The Silent Harvesting of Kangaroos

THE SILENT HARVESTING OF KANGAROOS

Not many people outside of Australia eat kangaroo meat and the people who do think that it’s a more ethical and sustainable alternative to other animal products. However, in reality, the kangaroo industry is just as cruel and untenable.

Approximately 3 million of these highly social and intelligent kangaroos are killed commercially in Australia each year. Kangaroos are known to be fragile animals that live in an emotionally and socially rich mob structure. There is strong evidence to show that kangaroos form strong bonds amongst one another and grieve when one of the mob is lost.

Unlike other animals raised for food such as cows and pigs, kangaroos are shot in their remote, natural habitat by people ranging from recreational to professional hunters. This allows for no effective monitoring of animal welfare.

While the relevant Commonwealth Codes of Practice for “humane” commercial kangaroo shooting requires kangaroos to be slaughtered via a single shot to the head, the capacity of a clean kill can be impaired by many factors.

Such factors include poor visibility as kangaroo hunting usually takes place at night, the size of the kangaroo’s head presenting a small target, and some shooters’ limited skills and inexperience.

Even conservative estimates suggest that more than tens of thousands of adult kangaroos commercially “processed” each year are not killed in a clean manner. Instead, it is likely that many kangaroos are simply wounded and endure a long and painful death.

Furthermore, kangaroos that are shot in the body cannot be commercially harvested for meat. These victims are simply left in the field as they are no longer profitable and left to suffer in agony.

Then there are the estimated 1.1 million dependent joeys at foot or in a pouch, a year, which are considered “collateral damage” by the industry. The young are either bashed to head on the head with a metal pipe or against the tow bar of the hunter’s truck or decapitated. The Code refers to this as “euthanasia”. Alternatively, once their mother is killed, the joey is abandoned and left to starve.  

Kangaroos are often butchered in the field and transported on unrefrigerated open trucks. A two-year investigation conducted by the Wildlife Protection Association of Australia and Animal Liberation NSW found that many of the carcasses stored by this industry were contaminated by dangerous bacteria, including E. coli, streptococcus, and staphylococcus.

Moreover, environmental arguments that kangaroo meat is a sustainable alternative to cows and lamb do not withstand rigorous scientific scrutiny, according to ecologists Dr. David Croft, Dr. Dror Ben Ami and Dr. Dan Ramp from the 'THINKK' tank at the University of Technology (UTS) Sydney.

They found that to provide Australians with just one small portion of kangaroo meat a week, 22 million kangaroos would have to be slaughtered every year. The total population of kangaroos would need to be 151 million to support this demand. This is more than five times the 30-year average population of 27 million.

Kangaroo meat may also not be as healthy as previously thought after scientists found a component of red meat called L-carnitine, most prevalent in the Australian animal, is associated with the buildup of plaque in arteries which causes heart attacks, strokes, and vascular diseases. 

Not only that, but fresh kangaroo meat is poisoning our animals too. A Today Tonight investigation has revealed some pet meat made from kangaroo could be harming and even killing our pets. Veterinarian Dr. Rita Singh found that the kangaroo meat was loaded with dangerous preservatives, namely Sulphur dioxide.

Sulphur dioxide is added to fresh pet meats and fish to preserve it, mask the smell and prevent discolouration. It is not allowed in meat meant for human consumption but it can be dangerous for pets as it destroys vitamins essential to survive.

Kangaroos are also slaughtered for other products in the form of leather to make sporting shoes, gloves, accessories and, souvenirs.

Once people know the ugly truth about Kangaroo meat and leather, most would find this barbaric abuse of Australia’s iconic animal and beloved national symbol hard to stomach.