Kangaroo Matters
  • OPEN LETTER
  • 2019 Canberra Statement

AN
oPEN
​lETTER
​ABOUT
​KANGAROOS

AN
OPEN
LETTER
​ABOUT
​KANGAROOS

image: Matt Jarrett, Clover's Run Wildlife Sanctuary

KANGAROOS ARE IN TROUBLE

Organisations are joining scientists and academics with their voice of concern about the shooting of kangaroos - the largest commercial slaughter of terrestrial wildlife on the planet.

OPEN LETTER

WE THE UNDERSIGNED URGE THE PUBLIC, LAWMAKERS & DECISION-MAKERS TO CONSIDER THE ​ CONSERVATION, ANIMAL WELFARE AND HUMAN HEALTH RISKS CAUSED BY THE ​COMMERCIAL AND NON-COMMERCIAL SHOOTING OF KANGAROOS.
We are concerned that claims of health, sustainability and humaneness used to promote continuation and expansion of shooting kangaroos are industry-biased and can be scientifically disproven.

​We believe that scientific evidence demonstrates that the slaughter of kangaroos, ​the ​largest commercial killing of land-based wildlife on the planet, is putting at high risk kangaroo populations and people’s health, and causes profound suffering to kangaroos and their young.

OPEN LETTER

WE THE UNDERSIGNED URGE THE PUBLIC, LAWMAKERS & DECISION-MAKERS TO CONSIDER THE CONSERVATION, ANIMAL WELFARE AND HUMAN HEALTH RISKS CAUSED BY THE ​COMMERCIAL AND NON-COMMERCIAL SHOOTING OF KANGAROOS.
We are concerned that claims of health, sustainability and humaneness used to promote continuation and expansion of shooting kangaroos are industry-biased and can be scientifically disproven.

​We believe that scientific evidence demonstrates that the slaughter of kangaroos, ​the ​largest commercial killing of land-based wildlife on the planet, is putting at high risk kangaroo populations and people’s health, and causes profound suffering to kangaroos and their young.

SPECIFIC AREAS OF CONCERN INCLUDE:

Picture
image: Paul Harris
  • ​​Loss of habitat, urban development, agricultural practices and continuing industrial-scale slaughter eliminates kangaroos across vast regions where historical records described them as once widespread and abundant.​​

  • Kangaroos grow and breed slowly and have high juvenile mortality.  For example, a Grey Kangaroo doe can produce up to eight independent joeys in her lifetime, [1,2] with just two likely to survive to independence. [3]

  • Maximum wild population growth rates average ~10% in optimal conditions,[4] with annual declines of up to 60% during drought recorded.[5,6,7] It is biologically impossible for kangaroo populations to increase rapidly.

  • Shooting quotas of 15-20% or more [8] of population estimates exceed actual kangaroo population growth rates.  

  • ​​Analysis shows critically flawed kangaroo survey methodologies systematically inflate population estimates from which commercial shooting quotas are then over-allocated. [9] ​​
    ​
  • ​Government survey data and commercial shooting statistics illustrate declining populations and landscapes now significantly depleted of kangaroos. [10]
Picture
image:Ray Drew Photography
  • Shooting occurs away from scrutiny and in darkness, when non-lethal shots are inevitable, often causing horrific injuries.
    ​
  • Evidence suggests 4-40% [11,12] commercially shot animals are not shot directly in the brain but in the neck or body. This equates to between 65,284 - 652,839 animals mis-shot in 2015. [13] 
    ​
  • ​Unknown further numbers of mis-shot kangaroos are left to die in the field by commercial and non-commercial shooters.
    ​
  • The national Code of Practice requires shooters to shoot at-foot joeys, and decapitate or “crush the skull and destroy the brain” of pouch young. [14]

  • Research confirms most dependent at-foot joeys are left in the field [15] to suffer exposure, starvation or predation, and that pouch joeys’ heads are generally swung against vehicles.
    ​
  • Joeys killed or left to die are not recorded. Around 8 million dependent joeys are estimated to have died due to commercial shooting in the period 2000-2009.[16]  
    ​
  • ​Over 110,000 joeys died from commercial shooting alone in 2015 based on reported figures.[17]​​
Picture
image:Lindsay Moller Productions
  • 75% of emerging human pathogens originate in wildlife. [18] 

  • Kangaroo is a wild bush meat sold in supermarkets and restaurants. It is not tested[19] for the many human-harming pathogens it harbours.[20]
    ​
  • Wild kangaroos are shot and butchered in the field without supervision.

  • ​They are transported on unrefrigerated open trucks exposed to dust and flies and frequently high ambient temperatures.

  • ​There have been repeated findings of contaminated kangaroo meat over many years. [21] 

  • In 2014 Russia renewed its ban on kangaroo meat imports for a third time due to pathogenic contamination. [22,23] 

  • ​Acetic acid is routinely used to cleanse the meat of systemic contamination. [24]
image of many hanging shot kangaroo paws in a chiller box
image:Paul Harris
  • ​​Loss of habitat, urban development, agricultural practices and continuing industrial-scale slaughter eliminates kangaroos across vast regions where historical records described them as once widespread and abundant.​​
​
  • Kangaroos grow and breed slowly and have high juvenile mortality.  For example, a Grey Kangaroo doe can produce up to eight independent joeys in her lifetime, [1,2] with just two likely to survive to independence. [3]

  • Maximum wild population growth rates average ~10% in optimal conditions,[4] with annual declines of up to 60% during drought recorded.[5,6,7] It is biologically impossible for kangaroo populations to increase rapidly.

  • Shooting quotas of 15 to 20% or more [8] of population estimates   exceed actual kangaroo population growth rates.  
    ​
  • ​​Analysis shows critically flawed kangaroo survey methodologies systematically inflate population estimates from which commercial shooting quotas are then over-allocated. [9] ​​
    ​​
  • ​Government survey data and commercial shooting statistics illustrate declining populations and landscapes now significantly depleted of kangaroos. [10]
Picture
image:Ray Drew Photography
  •  Shooting occurs away from scrutiny and in darkness, when non-lethal shots are  inevitable, often causing horrific injuries.
    ​
  • Evidence suggests 4 to 40% [11,12] commercially shot animals are not shot directly in the brain but in the neck or body. This equates to between 65,284 - 652,839 animals mis-shot in 2015. [13] 
    ​
  • ​Unknown further numbers of mis-shot kangaroos are left to die in the field by commercial and non-commercial shooters.
    ​
  • The national Code of Practice requires  shooters to shoot at-foot joeys, and  decapitate or “crush the skull and destroy the brain” of pouch young. [14]

  • Research confirms most  dependent at-foot joeys are left in the field [15] to suffer
    exposure, starvation or predation, and that pouch joeys’ heads are generally swung against vehicles.

  • Joeys killed or left to die are not recorded. Around 8 million dependent joeys are estimated to have died due to commercial shooting in the period 2000-2009.[16] 
    ​
  • ​Over 110,000 joeys died from commercial shooting alone in 2015 based on reported figures.[17]
Picture
image:Lindsay Moller Productions
  •  75% of emerging human pathogens originate in wildlife. [18] 

  • Kangaroo is a wild bush meat sold in supermarkets and restaurants. It is not tested[19] for the many human-harming pathogens it harbours.[20]
    ​
  • Wild kangaroos are shot and butchered in the field without supervision.

  • ​They are transported on unrefrigerated open trucks exposed to dust and flies and frequently high ambient temperatures.

  • ​There have been  repeated findings of contaminated kangaroo meat over many years. [21] 

  • In 2014 Russia renewed its ban on kangaroo meat imports for a third time due to pathogenic contamination. [22,23] 

  • ​Acetic acid is routinely used to cleanse the meat of systemic contamination. [24]

SIGNATORIES


Animal Active, Australia
Animal Liberation: Compassion without compromise
Animals Australia - the voice for animals.
Arcohab - Association for Respectful CoHabitation
Australian Society for Kangaroos
Choose Cruelty Free: Not tested on animals
Coalition for the Protection of Kangaroos
Creative Cowboy Films, International. Logo
Food Empowerment Project
For the Love of Wildlife, Australia
Four Paws Australia
Humane Research Australia: ending animal experimentation
Humane Society International, Australia
The Humane Society of the United States. logo
International Fund for Animal Welfare. Australia. logo
Kangaroos at Risk, Australia
The Kerulos Center for nonviolence. USA
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PeTA), Australia
Pro Wildlife, Germany
Kangaroo the Movie by Second Nature Films
Sentient. The Veterinary Institute for Animal Welfare, Australia
Viva! Vegan is a state of mind. United Kingdom.
Voiceless -the animal protection institute, Australia. logo
Wildlife Victoria, rescue, rehabilitation, advocacy and education about wildlife in Victoria Australia
Working for Animals, India & Australia
World Animal Protection, Australia logo

ABOUT

The open letter is a project of the Kangaroo Roundtable, which is a partnership between organisations, scientists, researchers and academics who believe the data, science and research about kangaroos is cause for concern. 

We urge lawmakers, decision-makers, media and the general public to learn about the biology, ecology, behaviour and absence of kangaroos in Australian landscapes. We encourage critique of the deeply held and widely repeated myths about kangaroos. We encourage questioning about the reported status-quo regarding kangaroos. We call for acknowledgement and understanding of the historical, political and commercial interests that have shaped the kangaroo space, and for public access to and robust  examination of the raw data, and the survey and the extrapolation methodologies that make up the Population Estimates on which all public discourse is based.
contact@kangaroomatters.org
© COPYRIGHT 2018. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Please reference use of material from this site as per:
​Sourced from​ www.kangaroomatters.org
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  • OPEN LETTER
  • 2019 Canberra Statement