Australia Serves up Increased Kangaroo Exports

Conservation groups are ready to mount a legal challenge to the Australian government’s announcement that its national kangaroo quota would leap to 7 million, an increase of more than one and a half million animals. Australia has been exporting kangaroo meat for over 40 years, today to 21 countries. Exports to Europe have increased predictably of late as a result of the European mad cow food scare.

Some in the Australian government question the legality and scientific validity of the quota increase. Richard Jones, a long-time friend of kangaroos and an Upper House member from New South Wales, told Australia’s Daily Telegraph newspaper, “I find it astonishing that the minister has approved the quota, given its size and the fact that there has never been any scientific research to determine how many grey kangaroos can be killed without affecting the population.”

There are also significant welfare concerns regarding kangaroo killing. Though the Australian government advocates a “sudden and painless death,” Nicola Beynon of Humane Society International - Australia, contends, “There is no effective way to monitor and police methods of killing and prevention of cruelty through injuries to animals or abandonment of Joeys. The naïve expectation is that shooters wait for only certain types of kangaroos to stand still, in a certain position and distance from a still vehicle so they can take a perfect aim. The reality is that every shooter is pressured to take a certain number of kangaroos in whatever way possible to cover costs and demand.”