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28
July 2008
The Editor
PRAVDA Newspaper
Moscow
Via Email: newspaper@mospravda.ru
Dear Sir,
Re: Kangaroo meat contamination and cruelty to kangaroos
The World League for Protection of Animals appeals to
the editor of Pravda newspaper to inform Pravda readers
who generally may not be aware of a recent ban that is
in force in Russia on the importation of kangaroo meat
from several Australian kangaroo meat processing plants.
Microbial contamination was detected in the kangaroo
meat.
Kangaroo meat is exported overseas because Australians
are well aware of the dangers to their health from
eating kangaroo meat. Russians, however, may not know
that the kangaroo meat they are eating is of inferior
quality.
Bruising, offal, trimmings and forequarter bones are
ground into paste. This is exported to Russia to make
sosiski.
The sosiski is not cooked but cured by a process of
fermentation, which involves hanging them for several
weeks to cure.
This is cheap meat – but at what cost to the health of
Russians?
Apart from the health hazard, the killing of kangaroos
is a cruel industry, where babies are ripped out of the
pouch from their shot mother and their heads are smashed
against a tree or crushed under foot. This is all
permitted under Australian law. The orphaned joeys at
foot, which are dependent on their mother, run away
terrified from the shooting and are abandoned and killed
by predators or die from starvation.
More than 200 000 kangaroos each year are not killed
instantly but hop away into the bush to die a slow and
painful death. The average age of shot big red kangaroos
is now two years. Their normal lifespan can be up to 30
years.
As
a result of the commercial shooting industry and
drought, the kangaroo population has dropped by about
65% in the last five years. It is a cruel and
unsustainable industry killing mother and two joeys in
one hit and so wiping out three generations.
A
submission to the Federal Minister for Environment, the
Hon. Peter Garrett, was presented by the World League
for Protection of Animals stating that the killing of
the joeys at foot and in pouch was illegal and must be
stopped.
The submission was co-signed by approximately 56 other
international and national animal
welfare organisations. Please find attached a copy of
the submission.
The World League for Protection of Animals has
campaigned for kangaroos for over forty years and
believes that further international discussion of this
issue is in the public interest. We understand that the
Russian public is fascinated by sunny Australia and its
unique animals, especially the kangaroo. The World
League appeals to the Russian people not to participate
in supporting this cruel and unsustainable industry and
to stop buying meat and leather from the slaughter of
this beautiful Australian iconic animal.
Yours Sincerely,
Halina Thompson
President
World League for Protection of Animals
__________________________________________________________
Submission on the Cruelty, Risks and Illegality of the
Kangaroo Industry to the Hon. Peter Garrett,
Federal Minister for the Environment
__________________________________________________________
This submission is from concerned environmental and
animal protection groups and individuals signed at the
end.
To see this Submission
in PDF format, please
Click Here.
Please
Click Here
to see the
List of Organisations and
Prominent Individuals who endorsed the WLPA's
Submission on the Cruelty, Risks and Illegality of the
Kangaroo Industry.
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