ACTION

• Wildlife and eco-tourism have tremendous national wealth and jobs potential. The kangaroo is a universally loved icon yet millions, now declared a resource, are slaughtered to accommodate destructive agricultural practices.
  

• It is time for the tourism industry to maximize on the already established international reputation of the kangaroo as a major tourist icon.
  

• Australia's leaders hide behind a protective wall of propaganda and irresponsible legislation, so that a few may gain from the death of a species.
  

• Australia has the highest rate of extinctions in the world but there appears to be no shame, only apathy about this appalling record.

Myth: Plagues of kangaroos? Australia overrun by kangaroos?
Fact: Kangaroos were widespread and abundant at the time of early settlement. Now they are fugitives in their own country and Skippy is relentlessly pursued.
Myth: Kangaroos degrade and destroy the environment.
Fact: The soft padded feet and long tail of the kangaroo are integral to the ecological health of the land as regenerators of native grasses. It is destructive agricultural practices on marginal land that are proving to be unsustainable.
Myth: We need to kill and eat our wildlife to save it. Wildlife must 'pay its way'.
Fact: It is imperative that we link wildlife corridors throughout Australia to restore kangaroo and wildlife habitat. Tourists want to see tourist icon Skippy... but kangaroos are being decimated and the outback is turning to dust. The ecological and economic value of wildlife nature-based tourism is ignored.

 

 

 

• Fail to acknowledge different and specific needs of the four commercially killed species and 'manage' them as one
• Use 'guesstimates' and changing correction factors to estimate populations
  
• Totally disregard the biological and social needs of kangaroos
  
• Ignore natural selection and manipulate kangaroo populations for artificial results to benefit the kangaroo industry
  
• Do not monitor the legal or illegal killing of kangaroos
  
• Ignore studies which prove kangaroos do not compete with cattle and sheep
  
• Removed 'damage mitigation' as the sole reason for killing kangaroos
  
• Ignore the Precautionary Principle
  
• Ignore the $6 billion nature-based tourism industry

 

Red kangaroos are a threatened species
Red kangaroos are now being killed at a rate three times higher than they are reproducing. In the 1960's their average age was 12; today it is 2. Their average weight was 35 kg in the 1960's, which today is 18kg. Commercial killing has put insupportable pressure on Red kangaroos which now threatens the species.

 

The world was appalled when the Canadians killed their harpseals. Australians brutally slaughter kangaroos and bash their joeys to death.

 

Government sanctioned cruelty
The Code of Practice says joeys can be ripped from their slain mother's pouch and hit on the head with a water pipe or iron bar until dead; shooters even bash joeys against their vehicle or a tree trunk.
Older, ex-pouch, but still dependent joeys flee in terror when their mothers are killed to die from cold, starvation, predation and maternal depravation. A million or more joeys die in this way every year.

• No Shooter will ever allow himself to be filmed killing joeys.
  
• The Code of Practice is not linked to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act and is legally unenforcable.
  
• Contrary to public perception, the RSPCA does NOT monitor or police cruelty to commercially killed kangaroos.

Loss of inherited genetic strengths a threat to kangaroo species
Selective hunting of kangaroos for commercial gain results in females mating with younger non-Alpha males, and the loss of inherited genetic strengths, which sustain the mob.
Precedents have been set in other parts of the world where large populations of a species have faced extinction after widespread and destructive 'culling' programs. Exotic bacteriaand viruses can decimate genetically weakened populations.

 

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Kangaroos as GAME meat; you'd have to be game to eat it!
Kangaroos are shot in the wild at night, disembowelled amongst the faeces of other animals, dirt and dust. 'Game-meats' are a source of infection for hunters, processors and consumers. Undercooked or raw kangaroo meat can carry hydatids , nematode worms, parasitic zoonoses and other bacterial, fungal and viral disease. Kangaroo meat inspection ignores the normal principles for meat hygiene.
Raw kangaroo may be unsafe for your pets as well. For decades farmers have been told not to feed sheep offal to their dogs because of hydatids, but there is no difference between dogs eating sheep offal or eating kangaroo offal.

 

 

The best way to resurrect tourism is to save Skippy with help from sympathetic, cooperative farmers who share an empathy for the preservation of our wildlife. This will generate jobs, income and restore life to the bush.

 

ACTION:
Write to:

Federal Tourism Minister Joe Hockey,
Suite MF51, Parliament House,
Canberra ACT 2600
Australia
Tel: (02) 6277 7450 Fax: (02) 6273 9394
www.joehockey.com / joehockey@joehockey.com

Minister for Tourism in your State

Australian Tourist Commission,
Level 4, 80 William Street,
Woolloomoolloo Sydney 2000
www.atc.net.au / ausinfo@atc.gov.au,
Managing Director Ken Boundy
Tel: 02 9360 1111 Fax: 02 9331 6469

Public Affairs Officer Emma Belcher,
Embassy of Australia,
1601 Massachusetts Avenue NW
Washington DC 20036
Tel: 1 (202) 797 3373 Fax: 1 (202) 797 3414
Emma.Belcher@dfat.gov.au

Australian High Commission,
The Strand, London WC2B 4LA.
High Commissioner : Michael L'Estrange.

 

Contact:
Pat O'Brien and Join our SAVE SKIPPY Campaign
National Kangaroo Protection Coalition,
PO Box 309 Beerwah 4519
Queensland 0408 711 344.
Email: mailto:austwildlife@iinet.net.au