Facts about the kangaroo Industry

FACTS about KANGAROOS!

The killing of kangaroos is the largest terrestrial wildlife slaughter in the world. 2003 saw the highest quota ever set at ever at 6.9 million. The quota is set at 15% of estimated grey kangaroo numbers, and 17% to 20% of estimated red kangaroo numbers. In spite of crashing kangaroo numbers in every State, the quotas for 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 were set at the same percentage of the estimated reduced population.

Kangaroo numbers are estimated by flying over the countryside, counting some of the animals visible from the air, and using a complicated computer model to arrive at an "estimate" of kangaroo numbers Australia-wide. Each year the process is changed, so it becomes useless for gathering real data on population trends. They count also the kangaroos in National Parks to boost numbers. No details of the process are publicly available for an independent review of the process.

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The annual quota does not take into account the cruel killing of millions of orphaned joeys which die each year, or road kills, or non-commercial shooting, or the effects of drought and bushfires.

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Each female kangaroo shot usually has two dependent joeys, one in the pouch and one at foot. Both joeys also die when the mother is killed. The dependent ex-pouch joey flees in terror when it's mother is killed, and dies of exhaustion and exposure.

The Code of Practice that the Industry operates under recommends that in-pouch joeys (baby kangaroos) be decapitated, or have their heads crushed with a heavy object such as an iron pipe. No other baby animal in the world, except perhaps the harp seals, are treated this way.

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The Code of Practice is currently under review -- by the same bureacrats who run the kangaroo management programs! The Review is unfunded, bogged down, and although it has been sitting (mid-2004) for over a year, has produced no public recommendations for change until 2008.

In early 2008 the Review Committee released a Draft Code of Practice that was worse than the origonal one. Now Tasmanian shooters can shoot wallabies with .22 rifles so they can kill wallabies and pademelons with cheap ammunition in Tasmania so their skins can be sold to Italy to make fur coats! The non-government community based Animal Welfare organisation involved in the process has denied any support for the Code of Practice.

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No monitoring or policing takes place at the point of kill. While the government departments use terms like "take", "cull" and "harvest" to describe the slaughter, the simple reality is the kangaroos are killed. They even describe the shooters as "trappers" to try to make it sound nice to potential overseas buyers. The commercial kangaroo Industry is full of such mis-information. The kangaroos are shot in the middle of the night, hung on the side of truck, sometimes still alive.

Their helpless joeys are brutally killed.

The bodies are driven around a dusty paddock in the middle of the night, and next day are taken to a chiller box, and stored for up to two weeks in fluctuating temperatures. Every time the chiller box is opened to admit new fresh carcases, the temperatures goes up.

From there the carcases are eventually collected and taken to another factory, where they are skinned, boned, and packaged and gassed with preservative for human consumption and dog food.

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Some rural politicians waffle on about how the kangaroo killing Industry provides jobs for rural residents. However in Charlesville (Qld) and in Walgett (NSW), the processing plants employ Brazilian workers, because they work for less, and in poorer conditions than Australian workers will endure.

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The kangaroo industry has boomed to become a $60 million a year industry based on the myth that killing kangaroos will reduce the population and thereby help graziers. Wildlife based (kangaroo watching) tourism has the potential to bring many more millions of dollars into Australia than any other rural Industry.

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The kangaroo killing is industry driven. The killing quotas have risen steadily over the past 10 years which reflects the needs of the industry. Only since 2002 the quotas have been slowly reduced because the populations have crashed. The Government is clearly on the side of the industry because of the export dollars earned.

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The Federal government in 2006 told us there were 26 million kangaroos in Australia, and in 2008 tells us there are 23 million. However, noone can find them. In August 2008 there are only a handful of fulltime professional kangaroo shooters in NSW. All the rest have dropped out because they can't find enough kangaroos to shoot. However at this time there are around 2000 licensed partime shooters, who just shoot kangaroos at the weekends for fun and a few dollars.

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Attempts to promote kangaroo meat in the United Kingdom failed because of widespread publicity about the cruelty which shocked Britons and also the health risk.

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Kangaroo meat carries high burdens of internal abdominal and muscular parasites. Kangaroo meat has to be undercooked because it is tough and inedible when cooked thoroughly. This gives rise to more chance of a wide range of illnesses, some life threatening.

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Kangaroo meat was the cause of Australia's first recorded outbreak of the potentially fatal disease toxoplasmosis that infected twelve people including a pregnant woman which caused her baby to be born blind.

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Doctors have publicly warned Australians against eating undercooked kangaroo meat after discovering what they believe to be a new parasite found in two people who suffered long term illness after eating kangaroo meat.

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There is high demand for kangaroo meat overseas because it is lean and cheap. Even more in demand is manufacturing meat. This is offal, trimmings, including bruising, and forequarter bones, which is put through a big grinder and ground into a paste. This is sent to Russia and Europe and turned into salamis and other small goods. Salamis are not cooked, but cured by a process of fermentation.

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In 2008, in every State, kangaroo populations have never been so low. Drought, wild fires, road kills and shooting have been blamed. New commercial shooting areas have been opened up because the Industry has shot out the large kangaroos in most areas. In SA where few kangaroos are left, markets for meat and skins are being sourced from NSW and Queensland. In NSW and SA the kangaroo populations in many rural areas, in 2008, are now known as quasi-extinctions, or regional extinctions.

In 2008 another new commercial shooting area has been proposed from Bathurst thru Mudgee to Musswellbrook, because shooters have run out of kangaroos in the other shooting zones. Wildlife groups are campaigning to stop this new Zone from being opened.

Only 7% of NSW is protected kangaroo habitat. Kangroos can be shot anywhere they appear in the other 93% of NSW.

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Some States including South Australia and Western Australia also shoot kangaroos in National Parks and Reserves. There is no refuge for kangaroos in these States, and little refuge elsewhere, with most of Australia zoned agricultural. In South Australia in 2004, 51 % of kangaroos reaching the abattoirs are females.

In Queensland in 2004, 39% of kangaroos killed are females. Wildlife experts (Hugh Lavery) have predicted that removing 50% of females from any wildlife population is a recipe for extinction.

We have evidence to show that in 2006 and 2007, in NSW, up to 80% of kangaroos shot are females.

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In 2001, some States set a minimum acceptable weight for shot kangaroos at 20kgs, which is barely breeding age. Other States have not. Since 2001, minimum weights have been reduced as kangaroos become more scarce. Kangaroos as little as 15 kg's are being killed, before even reaching breeding age. In Queensland in 2006 the minimum size accepted by the processing plans is 15 kg, in NSW it's 13kg. Underwieght kangaroos shot in Queensland are often taken to NSW and sold. Any kangaroos shot under the minimum weight are skinned, then the bodies taken away and dumped.

In 2008 some processors decided to pay shooters a Premium for larger carcasses, in an attempt to avoid the smaller females being shot. They have clearly have concerns about the longterm viability of the Industry too.

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Decades of shooting the largest and fittest of the kangaroos has raised very real concerns about the loss of the natural selection process, and impoverishment of the gene pool. There is already plenty of evidence of declining genetic strength in kangaroo populations.

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Wildlife groups declared 2005 to be the Year of the Kangaroo. This will have to be the year we turn the tide of destruction around, and start to protect our kangaroos.

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The National Kangaroo Protection Coalition in mid-2004 challenged the South Australian, West Australian and Queensland Management Plans in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, which is an Authority set up to review decisions made by Government.

Four days of hearings took place in May 2004, with another 4 or 5 days heard in August. The NKPC challenged the Federal Environment Minister's decision to approve the Plans. The facts listed above have been raised in evidence.

Unfortunately we lost the Appeal. Our Barrister has called the Judgement a "whitewash" and when we looked at another Appeal through the Federal Court, we found the costs would be prohibitive. However we learnt much from the Appeal, including the fact that in 2003 WA overshot the quota by 15000 kanagroos, before the environment deaprtment realised it. Queensland also overshot, as did South Australia.

It's hardly a wellrun Industry! Imagine what would happen if a similar mistake occurred in private Industry, heads would roll, but in government departments they have a job for life, regardless of such mistakes!

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Most community groups working with kangaroos expect the red kangaroos to disappear within the next 10 years, unless they stop shooting them now.

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In spite of 30 years of repeated attempts by wildlife groups to encourage the State and Federal governments to stop shooting kangaroos before they disappear, they are not listening, and refuse to even consider our requests. They know about the problems but refuse to accept them, and refuse to act.

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As at March 2008, of 75 chiller boxes in NSW, 34 were empty and not being used because the shooters cant find enough kangaroos!

***************************************************************** In 2008 the NKPC again challenged the NSW 2007 to 2012 Kangaroo Management Plan in the AAT. Because the previous Howard Government amended the EPBC Act to exclude us from challenging kangaroo managment, this is the last Appeal we can undertake. From now on the Industry and the bureacrats are totally in control of the kangaroos. This is a very, very, bad thing, and is probably the last nail in the kangaroo's coffin. Details of the Appeal can be found on the Site Map page.

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Message to Kangaroo shooters from the NKPC. Our advice to you blokes is to sell your guns while there is still a market, buy a good camera, trade in your 4WD trayback, get a 4WD troopcarrier with seats in the back, and start taking tourists out to see our kangaroos while there are still a few left! Build a sustainable business based on kangaroo watching. Get out before the Industry crashes. That's really good wellmeant advice, from us to you.

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