Each night in remote areas of the Australian outback thousands of kangaroos graze peacefully, stand up on hearing an approaching vehicle, stare into a blinding spotlight, and are shot for their meat and skins.

The commercial kangaroo kill ‘quota’ for 2007 (the number permitted to be killed) is just over 3.6 million kangaroos. In the past several years the full quota of kangaroos have been killed in several States; just recently kangaroo shooters have taken to ‘camping’ on the doorstep of NSW wildlife authorities to secure their ‘tag’ allocation.

Due to the remote locations where this shoot takes place there is no effective monitoring of animal welfare. No statistics are available for the animals that are wounded and escape only to endure a long painful death. Even conservative estimates suggest that at least 4% of adult kangaroos commercially ‘processed’ each year, or around 100,000 carcasses, show evidence that they were not humanely shot in the head as is required by the kangaroo industry Code of Practice.

The fate of orphaned young, too small to be of any commercial value to hunters, is equally grim. ‘In pouch’ joeys of shot mothers are either decapitated (if very small) or killed with a blow to the head. Dependant ‘at foot’ joeys often escape, and suddenly face a life alone, often falling victim to predators, exposure or starvation. The mother and joey bond is immensely strong. Red kangaroos are not weaned until a year after birth and Eastern and Western Grey Kangaroos are not weaned until they are nearly 18 months old. It is estimated that 300,000 ‘at foot’ joeys die each year.

Don’t be fooled by protests that kangaroos are shot because they compete with grazing animals – this mass slaughter is purely and simply a commercial kill of Australian wildlife. Some skins and meat products are used domestically (60 to 70 % of kangaroo meat goes into the Australian pet food market), and the rest is exported to 55 countries as leather or meat for human consumption. Kangaroo leather is widely used in the manufacture of sporting shoes and gloves as well as in dress shoes and accessory manufacture.

Animals Australia and all other Australian animal protection groups strongly oppose, on welfare grounds, this mass slaughter of Australian wildlife. Aside from the obvious welfare problems, this annual slaughter is also putting the future of this unique species at risk. A two year investigation of the industry presented evidence that, coupled with the drought, the annual hunt is seriously affecting the future viability of the kangaroo populations targeted by shooters.

In shooting areas, since the commencement of the drought kangaroo numbers have fallen some 59% - from over 57 million (2001) to an estimated 23.6 million in 2006 (based on aerial survey of the killing zones).

A recent investigation - conducted by the Wildlife Protection Association of Association (WPAA) and Animal Liberation NSW and based on information provided by a kangaroo industry 'whistleblower’ - found evidence of unsustainable and damning practices in the kangaroo industry. Some 24 chillers (holding facilities for carcasses) around NSW and Southern QLD were inspected and samples from carcasses taken for testing. This investigation revealed that:

• A large proportion (70-80%) of stored carcasses were non-preferred female kangaroos, indicating a likely current population imbalance, and indicating that there are only low numbers of (the larger preferred) males available to shoot. This is of great concern as these strong adult males are needed to maintain an ongoing healthy gene pool.
• Many of the carcasses were barely above the (NSW) minimum permitted ‘human consumption' weight of 13kg, and those females were unlikely to have even had a single joey - revealing once again an absence from the population of the larger adult kangaroos.
• Carcasses swabbed by investigators were contaminated by dangerous bacteria, including E.coli, Streptococcus and Staphylococcus.

As a result of this investigation, during the past month campaigners from WPAA and Animal Liberation NSW have traveled around Europe and Russia to hold press conferences alerting consumers of kangaroo meat to the plight of these animals in Australia and to the innate cruelty in the industry.

Once again we have a cruel animal industry which continues only because it can operate without public scrutiny.

Tonight, when you are sleeping peacefully, in the Australian outback the peaceful existence of thousands of gentle animals who have harmed no-one will end violently – for the sake of the mighty dollar.

What you can do

Don’t buy kangaroo meat/leather/fur products.

Write to the Federal Environment Minister and express your condemnation of this mass slaughter of Australian wildlife:

The Hon Peter Garrett MP
Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts
Parliament House, Canberra ACT 2600
Tel: (02) 6277 7640
Email:

For more information on this investigation and the plight of kangaroos, visit the kangaroo protection coallition

Photos 

See also:New Kangaroo Code Sanctions Animal CrueltyWallaby carnage on King IslandRoo cull put on holdDefence Department poised to kill kangaroos in CanberraGovt doctored roo cull report

The world's largest land-based commercial wildlife slaughter is in our own backyard.

(What is this?) Share this page...

digg this technorati del.icio.us stumble upon hugg this