Kangaroo Newsletter Archives 8The 2005 harvest period for Common Wallaroos in the Queensland Central Region and Red Kangaroos in the Western Region will close on Saturday, 5 November 2005. Section 5 of the Nature Conservation (Macropod Harvesting Period) Notice 2005 provides the Chief Executive of the Environmental Protection Agency the power to close a harvest period for macropods if he is satisfied that the maximum number of macropod species for a relevant region will have been taken by a particular day. The Chief Executive is satisfied that the quota will be at capacity for the following species by this closure date: 1. Common Wallaroos (Macropus robustus) in the Central Region. This closure is effective for the local government areas of Aramac, Balonne, Barcaldine, Barcoo, Bendemere, Blackall, Booringa, Bulloo, Bungil, Flinders, Ilfracombe, Isisford, Longreach, McKinlay, Murilla, Murweh, Paroo, Quilpie, Richmond, Tambo, Tara, Taroom, Waggamba, Warroo and Winton. 2. Red Kangaroos (Macropus rufus) in the Western Region. This closure is effective for the local government areas of Boulia, Burke, Carpentaria, Cloncurry, Diamantina and Mount Isa. No further recreational or commercial harvest of these macropod species in these areas is provided for from 5 November 2005 until the declaration of a new Harvest Period in 2006. Please contact the Macropod Management Program on (07) 4654 1255 if you have any questions relating to this advice. ********************************************
The new AWCP book "Kangaroos, Myths and Realities" had a spectacular launch in Sydney on Monday, with 80 people in attendance. The launch at Parliament House was hosted by Tony Bonner, who flew the chopper in the Skippy series, and Lynda Stoner. Edited by Maryland Wilson and Dr David Croft, the book has 34 articles by academics and activists. Every argument that can be used against the Kangaroo kill Industry is featured somewhere in the book, and it includes some excellent photography. The book can be purchased from AWPC, 247 Flinders Lane, Melbourne 3000, for $30 plus $10 postage, ($40 total) or phone Maryland at 03 59788570 for wholesale inquiries. * For those who live in Sydney or are currently visiting, both Wynyard and Town Hall rail stations are a featuring a huge poster about the kangaroo kill. The billboard pictures a joey peering from its mother’s pouch, and clearly states "every night thousands of mothers are shot for their meat, fur and skin, and motherless joeys are clubbed to death or flee to die of exposure and starvation." It’s very effective, and is seen by hundreds of thousands of commuters every day. We will put a picture of it on the www.kangaroo-protection-coalition.com http://www.kangaroo-protection-coalition.com/ website soon. The billboard was funded by local animal and wildlife groups, but only has funding for 3 months. * ******************************************** Anyone who watched Skippy would remember Tony Bonner, the actor who played the helicopter pilot, Jerry King. It is nearly 40 years since the first of the 91 Skippy episodes hit Australian television (the series also became a worldwide success), but Bonner is still passionate about kangaroos and last week helped launch the book Kangaroos: Myths and Realities. It is the third such book published by the Australian Wildlife Protection Council with the aim of stopping the annual government-sanctioned "cruel murder" of millions of kangaroos that it claims is putting kangaroos in danger of extinction. The council's president, Maryland Wilson, says in the book that while Australia condemns the likes of Japan for whale hunting, "Australians support the largest and most cruel slaughter of wildlife on earth. We cannot see our own hypocrisy when we cruelly slaughter kangaroos and bash their joeys to death. "A long and sustained program of misinformation within Australia has convinced an apathetic and ill-informed community that kangaroos are in plague proportions throughout the country. It is time to maximise the limitless potential of wildlife tourism and to embrace the non-consumptive use of our betrayed, maligned and misunderstood kangaroos." One chapter links the killing of kangaroos with violence among people in rural communities, while in the foreword the ethicist Peter Singer says: "One day Australians will look back on what we are doing to wildlife in horror, as we now look back at what the first Europeans to land in Australia did to the Aboriginal people who were living here. "We need a Mabo decision for Australia's wild animals, a legal recognition of their special status as original residents of Australia." The book is the latest missile to be fired in the war between those who see the kangaroo industry as one of Australia's greatest sins and those who see it one of the country's greatest goods. It follows the recent release of a five-year plan for the kangaroo industry that aims to greatly increase our consumption of kangaroos by overcoming what the industry calls the "Skippy syndrome" - a reluctance to eat the national icon. While Australians aren't marching in the streets to demand an end to the shooting of millions of kangaroos each year, neither are they stampeding the local butcher's to buy kangaroo meat. The majority of kangaroo meat is turned into pet food and most of what is for human consumption is exported. But, since last year, the industry has paid a levy of 3.5 cents per animal, matched dollar-for-dollar by government, which is producing a pool of more than $200,000 a year to spend on research and development. Two of the industry's priorities are getting out information about its "responsible conduct" and "diversifying markets for human consumption". In the past the take of kangaroos has been well below the quotas set by conservation agencies, but the strategic plan says this is about to change: "The industry has a long-term average annual growth rate in take of 7 per cent. This coupled with population declines as a result of the ongoing drought since 2003 has led to the situation where the industry is highly likely to take the entire annual quota through the next few years." In some areas of NSW this has already happened for the first time, says John Kelly, the executive officer of the Kangaroo Industries Association of Australia, and prices are good. One of the strategic plan's aims is to ensure supply by getting access to all of eastern NSW - which is off limits to licensed hunters. Kelly says research has shown that more than 50 per cent of Australians have tried kangaroo and he believes the proportion who agree kangaroos should be harvested has grown from about 75 per cent 10 years ago to 85 per cent. We are, he says, a "nation maturing to the idea" of eating our national symbol. As the plan points out, there is plenty of room for growth in consumption. Even if all the kangaroos that could be taken were taken and the meat was sold domestically, sales would represent only about 4.5 per cent of the domestic red meat market. The industry's great task is simply justifying its existence in the face of constant criticism. Kelly is yet to read the latest anti-industry book, but says the previous one was "a litany of lies, misrepresentations, vitriol and violence". His strategic plan says: "[The kangaroo industry] has been demonstrated via several intensive and independent investigations to operate humanely and sustainably." Options to achieve growth range from working harder on the diet industry and doctors about the health benefits of kangaroo meat, to "an aggressive attempt to capitalise on the perceived environmental benefits of the industry". What has undoubtedly helped win over Australians, Kelly says, is prominent scientists such as Mike Archer and Tim Flannery spruiking the idea of eating kangaroo meat as a means of saving Australia's ecosystems. The industry's website opens with quotes from Flannery, condemning the way Australians have imposed European animals on the fragile landscape and extolling the harvest of native animals as having "the potential to deliver enormous environmental benefits". Archer, Flannery's former boss at the Australian Museum and now professor of science at the University of NSW, has started the FATE (Future of Australia's Threatened Ecosystems) program, which promotes kangaroo harvesting. If farmers can earn a decent return on kangaroo, Archer argues, they will see the animal as a resource rather than a pest. And by farming kangaroos instead of sheep or cattle, they will help save ecosystems. Australians, he says, need to eat Skippy to help save Skippy. David Croft also works for the University of NSW, at its Arid Zone Research Station near Broken Hill. He contributed a chapter to the new book and also spoke at its launch. Croft says the argument that eating kangaroo is better for the landscape is "complete bunkum". The industry, he says, is controlled by graziers who do not see kangaroo as an alternative but as vermin and a "competing red meat". "The kangaroo industry is in no way influencing landscape management" because farmers want to get rid of every kangaroo before they "touch a single sheep". Kangaroo is mostly being processed into dog food or sausages for Russians, and Croft says farmers "simply want to turn the kangaroos into the woodchip of the Australian mammal fauna". The kangaroo, he argues, "authenticates the whole experience of being Australian" and the animals should be visible on every roadside, "untroubled by a barbaric industry". Croft wrote in the book: "My vision is that at the next citizenship ceremony, flag-raising event, singing of the national anthem, prancing on the national (or international) stage, opening of Parliament or other celebration of being Australian, we are moved to shout 'I am kangaroo'. If we did this we would be celebrating diversity, the successful occupation of most of Australia's terrestrial ecosystems, resilience to our climatic extremes, athleticism, careful conservation of energy and water needs, and individualism in a rich social life." For more details go to www.awpc.org.au and www.kangaroo-industry.asn.au *Sydney Morning Herald ******************************************** About the Industry. The industry harvests five species on the mainland, with the eastern grey, western grey and red making up the vast majority. The national 2005 quota is 3.9 million - 500,000 down on last year due to the drought - with 1,093,318 allowed to be harvested in NSW. Victoria and the Northern Territory have no kangaroo industry. In each state the quotas are set by conservation authorities using aerial surveys to determine populations and sustainable harvesting limits. The Federal government then “rubberstamps” the quotas, and there is no public comment on this process. The quota is usually set at 15 to 20 per cent of the estimated population. Before the drought began to bite in 2002, Australia was exporting 5000 to 6000 tonnes of kangaroo meat a year and up to 2 million skins annually to more than 60 countries. The industry claims to be worth about $230 million a year and claims to create 4000 full-time jobs, mostly in rural and remote areas. The behaviour of licensed shooters is controlled by a federal code of conduct, which is unenforceable, and has been described by wildlife groups as “useless”. It decrees that kangaroos should be shot in the head and joeys killed with a blow to the head or decapitation. * ******************************************** This is the edited text of letters between a British woman, Eleanor Boyd, and the Kangaroo Industries Association of Australia. Sirs, There is a beautiful advertisement for Australian tourism featuring the silhouette of a kangaroo against a blue, blue sea. It captures the imagination and the heart. It makes you want to visit Australia and it is only when you know that this beautiful creature is being slaughtered mercilessly, and its babies left to die, that you say to yourself, no I can't, not this year, not until this stops … Very few people know that kangaroos are slaughtered for their meat and their skins. It is obscene. There must be a better way for people to earn a living than to slaughter these harmless, beautiful and iconic creatures. They are your national emblem, are they not? Please change this awful situation. Please go in for another way of life… Eleanor G. Boyd, United Kingdom Dear Eleanor, Kangaroos are indeed beautiful, unique and special animals. I love them greatly. You may find such a statement an oxymoron, but perhaps you can accept that if farmers love their cattle or sheep, why therefore can't kangaroo processors love kangaroos? I love kangaroos partially because they are the animals which belong in our land, which are adapted to our land and to which our land is adapted. Cattle, sheep, pigs, goats etc don't belong here … Why then does it not make enormous environmental wisdom for us to produce our food from the animals which do belong here? The environmental management community, Australia's most eminent ecologists and the bulk of the Australian community support the kangaroo industry on exactly this premise. It may well be difficult for you to understand that harvesting kangaroos is one of the most environmentally sensible things we can do in this land. After all, decades of wildlife protests have sown an implicit paradigm in the world's mind that "all wildlife is endangered". But kangaroos simply are not. There are more kangaroos in Australia than there are humans, a similar number to our cattle population and almost certainly more now than there was prior to white settlement … Kangaroos are indeed our national emblem, they are on our coat of arms and instantly recognisable as Australian. No one tells the French they should not eat coq au vin. Kangaroo harvesting is not cruel. Independently conducted studies prove this. The RSPCA itself is on record as supporting the animal welfare outcomes of the kangaroo harvest. In the words of the RSPCA, "an animal killed instantly in its natural environment is under less stress than one mustered, trucked, deprived of food and water and transported to slaughter". John Kelly, Executive officer, Kangaroo Industries Association of Australia. ******************************************** Police are investigating a hunting accident near Bendigo in central Victoria, which has claimed the life of a teenager last month. The 17-year-old was hunting kangaroos at Emu Creek with three others on Friday night when one of his friends accidentally discharged his weapon. The Sporting Shooters Association's Karel Zegers says the incident should remind hunters to be vigilant in following safety procedures. "When they're out in the field to consider when they're not actually ready to pull the trigger to have the firearm on the safety catch or the action open, which renders the firearm totally inert," he said. "In other words, it cannot shoot. "When people don't follow that rule, that's when it gets dangerous." *ABC
******************************************** For those who haven’t seen the VIVA! Save the Kangaroo page the link is below. http://www.savethekangaroo.com/index.shtml ******************************************** The Future of Australia's Threatened Ecosystems (FATE) Program is concerned about the future of native animals - but in a surprising way. Peter Ampt (Program Manager, FATE), and Professor Mike Archer, Dean of Science, UNSW, talk about the project. Michael Duffy: I recently read a fascinating book called Going Native by Mike Archer and Bob Beale. It’s got a refreshingly new approach to some environmental problems. Basically, the authors suggest that we could commercialise a lot of our native plants and animals which would help us to do a bit more to conserve them, and kangaroo harvesting is, of course, the best known example of this. Peter Ampt."There is a very viable kangaroo industry which has been going for three decades and is demonstrably sustainable." Mike Archer "Eating kangaroo meat is extremely healthy, it’s good for the land, there are 53 million kangaroos in a normal year, there’s no possibility of damaging the populations through the harvesting rates that are managed by the government…it’s all win-wins here. So you’d wonder, what’s the obstacle? I think what we have to emphasise to the buying public is that in fact the best thing they could do for the kangaroos and the environment is to sustainably utilise them as an extremely healthy food resource for people. That will look after the kangaroos and the land and the people, and to get that message across…it’s not just opportunistic gobbling of a kangaroo, but this is…you know, we can eat Skippy and have him too. This is what has to be absorbed. In fact, I would argue we have to eat Skippy if we intend to have him." * COUNTERPOINT ABC Radio
******************************************** Kangaroos are Australia’s best known animal and adored by many, but just ask a farmer and you might get a very different picture. When it comes to kangaroos there are two very distinct camps. In one corner there’s the belief that the number of kangaroos is approaching critical levels and that culling must be stopped and then there’s the side believing that culling has its firm place in keeping the numbers of kangaroos at reasonable levels. Pat O’Brien from the Wildlife Protection Association of Australian is convinced that it is time to turn around our attitude towards the national emblem on our coat of arms. “We have to start treating it as an Australian icon rather than a slab of meat being sent to Russia or Mexico,” he says. The group he represents is one of many organisations in Australia which would like to see the culling of kangaroos stopped entirely, because they are afraid that Australia’s favourite animal is in danger of dying out. “The numbers are not declining, they are crashing, they are really crashing and next year the quota will be down even further,” he claims. It is widely recognised that the number of kangaroos across Australia have gone down in the last few years. “Certainly the population in the east coast has declined with the drought,” agrees Dr. Peter Mawson, the principal zoologist with the Department of Conservation and Land Management in Western Australia. But while this decrease in numbers is considered a problem by some like Pat for others it’s all in control. “All states have approved management plans for the commercial harvest of kangaroos and air and ground surveys are used to determine the number of populations,” says Peter. The number of kangaroos that are allowed to be culled is always adjusted to the number of kangaroos out there. “The culling quota is always set at a certain percentage of the kangaroo stock,” explains Peter. But there’s not just the problem with numbers of kangaroo, there also is the issue of the genetic stock. “We are seeing small groups of genetically impoverished kangaroos scattered around the country,” claims Pat. He believes it’s part of the changed motivation for culling. In the early days culling was used as a method to keep kangaroos away from farms and pastoral leases. These days kangaroo meat is a product for dog and cat food and it’s also promoted in countries like Russia and South Africa. “It’s cheap, it’s a free good, because the industry doesn’t have to buy land and it doesn’t have to buy breeding stock,” says Pat. “They are trying to build up an overseas market for it when the levels are already at a dangerous level.” The question of impoverished genes is something that Dr. Peter Mawson considers a myth. “There has been a paper published recently showing that the genetics of the red kangaroos is consistent across the country,” he says. According to that paper there’s enough movement of male and female kangaroos to maintain the same gene pool across the country. The opinions in regards to the health of the kangaroo might differ, but what is for sure is that the natural habitat of the kangaroo has changed substantially and will never be the same. It can only be hoped that our national emblem will be hopping along in the future. *ABC Goldfields ******************************************** Western Australia's Department of Conservation and Land Management (CALM) has dismissed claims Australia's kangaroo population is collapsing due to the commercial harvest of the species. The Australian Wildlife Protection Council says more than 30 million kangaroos have been shot over the past 10 years, with a further three million joeys left to starve or be eaten by predators. The council wants the Commonwealth to outlaw the practice. Peter Mawson from CALM says although the population in some areas of the east coast has declined due to the drought, most populations are reproducing at a rate of 30 per cent per annum. Doctor Mawson says numbers generally have increased over the past 50 years. "With the changes that Europeans have brought to Australia, we've improved the quality of the pasture by providing introduced pasture species, we've provided artificial watering points and we've largely removed the principal primary predator of kangaroos in the dingo." *ABC ******************************************** Kangamail 6.9/05 The new kangaroo book “Kangaroos, Myths and Realities” edited by Maryland Wilson and Dr David Croft will be launched at Parliament House Sydney in the Theaterette on Monday 10th October at 10 am. Everyone is welcome. ******************************************** Lion’s trophy Hunt Response Thank you for your recent correspondence concerning the Clermont Lions Club Charity Day. The Minister has asked me to reply on her behalf. On 4 June 2005, the Clermont Lions Club conducted a fund raising event. A prize was offered for the largest feral pig and kangaroo taken by participants in the event. The activity, though lawfully conducted within the framework of the Nature Conservation (Macropod Harvesting) Conservation Plan 1995 and the Code of Practice for the Humane Shooting of Kangaroos, is contrary to the intent of the legislation. The hunting of native animals for promotional purposes is not supported in Queensland and restrictions on the grant of licences aims to discourage hunting events of this type. In this instance, the organisers appear to have used the legal harvest of kangaroos by licensed individuals for the event. The Minister has written to the Clermont Lions Club expressing her disapproval of the event and reminding them of their obligations in setting standards that are in accord with the broader community. Pigs are feral animals and are not protected wildlife under the Nature Conservation Act 1992. Information provided to the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service by event organisers indicates the pig shooters involved were also accredited shooters and pig carcasses taken were processed through the game export site at Clermont. The Minister thanks you for bringing this matter to her attention and hopes this information clarifies the situation. Should you have any further enquiries, please contact Tim Farry of the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service on telephone 4936 0511. Yours sincerely, Marcus Toyne, Assistant Policy Advisor, (Environment) *Response from Minister re Lions trophy Hunting. ******************************************** BRITAIN has the lion and America has the eagle. But despite having hundreds of animals unique to Australia, we don't have an official animal emblem. While most Australians think the native kangaroo and emu are Australia's faunal emblems, they are not. Well known republican and Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone yesterday said it might now be "worth considering" adopting an animal for a national symbol. "Australia is home to more than a million species of plants and animals, many of which are found nowhere else," Senator Vanstone told The Daily Telegraph. "This would make the task of selecting one animal as a national symbol very difficult." Australia's first official coat of arms - featuring a kangaroo and an emu - was granted by a royal warrant of King Edward VII in 1908. The coat of arms is used, among other things, on coins and to authenticate documents. It embellishes Australian passports and is an integral part of the Australian cricketer's prized baggy green. In 1912, England's King George V granted a brand new coat of arms - this one including the badges of the six Australian states. But according to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade website, Australia has "never adopted any offical motto or faunal or bird emblem". "By popular tradition, however, the kangaroo and emu are widely accepted as national faunal and bird emblems," DFAT says. The Australian Republican Movement's John Warhurst said it was a wonderful idea to push for a national emblem. "Many people would think that the kangaroo and the emu are our national emblems and I think the republican movement would want an Australian animal as our national icon," he said. He said he thought the kangaroo would be best option because of it was the nation's most recognisable symbol. In Australia's bicentenary year the golden wattle was proclaimed the official national floral emblem. England's national floral emblem is the rose. For animal emblems, Thailand has the elephant, Scotland has the red lion, India has the royal Bengal tiger and Canada has the beaver. Retired University of NSW lecturer John Paul suggested either the kookaburra or the wombat should become our national emblem. "When it comes to animals, we shouldn't make a competition between the kangaroo and the emu and (instead) have the wombat," the expert in British and Australian politics said. *Daily Telegraph. 5/9/05 ******************************************** Kangaroos and other macropods eg. wallabies are protected native wildlife contrary to many peoples belief at times. When opportunities arise that encourage these animals to exploit either food and/or water supplies, their numbers can become unsustainably high. This in turn can cause damage and economic loss to peoples' livelihood as pasture and crops are destroyed. National Parks and Wildlife Service recognise this as being a wildlife management issue and have mechanisms in place to eleviate such a problem. The Service administers the Kangaroo Management System (KMS) which is a system that makes a calculated estimate of kangaroos to be culled throughout NSW, assisting in maintaining a balanced kangaroo population. Another tool is the authority to issue Occupiers licences to harm native animals on private property. This licence can be issued free of charge to landowners or occupiers if native animals are causing damage or economic hardship on private property. So, the next time kangaroos, wallabies or indeed any other native wildlife causes damage to your property or your experiencing economic hardship please take the time to contact us to arrange for the appropriate licence. Please be aware that without it.... you're breaking the law. * Letter in the Tenterfield Star ******************************************** AUSTRALIA has been told to shut up after condemning Nordic countries for slaughtering whales for "science". In an indignant letter to Environment Minister Ian Campbell, the Icelandic Government claims slaughtering whales is just the same as Australia killing kangaroos and feral camels. Icelandic Fisheries Minister Arni Mathiesen was responding to a letter from Senator Campbell which condemned Iceland's plans to kill 39 minke whales this year for "scientific research". Mr Campbell believes the methods pro-whaling nations use to kill whales - grenade-tipped harpoons - is barbaric, and has called for countries like Iceland to stop "scientific" culls. Mr Mathiesen hit back, saying Australia should detail the methods it employs to kill kangaroos and camels. "The helicopter shootings of thousands of Australian feral camels and the killing of millions of Australian kangaroos annually are of special interest," he said. "In light of your interest in the issue of killing methods I assume that Australia will submit relevant data on these activities to the forthcoming workshop on whale killing methods and associated welfare issues at [the next International Whaling Commission meeting]." Mr Campbell was furious. "Is the man a fool?" he asked. "Is he asking us to submit detail of biodiversity on range-lands to a meeting on whales? They should be deeply embarrassed by this." Mr Campbell said killing whales was nothing like culling kangaroos and camels. An explosion of camel and kangaroo numbers across the country's farm and range-lands meant, for the sake of the environment, their numbers had to be controlled, he said. "To contemplate comparing the culling of kangaroos, which is in the interests of the environment, to the killing of whales, is outrageous," Mr Campbell said. "We can create the evidence that shows why we need to cull kangaroos. You would have to ask, 'is destroying the top of the food chain in Iceland helping the global environment?"' In his letter, Mr Mathiesen justified whale slaughter, claiming 44,000 minke whales live in Icelandic waters during the summer and proposed catches were unlikely to have a negative impact on the population. "Research on whales is necessary to ensure sustainable fisheries and sustainable use of living marine resources in general," Mr Mathiesen said. "Leaving whales out of the picture may lead to false conclusions and poor management." Mr Campbell said killing whales for "scientific" purposes was "an insult to science". "It's a fairly outrageous comment," he said. Two months ago, the majority of nations within the IWC voted to keep in place a ban on commercial whaling, although they can be taken for research purposes. The next IWC meeting will be held in the Caribbean next year. *Daily Telegraph Ed Comment; Of course our Environment Minister would be furious. The Icelandic Minister is quite right, and Minister Campbell has no reasonable excuse. While we continue to slaughter millions of kangaroos and shoot introduced animals from helicopters, there is no way can have any credibility to criticise other countries behavior towards animals. * ********************************************
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