Kangaroo Newsletter Kangamail 47

11/11/07

Driving back from meetings in Central Queensland last week I saw a white kangaroo roadkill. The kangaroo wasn't perfectly white, it had a pale grey back, and white legs and tummy. I would have thought it would be very visible to a driver, but the trucks on the Northern Highway travel at 100 km an hour and more, so I dont suppose the kangaroo had much chance. About one in ten thousand kangaroos is born white or partly white. Sometimes a white kangaroo wil have a white or partly white joey. Both red and grey kangaroos, quokkas, and some wallabies and pademelons are known to have occasional white births, caused by a lack of skin pigment. Usually they dont survive in the wild because they are too visible to predators, including shooters. White skins are eagerly sought after by kangaroo shooters. *

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Below are the authorised non-commercial kangaroo kill figures for Victoria from 1974 to 2006. Most were for grey kangaroos, but some were for Eastern and Western Greys, Reds, Red-necked Wallabies and Swamp Wallabies. In 2002 the figure includes 15,000 kangaroos killed at Pukapunyal Army Base.

1974 5301 1983 16540 1992 27178 2001 31739 1975 8797 1984 8024 1993 17374 *2002 89834 1976 8692 1985 9937 1994 N/A 2003 84976 1977 8691 1986 8802 1995 21400 2004 49622 1978 10121 1987 9471 1996 24110 2005 44308 1979 14451 1988 9979 1997 36484 2006 52199 1980 26535 1989 9579 1998 37751 1981 24678 1990 18726 1999 31264 1982 31848 1991 19259 2000 30574

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Defence culls hundreds of wallabies

An animal welfare organisation says wallabies have been culled at an airbase near Katherine. In August this year, a medical service plane hit a wallaby while taking off from the RAAF at Tindal. Mignon McKendree from the Darwin Wildlife Advocates Group says the Defence Force has since culled 350 wallabies, including joeys. "There's no way that with 350 animals there was not joeys. We would have expected 50 to 100 joeys coming in," she said. A defence spokesman says the number of wallabies in the area has been reduced because the animals pose a risk to nearby aircraft and RSPCA guidelines have been followed. *ABC

******************************* The campaign for the kangaroos in California has a long history.

In 1970 animal advocates such as Virginia Handley (who was working for the Fund for Animals) worked to get a law passed in California that would prevent the sale of certain animal parts in the State of California, one of which was the kangaroo.

In the early 1980s, the Fund for Animals contacted companies like Adidas to tell them they were violating the law. Later, a bill was introduced to remove kangaroos and crocodiles from the list. Eric Mills with Action for Animals sat in the pocket of a huge inflatable kangaroo to encourage the law be left intact.

Fast forward to August 2002. Viva! kicked off an international campaign against Adidas for using kangaroo skins and Viva!USA took our charge to the Adidas USA headquarters in Portland, OR. There we delivered a letter to Adidas once again, reminding them that they were violating California law.

On Valentine’s Day 2003, Senator Dennis Hollingsworth (no friend to the environment or animals) had introduced a bill (SB233) to remove both kangaroos and crocodiles from the law. On May 28, 2003, Viva!USA sued Adidas for violating California law. The bill did not go past the Senate Resources Committee.

In 2004, we saw two bills introduced in the legislature. Again, in the Senate by Senator Dennis Hollingsworth (SB1207) and in the Assembly by the late Assemblymember Marco Firebaugh (AB2915). The Senate version was stopped in the Senate Natural Resources Committee and the Assembly bill passed the Assembly Water, Parks, and Wildlife Committee, the Assembly floor and then was stopped in the Senate Committee. To his credit, Assemblymember Firebaugh met with me to discuss the issue. During this session, Hollingsworth attempted to do a quick gut & amend which was also stopped.

In 2005, a bill was introduced by Assemblymember Nicole Parra (AB734) (who also took the time to meet with me….or yell at me!) which passed the Assembly Committee and the Assembly floor and then when it was on its way to the Senate, Senator Mervyn Dymally took over the authorship. Here is where the bill was stopped but given reconsideration. The bill was formally stopped in June 2006.

Thanks to the great work of our pro bono attorney, Orly Degani, in July 2007, the California Supreme Court ruled that Viva!USA’s lawsuit against Adidas could continue. The Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeal’s earlier decision, which had dismissed Viva!USA’s lawsuit on the ground that the federal law preempts the California law on which Viva!USA’s claim against Adidas was based. The California law prohibited the sale of kangaroo products within California.

In 2007, SB880 was introduced by Senator Ron Calderon. This is the bill that eventually passed and was signed into law by the Governor on October 13, 2007.

SB 880 removed this protection for kangaroos. It amended the California law so that it is no longer illegal to sell kangaroo products in California. Unfortunately, the passage of SB 880 eliminates the basis for Viva!USA’s lawsuit against Adidas, rendering the victory in the California Supreme Court a hollow one.

I know that hundreds if not thousands of you, joined us all of these years to call and write to speak out to the kangaroos. I just want to thank you so much for all of your help and perseverance.

And a thanks as well to those legislators who saw this special interest bill for what it was and who care about animals and voted NO on all of these bills that passed before them!

Now, I apologize for any organization I have forgotten, so I hope if I have left someone off, you can cut me some slack as this has been a long struggle. I guess one of the reasons, I list everyone is to show how diverse the team has been working on the issue and how, we, as a movement, have really fought off this bill for so long. Estimated cost for Adidas on the legislation alone, was at least half a million dollars. This year, they were able to give more money, but still, as a team, we do have so much power!

Action for Animals (Oakland) American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Animal Defense League – Los Angeles Animal Legal Defense Fund Animal Liberation Australia Animal Place Animal Protection Institute Animal Rights Network of San Diego Animal Society Federation Animal Switchboard Animals Voice Australian Wildlife Protection Council Australian's for Wildlife Bay Area Vegetarians California Animal Association California Federation for Animal Legislation Contra Costa Humane Society Defenders of Wildlife Democratic Action Center East Bay Animal Advocates Farm Sanctuary Green Party of Yolo County Humane Education Network Humane Society of the United States In Defense of Animals Kangaroo Protection Co-operative Last Chance for Animals League of Humane Voters - California Chapter Los Angeles Lawyers for Animals Marin Humane Society National Lawyer's Guild, Los Angeles Chapter Ohlone Humane Society PAW Project PawPAC Peninsula Humane Society People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals Quaker Concern for Animals SHARK Sierra Club of California Sonoma People for Animal Rights Students at Sacred Heart Prep School, Atherton, CA United Animal Nations Vegan Outreach Viva!UK Voiceless, Australia Wildlife Protection Association of Australia World League of Protection of Animals

Thanks to everyone who wrote letters, called, leafleted, came to the Capitol, held your legislators accountable and did all that you could.

For the animals, lauren Ornelas (former director of Viva!USA www.vivausa.org) Founder/Director, Food Empowerment Project. www.foodispower.org

Ed Comment; One of the reasons we lost this was because the Australian Federal Government sent two "kangaroo experts" to California to argue directly to the Senate Commitee in favor of the conmmercial kangaroo kill.

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Yanchep Golf Club Kangaroo Shootout On Friday night the shooters started shooting kangaroos at the Yanchep Sun City Golf Course, at 8pm Perth time. We heard there may be a shoot a few weeks ago, and I wrote to the WA Minister to no avail. The Editor of the local paper also asked the Golf Club Manager wether they were applying for a Permit, but the Manager refused to talk to him. The kangaroos come from the adjacent National Park. Four years ago they had another shoot, but we managed to stop them before they shot too many. We asked that they erect a fence if they didnt want the kangaroos there, but they haven't done that either. A Google search Yanchep Sun City Golf Course brings up several adverts spruiking on about the kangaroos and how great it is to see kangaroos on the Yanchep Golf Course.....now they have shot them! The Golf Course is also very close to the residential area. In the last shoot the local police officer was one of the shooters...... A report from a local resident. "So far have counted 10 shots & I can see them out their with their spot lights. Feel so helpless. It is now 9:40pm & i have heard a total of 30 shots. They not finished yet. It is now 10:30pm & i have heard 45 shots. Also at approx 9pm i heard a bunch of probably teenagers yelling and carrying on, on the golf coarse. I had last heard the shooters not far from this area. On the weekends you sometimes hear kids out there messing around. Not a good mix, teenagers hanging around where they may get shot accidentally. If not for the kangaroos then maybe they can be stopped for the risk of shotting a teenager.(might work) 11pm & i think it has finished. 47 shots that I heard." Of course we will do an FOI search on the Permit and see what we can find out. There must be someone with very strong political connections on the Golf Club Committee to be able to get away with this. Also what we are going to do is contact all the websites that advertise this Golf Club, and suggest they remove the comments about the kangaroos...... *WPAA