehensively,” Southey said. Cal Heppell, the conservation regulator's director of regulatory operations, stated that the sheer scale of the offending shows why strict protections against unlawful exploitation are necessary.
Calls from parliament for modernized wildlife legislation
Animal Justice Party MP Georgie Purcell criticized the outcome as inadequate, arguing that the $10,000 penalty fails to deter illegal wildlife trade or reflect community expectations. Purcell called on the Victorian government to overhaul the 50-year-old Wildlife Act 1975, stating that the case exposes severe vulnerabilities in current native animal protections.
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