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Our dying
national emblem
The World League
for Protection of Animals strongly opposes the commercial kangaroo
industry. The industry is both inhumane and unsustainable, and
testing has shown the industry is also unhealthy as the meat is
often riddled with harmful E.coli bacteria.
Every night thousands of mother kangaroos and
their babies are brutally killed across Australia.
There is no government supervision of the killing, which is the
largest land-based slaughter of any wild species on earth. Each year
around a million dependent at-foot joeys die from starvation,
dehydration or predation without protection from their mothers.
Another million in-pouch joeys are decapitated, stomped on or bashed
to death each year. Up to 15% of kangaroos are not killed outright
and may hop away to die a slow, painful death. Australians would
never accept this were they to bear witness to this cruelty. This
relentless cruelty is authorised by government in the name of profit
and landholder pressure.
Due to pressures
from the commercial industry, landholders and drought, kangaroo
populations have dropped by approximately 60% since 2001 and more in
some areas of Australia (according to the Department of Environment
and Climate Change’s own data). The average age of a red kangaroo
shot is now just 2 years when in their natural state these animals
can live to 25 years. Shooters have decimated the large genetically
resilient males and are now targeting more and more adult females
with young – when this happens three generations are lost.
Recent independent testing of kangaroo meat
samples obtained from supermarkets revealed that many samples
contained unacceptable high levels of bacteria, breaching
contamination standards. In 2009,
Russia
placed a ban on the import of kangaroo meat after previous testing
revealed unacceptably high levels of E.coli contamination.
TAKE ACTION
Please write to Australian Prime Minister,
Kevin Rudd, and express your concerns about the slaughter of
kangaroos in
Australia.
The Hon Kevin Rudd MP
Prime Minister
Parliament House
CANBERRA
ACT 2600
Or email his
office by visiting:
http://www.pm.gov.au/PM_Connect/contact_your_pm_form
For all the latest Kangaroo
news please visit the
Media Releases page
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