Kangaroos are Under Attack, get Active Now!

Kangaroos are Under Attack, get Active!

After being contacted by a whistleblower within the kangaroo industry, Animal protection groups from around Australia rallied together to expose the cruelty, contamination & dwindling numbers of certain kangaroo species who are slaughtered for a niche export market where profits are earnt by a select few. The groups, including Animal Liberation, Wildlife Protection Association of Australia, Animals Australia, Australian Wildlife Protection Council Inc & others have been investigating the industry for the last 2 years and have found damning evidence which will more than likely halt this brutal trade.

Note the whistleblower will remain nameless for safety reasons.

Over 24 chillers around NSW and Southern QLD were inspected and swabs of Kangaroo carcasses taken.

In summary, the findings suggest:

1. Between 70-80% of all kangaroos shot are currently female.

This means that there is a population imbalance between males and females. Obviously there are more females than males now as most of the big males have already been shot which leaves the bigger females to be shot.

2. Another worrying fact remains that for all the carcasses sighted in the chillers, alot of them were only just above the minimum 'human consumption' weight (NSW) of 13kg, some actually weighed less. Females at this weight would be unlikely to even have had their first joey. The kangaroos allowed to be killed in NSW and QLD are Eastern Reds and Eastern and Western Greys. Obviously there were male carcasses in the chillers, however none of them were even close to what would be considered a 'big red' which would have a carcass weight of around 25kg or higher. Up to 65 kg alive!

3. The swab results revealed contamination of carcasses with: E.coli, Streptococcus & Staphylococcus.

The results showed muscle tissue having an active growth of these microbes from low to heavy growth.

4. The Australian Government approved method of killing a joey at foot is to either bash it over the head with a heavy object, or chop its head off with an axe. This is essentially too brutal to think about, and as mentioned above the majority of the kangaroos being shot are female. If even half of those females have a joey at foot, then up to 1million joeys will be killed this way in 2007 under the currently approved kill quota of 3.8million kangaroos.

For more information on the plight of Kangaroos, please go to: http://www.kangaroo-protection-coalition.com/kangaroo-facts.html

At the end of the investigation in March this year, knowing we needed to move with this information quickly, Animal Liberation and the WPAA sent a delegation overseas to Russia (biggest export country) and Europe to inform not only the public about these concerns, but the relevant health ministers in the various countries as well as EU representatives.

So far there has been significant media attention in Russia and several restaurants have been visited in Berlin, as well as the Consular General, Foreign Affairs and Trade based in the Australian Embassy, Berlin. A complete report of the European events will be outlined on the Animal Liberation website shortly.

The true outcome of any meetings will not be known for some time, at present however, we do know that the leading company which exports Kangaroo meat for human consumption has closed all its chiller doors in NSW, which, as far as a discerning eye can tell, is as big an admission of guilt if ever there were one.

Below is a sample letter which you could use to contact the following important people and let them know what you think about the killing of kangaroos.

If you would like a DVD and further information sent to you, please reply to this email with your name and address and we'll get some info to you.

National Parks and Wildlife Service, responsible for NSW quotas

info@environment.nsw.gov.au

QLD Minister responsible for quotas in that state

EandM@ministerial.qld.gov.au

Restaurants in Germany serving or distributing Kangaroo meat:

Corroboree: info@corroboree.info

Australian Spirit: info@party-service-noller.de

Australian Food and Wine: trendfoods@gmx.net

Australia Shop: australia@australiashop.com

Las Malvinas: las_malvinas_9@hotmail.com

Kangaroo's Land: info@kangaroos-land.de

Never Never Land: never-never-berlin@web.de

Company in Germany monitoring food:

Foodwatch: info@foodwatch.de

Restaurant in France serving Kangaroo meat:

L'Epicerie, 30 rue Montorgueil, 75001 Paris, France (no email sorry)

France - Health ministry contacts:

General email: ministre-santesolidarites@sante.gouv.fr

Didier Houssin : didier.houssin@sante.gouv.fr

Restaurant in Russia serving Kangaroo meat:

Australian Open: aus.open@mtu-net.ru

Dear Sir/Madam,

Re: Commercial Kangaroo Industry

I am writing to you concerning the plight of Kangaroos in Australia.

It has been brought to my attention that there are at least 4 serious problems with the current legal killing of kangaroos for commercial purposes in Australia.

1. Killing of joeys after their mothers are shot. The national code of practice allows an acceptable way of killing these baby animals is to chop off their head with an axe, or for them to receive a blow to the head with a heavy blunt instrument. Dependent expooouch joeys flee into the night when their mother is shot to die of exposure and starvation.

As per the Canadian seal 'cull', killing of baby animals is an extremely traumatic experience, it is in no way humane, and can in no way be regulated. We are living in the 21st century and still allowing medieval practices to occur in our outback. I feel it is necessary to condemn the killing of kangaroos solely on this point alone.

2. Contamination of the carcasses has recently been shown to occur quite often due to the way the kangaroos are processed in the field. They are gutted by a shooter who is not trained nor, after a nights shooting, has the ability to cleanly gut the kangaroo. The result is several types of bacterial contamination of the carcass. All this happens in such high temperatures which promote bacteria and pathogen growth. Even the chillers have been shown to be unreliable when it comes to maintaining temperatures which kill bacteria.

3. Species decline. NPWS (NSW) issues permits based on aerial surveys of numbers of kangaroos. As we all know, kangaroos are mobile animals which can, as far as an aerial survey cares, be in two places at once. Meaning the animals can be counted twice, hence overestimating the population and therefore any quotas for killing purposes. NPWS each year comes up with new ways of counting kangaroo numbers, this is not reliable, nor is it scientific to continuously change counting methods.

When it comes to our native animals, close enough is not good enough.

4. Kangaroo shooters are paid per kg, therefore they (understandably) shoot the biggest animals first. Over time, this reduces the population structure so much so that a smaller, weaker genetic species remains. This reduces the survival ability and strength of the targeted species. This has not been scientifically proven by any researcher, it is common Darwinian sense.

I along with many other Australians am calling on you to cease your involvement in the commercial harvesting of kangaroos immediately. This will have virtually no effect on Australia's economy, or that of overseas economies which import kangaroo meat. The Russian National Meat Association spokesperson has already stated that kangaroo meat is not a relevant contributor to their economy.

I await your response.

Yours Sincerely,

Name, Address

On top of the EU & Russia pressure, please read on....

Kangaroos face imminent danger if a California bill becomes law. Senate Bill 880 would legalize kangaroo skin sales in California, where they have been banned since 1970.

Go to the following page to simply sign and send a letter:

http://getactive.peta.org/campaign/ca_kanga