The kangaroo killing industry supplies leather for soccer cleats, handbags and baseball mitts, which is fueling the slaughter of millions of kangaroos and their babies every year. 6.9 million kangaroos will be shot this year - it is the biggest wildlife massacre in the world and it must be stopped.

Animal Liberation Victoria is joining in VIVA!'s (a UK animal rights group) call for an international boycott of Adidas. The campaign will be targeting companies using kangaroo skin one at a time, which was the successful tactic used by Viva! in the UK to get supermarkets to stop stocking kangaroo meat. So the first target is Adidas and their 'Predator' shoe.

Adidas is far and away the leader in 'premier' soccer cleats, with 70 percent of the market worldwide.

Viva! in England wrote to Adidas outlining the grave concerns about their use of kangaroo skin and received a nauseating standard letter claiming to care about 'humane harvesting' which regurgitated the Kangaroo Industry Association's propaganda about population control. Viva! wrote back to Adidas contesting the points made in their letter and requested a meeting with them, but so far they have not replied. It's time for us to step up the campaign and make them take notice!

Animal Liberation Victoria is taking this issue to the streets and urging shoppers not to buy Adidas products until they cease their part in the largest wildlife massacre in the world. Details of our Melbourne Protest on August 31 are listed above. Supporters are then invited to attend an Animal Liberation Victoria members meeting and raffle draw at the Gabrielle Pizzi Gallery in 141 Flinders Lane, Melbourne at 2:00 that afternoon. Video footage of recent undercover rescues will be shown.

In the USA and the UK, activists will hold protests outside malls and stores which stock Adidas soccer cleats and urge shoppers to boycott all Adidas products as long as they use kangaroo skin. Events will also take place in Australia, Poland and other European countries.

It is vital to the survival of kangaroos that we stop the trade in their skins, especially for the manufacturing of soccer cleats. According to Australia's leading tanners of kangaroo leather, Parker Tanning, manufacturers prefer to use the largest skins to make athletic footwear. These skins come from the large red males who take 10 years to reach alpha status and are being continually massacred so few survive to pass on their superior genes to the next generation. This means that smaller, weaker and younger males are left to breed with the females, producing offspring who are less likely to survive a major drought or other natural disasters. We must reverse this trend before a major disaster strikes and Australian kangaroos are wiped out! It is frightening that leather suppliers are complaining that there are few large red males left in Australia. Skins are getting smaller and smaller as they now shoot juveniles.

Many top manufacturers now make hi-tech, hi-performance synthetic soccer cleats for professionals without the use of any animal products. Please help us show Adidas that we won't allow them to kick the kangaroo into extinction. Following is a list of some microfibre football boots.

These are professional quality boots in the £100.00 price range:·