Category Archives: Kangaroo Issues

Pet food “trail” of kangaroo meat inevitably a success!

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About 71,000 kangaroos across Victoria have been used to make pet food as part of the trial to reduce waste from legal culling. The trial – which covers 16 local government areas including Southern Grampians and Glenelg shires – is due to end in March next year. The initial two-year trial was extended by two years – was it ever going to be questioned, or abandoned?

So the liberal distribution of Authority to Control (kill) Wildlife (ATCW) has inadvertently produced “waste” kangaroo meat? The kangaroos causing alleged “damage” to land-holders’ property can be shot and instead of being left to rot, and waste, can now produced meat for pets? How convenient? Rather than damage-control, sounds more like an industry thinly disguised as Management!

The word “cull” is a misnomer too. It’s a word to describe to kill the weaker animals in a group in order to reduce their numbers. To save remaining herds and habitat… (Collins English Dictionary). On the contrary, this killing is about profits, of killing the best of the stock, not weaker animals. The best pet food would not be those that are dying and sick, but healthy, visible and viable as a commercial product!

Victorian Pet Food Processors operations manager David Preece said “the trial had provided jobs for about 25 people and provided other workers with more hours.” So it was inevitable that the so-called “trial” would be successful, due to economic benefits and jobs?

The intent of this kangaroo pet meat trial has nothing to do with environmental values, conservation, animals welfare, protection of our ancient and iconic species, or touristic revenues. It’s about $$$ and denuding the State of “pest” kangaroos!

DELWP and Primesafe claim that … “the trial is not intended to increase the number of kangaroos controlled, rather it is to reduce the waste of carcasses from kangaroos that would have been controlled regardless of the trial…”  So, the fact that land-holders, shooters and processors and the rest of the supply chain are rewarded economically has nothing to do with the increased number of kangaroos being “controlled”?

Magnanimously, on its website, DELWP said kangaroo populations were managed to “prevent crashing — or dying in large numbers from starvation ­during droughts — to prevent damage to vulnerable native vegetation and habitat from overgrazing, to allow heavily grazed areas to regenerate or to protect water catchments”.  So they *might starve*, so kill them first?

Back in 2016, 25,000 roos were set to be “managed”, but now it’s 71,000?  According to The Age article, the number of Eastern Grey kangaroos allowed to be killed in Victoria had more than doubled in the two years the government has permitted the commercial processing of kangaroo meat. 

DELWP and Primesafe claim that “the trial does not change the requirement for a landholder applying for an ATCW to demonstrate that kangaroos are causing damage to their property….”  Just now many compliant officers are available to check the properties of each ATCW applicant and recommend alternative, non-lethal control methods?

(Hon Liliana (Lily) D'Ambrosio, Minister for Energy, Environment)and Climate Change)
The kangaroo meat ‘trial’ was never meant to be scrapped, or really be a ‘trail”, but a method  of introducing a commercial kangaroo meat industry into Victoria, by stealth!

LINKS:

http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/news/politics/25000-roos-for-culling-in-victoria/news-story/033bf63998fc54d9e4115ad08aa4acaa

 

http://www.standard.net.au/story/4838812/call-to-extend-kangaroo-pet-food-trial/

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/dog-meat-scheme-sees-shooters-take-out-more-kangaroos-in-victorias-culling-fields-20160309-gnf5zf.html

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Petition: end the slaughter of kangaroos in the ACT

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Frankie Seymour’s petition:

Australian Capital Territory government is still killing thousands of kangaroos every year in a cruel, unnecessary, ineffective and ecologically destructive annual slaughter on public reserves. This has been going on since 2009, and we expect the latest slaughter to be announced any day.

In 2015, the Australian Capital Territory government authorised the slaughter of at least 25772 kangaroos across the Territory. Most of these were to be killed on farms because farmers believe that native kangaroos compete for pasture with introduced livestock.

*Overwhelming evidence has shown that the slaughter is: ineffective in terms of reducing kangaroo grazing pressure on reserves (because kangaroos are pretty mobile within their ranges, and quickly move in from nearby farms to make use of the empty space);

*unnecessary (because eastern grey kangaroos are so slow breeding, have such a high infant mortality rate and manage their own populations effectively in times of food shortage); and

*actively harmful to ecosystems (because kangaroo grazing ensures diversity of habitat for a great diversity of others species, many of which cannot thrive in either ungrazed land or livestock grazed land).

The evidence also shows that the government’s kangaroo counts are inherently inaccurate.

Evolutionary sociologist and AWPC policy advisor, Sheila Newman, has criticised the research base used in the ACT Kangaroo Management program. (See https://candobetter.net/node/4822). Her review of the literature concludes that “culling” may actually increase kangaroo populations by speeding up reproduction, with the selecting in of smaller, earlier maturing kangaroos and the selecting out of big, mature animals, in a harvested population like effect.

ACT kangaroo management of kangaroos is narrowly based on numbers, rather than mob dynamics. “Culling” can increase mob sizes, as it destroys mob control from larger, mature adults, and gives breeding opportunities to younger animals.  Ms Newman says: “…harvesting, damage mitigation and culling probably accelerates population growth in roos” because of the ‘harvesting effect’ on their evolution which tends to select-in smaller animals which reproduce earlier.

The government’s own ecologist has admitted that the government’s assertions about kangaroos being a threat to vulnerable species were just “PR”, and that its claim that killing kangaroos will benefit biodiversity generally is based on a simplistic assumption that more biomass (vegetation) is better for biodiversity than the diversity of vegetation achieved by kangaroo grazing.

Furthermore, evidence shows that even the weak and cynical provisions of the Code of Practice are not obeyed. Although the Code of Practice requires kangaroos not killed instantly to be immediately euthanased by a shot to the head or heart, one young male kangaroo found in a government burial pit had been shot, bludgeoned, stabbed, then died of either blood loss, or possibly suffocation from being buried while still alive.

The ACT government must stop hiding behind its out-dated Kangaroo Management Plan, start looking at the actual evidence, and take some measure of responsibility for its own decisions.

Sign this Petition: End the slaughter of kangaroos on public land in the Australian Capital Territory.

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Petition: Stop the trade of kangaroo meat to China

We who sign below object to the sale of kangaroo meat to China in the free trade agreement.

Studies show that the grazing pressure of one kangaroo is equivalent to just 0.15 – 0.2 of a sheep, and is minute when compared to cattle. In practical terms this means that the damage on grazing lands attributed to kangaroos has been grossly overestimated by as much as 470 per cent. “This would mean that kangaroos are a much smaller component of the ‘total grazing pressure’ than is generally accepted.”

The current commercial slaughter is cruel, unjustified, unscientific, and is devastating to Australia’s kangaroos . Research has established that kangaroos are not in epidemic / “plague” proportions, that farm waterholes play no part in increasing kangaroo numbers, that few joeys survive, in fact only 25%, survive to adulthood.

The kangaroo killing industry has been protected as if it were a national savior of Australia’s rural economy, supported by a series of myths which no one ever bothers investigate. The industry claims that kangaroo grazing contributes to 30% of grazing pressure, when this is totally untrue.

A female kangaroo and joey have as close a bond as primates. Each decade, over 30,000,000 are killed, leaving one million orphaned joeys, to die from chilling, starvation, attached by feral animals, each year.

Kangaroos are not killed hygienically in an abattoir and injuries are not monitored at the point of kill because the kill is un-policed. There is no potable water, to wash knives, hatchets, the ute, hanging hooks for inside the chiller boxes. Kangaroos are shot in the outback at night in unhygienic conditions, disemboweled among the faeces of other animals, dirt and dust and insects.

In 2009 Russia banned kangaroo meat due to hygiene issues. Raw kangaroo meat can carry hydatids, nematodes, parasitic worms, and other bacterial fungal and viral diseases, such as salmonella and E-coli.

Wake up Australia, while there’s still time to save your wonderful kangaroos.

SIGN THE PETITION:

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Proposed wildlife trade operation for the export of kangaroo skins derived from the expanded Victorian Kangaroo Petfood Trial 2016–18

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The Department of the Environment of Energy has received an application for a Wildlife Trade Operation under part 13A, section 303FN of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (the EPBC Act). The application is for the commercial export of Eastern and Western Grey Kangaroo skins from Victoria.

Should the operation be approved it is proposed that it remain in force for up to three (3) years.

The so-called Pet-food trial of kangaroo meat in Victoria has now morphed into a kangaroo skin trade!

Victorian Petfood Processors (Vic) P/L have sought a permit by the Federal Government to export Kangaroo skins.

This is the reason behind the dramatic increase of Kangaroos killed under an ATCW permit.
Please take the time to download and read the this proposal, (link above) you will find the link under ‘download’.
The Victorian Government is asking for ‘comment’ about the proposal.  So, just allow ATCW open-season, and surprise, the meat and skins are going to “waste” and now become commercial resources!

How many “comments” have already been given about this so-called pet food “trial” of kangaroo meat, and trial that was never meant to fail?

Comments should be addressed to:

The Director
Wildlife Trade Assessments
Department of the Environment
GPO Box 787
CANBERRA ACT 2601

or can be emailed to: wta@environment.gov.au

The genocide will continue of our graceful, peaceful native kangaroos, and the killing disguised as an “industry”!

Formerly, Agriculture Minister Peter Walsh said he did not expect the processing of Victorian kangaroos to lead to any more kangaroos being killed in Victoria.

‘‘It will not mean any increase in the wildlife control permits at all, it is just utilising the waste that is there from the current controls,’’ he said.  Mr Walsh said the shot kangaroos would only be used for pet food and there were no plans to use kangaroos culled in Victoria for table meat.

Please write to the above address, or email, giving your opinion and supporting our iconic kangaroos – and their contribution to our environment/heritage.

Some things to comment on:

– A 1980s C.S.I.R.O. aerial survey of kangaroos in western Victoria (Short & Grigg, 1982, Aust. Wildl. Res. 9 : 221-27) surveyed virtually all the habitat of the red kangaroo (Macropus rufus) and the western grey kangaroo (Macropus fuliginosus) in the state.

This survey revealed a surprisingly low total number and density of kangaroos in western Victoria which the authors directly attributed to the effects of intensive land use and the marginal nature of remnant vegetation.

– More importantly, however, the CSIRO. study questioned the whole basis of kangaroo management and commercialization in Victoria with its keystone principle of agricultural wildlife destruction permits issued under Section 5 of the Wildlife Act 1975. How can it be considered “sustainable” now?

– cruelty – how are land-owners with firearms meant to humanely kill kangaroos?  Horrendous injuries have been seen, with animals surviving and dying horribly

– kangaroos are co-existed with our ecology and landscape for hundreds of thousands of years, and are not “feral” or “pest” species

– the problem is the liberal and excessive distribution of ATCW permits!  Landholders are morally obliged to pursue ALL non-lethal options BEFORE killing!  Now, they kill and call it a meat and skin industry?  This is not damage control, but commercial profits!

Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change, Hon Liliana (Lily) D’Ambrosio

D'AmbrosioLily58250

– The “trail” was never to fail, and it’s “helping to reduce waste by processing more than 30,000 kangaroos for pet food and creating jobs for regional Victoria,” Ms D’Ambrosio said.  So the farmers can kill up to 30,000 kangaroos in Victoria, calling it a “harvest”, and then instead of “waste” it’s now commercially viable as meat and skins?  More like a self-fulfilling wildlife “management” that’s designed to morph into profits!

– Kangaroos are our iconic wildlife national animals, clearly identifying Australia on our flags and coins.  Now they are just valued as skin and meat?  What about being custodians of these animals, and honouring them?  They are natural landscape managers and help reduce fire risks – not animals to be demonized and eradicated.

 

 

 

 

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Put a stop to Australia pushing kangaroos into extinction for profit

_AAC3882joeyandmum

author: Graham Atherton-Ryan is one of our members in the UK.
target: Greg Hunt Australian Environment Minister

Greg Hunt has recently shown he is in full defence of a sick barbaric kangaroo killing industry that exists in Australia. Other members of parliament see them as an artificial plague on the landscape !!

2010 population estimates put the numbers of kangaroos in Australia at just over 25 million; down by over 32 million on the 2001 figure of 57.4 million. What is the benchmark for “plague” and normal kangaroo populations? Historic records report numerous macropods across Australia, as native animals. Six species of macropod are already EXTINCT and a number of species listed as ENDANGERED OR THREATENED They are not immune from droughts, disasters, loss of habitats, and human hunting! In Queensland alone kangaroo populations have crashed by 50% in the last year alone.

A former kangaroo shooter reveals the inherent cruelty of this industry. “The mouth of a kangaroo can be blown off and the kangaroo can escape to die of shock and starvation. Forearms can be blown off, as can ears, eyes and noses. Stomachs can be hit expelling the contents with the kangaroo still alive. Backbones can be pulverized to an unrecognisable state etc. Hind legs can be shattered with the kangaroo desperately trying to get away on the other or without the use of either….”

Kangaroos are wildlife, and they can’t be farmed or handled like livestock! It means the horrendous disposal of in-pouch and at-foot joeys. Official numbers for the kill do not include the baby kangaroos that also die as a result, the worthless ‘waste’ of the industry.

Unlike livestock, kangaroos grow and mature slowly, produce only a few kilograms of human edible meat, and take up to 12 years to grow to maximum size.

The Australian Government have high hopes the free trade agreement with China could open up a lucrative market for “roo and kanga bangers”. They obviously think that there is an unlimited and inexhaustible supply of kangaroo meat, and that these animals can breed endlessly to meet the demands of the world, once they acquire a taste for their meat!

To help stop this barbaric and cruel industry please sign this petition so that the Australian Wildlife Protection Council can pressure people like environment minister Greg Hunt into ending this senseless slaughter. Australia is the only country in the world to slaughter wildlife on a commercial basis , it has been going on for many years and now it is time it STOPPED . Help us help the kangaroo today !!!!!!! less

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Regional friends of wildlife release April 2015

HABITAT LOSS, SHOOTING, CARS, DOGS, FENCES ARE THE REAL STORY BEHIND CANBERRA KANGAROO NUMBERS AS NEW ‘CULL’ SET

Kangaroos in the ACT persist in anything approaching natural densities in only 15 percent of their former habitat, according to a 2014 report. This exposes as false, government claims to the public that kangaroos are ‘overabundant’ and in numbers that top the nation and therefore it’s OK to kill them.

Regional Friends of Wildlife says the report shows much of what is told the public and the media about kangaroos in the territory is false and propaganda, to justify an unethical and unnecessary government experiment in removing most remaining kangaroos from the city landscape.

The 2015 cull is set to begin on 1 May with another one approved for 2106.

“Already, and particularly when they are finished with this next two rounds of culling, most Canberrans and their overseas visitors will no longer see a kangaroo anywhere near the city, except in Queanbeyan and out in the national parks,” said Regional Friends member and President of the Animal Justice Party Steve Garlick.

“This is a huge loss to the citizenry and to tourism but also a tragic injustice to a kangaroo species that is willing and able to co-exist with us and provides ecosystem services such as native grass seed dispersal and lowering bushfire danger through grazing,” said Professor Garlick noting that the reserve managers now bring in cows to do that task.

The 2014 report by field ecologist Ray Mjadwesch was prepared for the ACT Administrative Appeals Tribunal (ACAT) case disputing the 2014 licenses to kill kangaroos.

It shows that compared to the Eastern Grey’s former range, including leasehold farmland:

Eastern Grey Kangaroos are extinct from 26.6% of the ACT, due to land use changes (city and urban areas, and heavily modified rural landscapes.

Kangaroos are under pressure across 29.9% of the ACT, due to agricultural activities including loss of habitat (pine plantations), culling on private rural leases and shooting in reserves.

Kangaroos persist in anything like ‘natural’ densities in intact habitat in only 15.2% of the ACT.

28.3% of the ACT is unsuitable habitat for EGK due to steep terrain, incorrect vegetation types, etc.

“This work suggests that Eastern Grey Kangaroos may have experienced an overall decline across at least 56.5% of the ACT, including total extinction from over a quarter of their former range,“ said Garlick.

“The temporary higher densities people may have seen in some reserves like Goorooyaroo are very much related to housing estates popping up next door on their former range in Gungahlin.”

Regular shooting by nearby leaseholders may also have driven more animals to the seeming sanctuary of urban reserves.

Contact Prof Steve Garlick 0428 88 05 64; 6238 1533

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