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An open letter to the public about the commercial killing of kangaroos

The recent release of the movie Kangaroo: A Love-Hate Story, has sparked controversy and discussion about the shooting of kangaroos, their place on the land, and our relationship with them. Over the last 25 years, new research on kangaroos has been conducted to examine these questions. Representing a collective of scientists, economists, and lawyers, who have studied kangaroos and related issues, we wish to highlight some key issues that will help clarify the controversy.

The question of whether we should, or should not, subject kangaroos to mass killing is not limited to a scientific disagreement over facts relating to the numbers of kangaroos, the humaneness of their death, or the contamination of their meat, although there is considerable debate about these. Rather, the story uncovered by this new documentary requires us to ask why a commercial industry based on vilification of kangaroos as “pests” has been allowed to occur at all. Contrary to what many think, kangaroos are not farmed – they are bush meat and leather. It is a blight on our nation and is of no virtue – economically, environmentally, or ethically.

The media attention and debate resulting from the release of the film highlights just how little Australian’s know about their fellow wild inhabitants. The diverse group of macropod species, collectively known as the kangaroos, are no longer widespread and thriving. Since European settlement of Australia, some have gone extinct, some are seriously threatened, and others have suffered considerable local population collapses. They have less and less land to be free from human encroachment. They are suffering fatal disease outbreaks and we don’t yet know what effect climate change will have on them.

On top of that, since 2000, an average of over two million kangaroos per year have been shot by commercial shooters for the meat industry, an undocumented but considerable number are shot by farmers who see them as pests, and they are even shot by some wildlife managers who similarly want them removed or reduced in number. Individuals, family groups, and populations are affected by this. For example, living in strong family groups (or mobs), large grey males are often easy to kill first because they stay to defend their mob against attack. Matrilineal lines and bonds are broken when large females are killed. Young at foot joeys are left without maternal care.

The commercial kangaroo industry has fulfilled the desire of the farming lobby, providing a government-backed solution to their “problem”. Across parts of five states (QLD, NSW, SA, WA, and TAS) it kills four species of large kangaroo and two wallabies from two genera (Osphranter and Macropus), each with very different behaviour, physiology, reproduction, and ecology. The government regulates the industry by providing a shooting quota and a pathway to domestic and export markets.

This regulatory framework, however, is not working. The National Code of Practice for the Humane Shooting of Kangaroos and Wallabies for Commercial Purposes sanction cruelty, is virtually impossible to enforce and provides the industry cover for serious breaches of animal welfare standards. Most shooting occurs at night with small moving targets (the head of a kangaroo). Some evidence suggests that up to 40% of kangaroos may be shot in the neck or body resulting in wounding and non-instantaneous death. Incredibly, the death of hundreds of thousands of dependent young annually is considered “collateral damage”, with research confirming that most dependent young are left to suffer exposure, starvation, and predation when not processed according to the code.

Claims of exploding populations and over-abundance are not scientifically valid. Kangaroos are slow breeding wildlife, able to produce on average one offspring per year when at reproductive age (typically three or four years of age for the larger kangaroo species). These offspring rarely survive. In one of the best studies of this to date, female red kangaroos from a protected (un-shot) population were able to successfully raise just over three young to independence in their lifetime on average (an average of 33% success). How many of these went on to be successful mothers is unknown.

For its part, the government estimates the numbers of large kangaroo species using helicopters and aeroplanes. This costly exercise is fraught with difficulties – how to take a representative sample of the area being surveyed, how to account for unobserved individuals, how to account for absent individuals, and how to extrapolate findings to areas not surveyed. These questions are faced by all exploitation industries when trying to achieve sustainable quotas, often with varied success (e.g. the fishing industry).

The lack of transparency around how kangaroo populations are estimated and their quotas set is of particular concern. Aerial counts of kangaroos, funded by tax payers, remain inaccessible to the public, yet similar aerial counts of waterbirds used to set duck hunting quotas, perhaps similarly controversial, are made available in the Atlas of Living Australia. This does not encourage confidence.

Although the government and industry advocate for the robustness of their kangaroo population estimates, there are valid reasons why the public should be concerned about the large errors in estimates, the lack of adequate coverage and representation in some jurisdictions, and the reliance on frequently amended “correction” factors, which to the best of our knowledge are not accounted for in the long-term population trends since the year 2000.

Far from being out of control, kangaroos do not prosper from land clearance or the installation of watering points. Research indicates that competition with livestock is minimal and primarily restricted to drought periods. Their abundance is adequately regulated by natural processes such as quality of nutrition, disease, and predation (e.g. dingoes and foxes). Loss of habitat to urban and small-scale rural development, land clearing, fencing, and agricultural practices isolate kangaroo species across regions where historical records describe them as once widespread and abundant. Even when wild kangaroos venture onto crops or grazing land, is killing them the only answer? There are other ways that any losses can be mitigated and benefits to land management, like nutrient recycling, accrued.

The industry also risks serious human health ramifications. Most infectious pathogens to humans can be transmitted from wildlife. Kangaroo meat is a concern because kangaroos are shot and eviscerated in remote locations in the outback, frequently by minimally trained shooters who also act as butchers. Gutted carcasses are transported in open non-refrigerated trucks, exposed to flies, dust, and summer heat, for up to ten hours before being deposited in cold storage.

Retail kangaroo meat from different supermarkets in cities across Australia, and direct from processing plants, has been found to be contaminated with unacceptable levels of Salmonella and E. coli over multiple years of testing. Russia banned kangaroo meat imports three times due to pathogenic contamination, and more recently, acetic acid has been routinely applied, without disclosure to consumers, to rid the meat of systemic contamination. If you are going to eat kangaroo meat, make sure it is well-done.

How do you then weigh up the social and ethical cost of animal cruelty and environmental harm against the economic benefits? The industry claims avoided costs to farmers and the profits accruing to Australians from the sale of kangaroo products. However, profits accrue to relatively few individuals and the industry’s claim of supporting 4,000 jobs is unsubstantiated and misdirected. Most shooters are part-timers and could be provided with alternative employment in related fields. Thus, relatively few individuals in the Australian economy benefit from an industry propped-up by tax payers dollars. Valuing kangaroos not for their meat and skins but for their ecotourism potential as the epitome of the Australian bush would provide far greater and fairer economic return.

Rather than lethally exploiting our wildlife to satisfy their unfairly attributed status as “pests”, we believe that Australia should invest in coexisting with our national icon.

Dr Dror Ben-Ami, (Tel Aviv University)

Dr David Croft Honorary Professor

Dr Daniel Ramp, Director, Centre for Compassionate Conservation University of Technology Sydney, Australia

Dr Keely Boom, Executive Officer, Climate Justice Programme

Ms Katrina Sharman Lawyer, USA

Dr Christine Townend, Order of Australia, Founder Animals Australia

Ms Louise Boronyak, Research Principal Institute!for!Sustainable!Futures

Dr Neil Perry, Senior Lecturer, Western Sydney University

Dr David Brooks, Author, Editor, University of Sydney, Australia

Dr Liv Baker, research fellow at the Centre for Compassionate Conservation at the University of Technology of Sydney

Dr Arian Wallach, Centre for Compassionate Conservation University of Technology Sydney

Dr Ingrid Witte

Professor Steve Garlick, Economist, Applied Ethicist, wildlife behaviourist & rehabilitator

Dr Rosemary Austen, GP. Canberra ACT

Mr Ray Mjadwesch, Consulting Ecologist

Dr Peter Simmons, Charles Sturt University

Dr Michael Mehmet, Senior Lecturer, Charles Sturt University

Dr Clive Phillips, Professor Animal Welfare University Queensland

CEO: Simon Hickey

GreenCross DBA PetBarn PTY LTD

Unit 6 372 Eastern Valley Way

Chatswood, NSW Australia 2067

Dear Simon,

Kangaroos and wallabies are the only Australian native animal hunted specifically for the pet food trade.

Do you know the brutal reality of the commercial kangaroo industry?

A recent NSW parliamentary inquiry into the he Health and Wellbeing of Kangaroos has released its findings and they are shocking.

The parliamentary inquiry found that there is no monitoring of commercial kangaroo shooters at the point of kill, This lack of any regulation has caused an animal welfare crisis, with data presented to the inquiry showing that up to 40% of kangaroos are mis-shot and left to die painful slow death.

The inquiry also found that neither Federal or state governments keep any records of how many baby joeys are killed. We have no idea how many baby joeys are killed each year. The baby joeys are the forgotten animal in the pet food trade. After the kangaroo mother is shot by commercial shooters, the joey is wrenched from it's pouch and bashed to death or decapitated, while the at-foot dependent joeys are left to die as orphans from starvation, dehydration, stress and predation.

The parliamentary inquiry reported that the commercial shooters are not monitored and are not required to report how many joeys they kill and how they do it!

The killing of kangaroos is the world's largest land-based wildlife slaughter in the world and the inquiry found “kangaroo numbers are in serious decline with mobs becoming marginalised and fragmented throughout the landscape”.

"Kangaroo meat is known to be contaminated on occasion with Salmonella spp, high levels of E. coli, Toxoplasmosis, and Listeria, and Coxiella” Dr Dror Ben-Ami, Centre for Compassionate Conservation, University of Technology, Sydney.

As a result of this shocking new evidence several big brands in Europe have stopped using kangaroo meat and skins, brands like Prada, Versace, and Carrefour supermarkets. A bill is being prepared to put before the European Union to ban all imports of kangaroo meat and skins.

A recent ABC TV 730 story on the NSW Inquiry is available to watch https://www.facebook.com/702550123508373/videos/411660887253188

Kangaroos have inhabited the Australian continent for over 20 million years, living in peace and ecological harmony and they are a sacred totem for our First Nation People.

The truth has been uncovered by this parliamentary inquiry. We now know how cruel and barbaric the commercial killing of kangaroos is.

It is time to stop killing our kangaroos for pet food.

Your company could be the example, not to condone this barbaric behaviour. We call on Petbarn to stop selling pet food made from kangaroos.

Our supporters want to go public with a campaign to stop kangaroos being used for pet food.

We look forward to your response.

Regards,

Mick McIntyre

Executive Director

Kangaroos Alive

Dear Vet Surgeons and staff ,

Kangaroos and wallabies are the only Australian native animal hunted specifically for the pet food trade.

Do you know the brutal reality of the commercial kangaroo industry?

A recent NSW parliamentary inquiry into the Health and Wellbeing of Kangaroos has released its findings and they are shocking.

The parliamentary inquiry found that there is no monitoring of commercial kangaroo shooters at the point of kill. This lack of any regulation has caused an animal welfare crisis, with data presented to the inquiry showing that up to 40% of kangaroos are mis-shot and left to die painful slow deaths.

The inquiry also found that neither Federal or State governments keep any records of how many baby joeys are killed. We have no idea how many baby joeys are killed each year. The baby joeys are the forgotten animal in the pet food trade. After the kangaroo mother is shot by commercial shooters, the joey is wrenched from its pouch and bashed to death or decapitated, while the at-foot dependent joeys are left to die as orphans from starvation, dehydration, stress and predation.

The parliamentary inquiry reported that the commercial shooters are not monitored and are not required to report how many joeys they kill and how they do it!

The killing of kangaroos is the world's largest land-based wildlife slaughter in the world and the inquiry found “kangaroo numbers are in serious decline with mobs becoming marginalised and fragmented throughout the landscape”.

"Kangaroo meat is known to be contaminated on occasion with Salmonella spp, high levels of e. coli, Toxoplasmosis, and Listeria, and Coxiella” Dr Dror Ben-Ami, University of Tel Aviv.

As a result of this shocking new evidence several big brands in Europe have stopped using kangaroo meat and skins, brands like Prada, Versace, and Carrefour supermarkets. A bill is being prepared to put before the European Union to ban all imports of kangaroo meat and skins.

A recent ABC TV 730 story on the NSW Inquiry is available to watch https://www.facebook.com/702550123508373/videos/411660887253188

Kangaroos have inhabited the Australian continent for over 20 million years, living in peace and ecological harmony and they are a sacred totem for our First Nation People.

The truth has been uncovered by this parliamentary inquiry. We now know how cruel and barbaric the commercial killing of kangaroos is.

It is time to stop the killing of our kangaroos. For the health of our pets they should not be eating pet food with kangaroo in it.

Your surgery could lead the way and not to condone or support this barbaric behaviour. We ask you to stop selling pet food made from kangaroos.

Our supporters want to go public with a campaign to stop kangaroos being used for pet food. We look forward to your response.

Regards,

Mick McIntyre

Executive Director Kangaroos Alive

Dear Minister Ley,

As you no doubt know we organised delivery of a copy of the NSW Parliamentary Kangaroo Inquiry report to your Albury office. Along with a beautiful framed picture of a kangaroo bushfire survivor, taken by photographer Jo-Anne McArthur.

We trust that the photo will hang in a prized location and we also trust that you have had a chance to read the key findings and recommendations of the inquiry?

We have attached a copy of the key findings and recommendations of the inquiry.

As you will see the findings and recommendations are very damming of the NSW Kangaroo management plan.

We draw your attention to a couple of findings and recommendations that we feel are very relevant to your remit.

Finding 5

That there is a lack of monitoring and regulation at the point-of-kill during both commercial and non-commercial killing of kangaroos.

Recommendation 7

That the NSW Government request the Auditor-General to undertake a review of the Kangaroo Management Plan’s objectives in regards to how they satisfy the requirements of the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 and the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth).

Recommendation 10

That the Natural Resources Commission review the current methodology for estimating macropod populations in New South Wales.

Recommendation 11

That the Natural Resources Commission establish an independent panel of ecologists to examine the scientific evidence for assumptions used in the Kangaroo Management Plan that refer to kangaroo 'abundance', annual population growth, the impact of migration on population counts and the attrition of kangaroos in drought.

Recommendation 16

That the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment collect and publicly release data on all joey deaths occurring in the commercial kangaroo industry, including in-pouch, at-foot, and joeys at-foot who have fled.

I am also attaching a link to the ABC 7.30 story that aired recently following the release of the Inquiry’s report.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XM6WZCyih5I

Given the findings and recommendations of this inquiry. we think the current NSW management plan 2022- 2026 up for approval needs to be scrapped until an independent review of the NSW Management program is undertaken, as laid out in the inquiries recommendations. Including a review of how it satisfies the requirements of the EPBC act.

We ask that you consider the recommendations of the inquiry and take them into account when assessing any NSW Kangaroo Management Plan. This would include putting conditions on any approval of future management plans.

It is now clear that an urgent overhaul of how we treat and manage our kangaroos in Australia is needed.

We are happy to talk in more detail about this at a future meeting with you.

Many thanks

I look forward to your reply

Regards,

Mick McIntyre

Co-Founder Executive Director

Kangaroos Alive