The Kangaroo Industry - A Paradigm Challenge

The kangaroo industry attracts a lot of media attention because it is so unique, and because it is a paradigm challenge for many people.

Commercially utilising wildlife, especially iconic species like kangaroos, challenges the widely publicised view of conservation pushed by the modern NGO conservation movement. Many people living in New York, London, Paris or Sydney and brought up on an ‘entertainment diet’ of wildlife documentaries would believe ALL wildlife is endangered. The fact that some species, like the commercially harvested kangaroos, are super-abundant and can be sustainably harvested as a resource does not get much publicity from groups like Greenpeace who are dependent on a ‘concerned’ public for their annual revenue.

For other people the thought of killing an attractive wild animal such as a kangaroo goes against their deeply held love of animals.

These considerations leave the kangaroo industry a ‘soft target’ for radical vegetarian based groups targeting an urban population for their fund raising. Indeed the Director of one such group (Viva) which regularly targets the kangaroo industry, is on the public record as saying, "There are much more important issues than kangaroo, but every time we campaign against the kangaroo industry the dollars just roll in."

The links in this section provide information for journalists interested in the truth behind the kangaroo industry.

• The facts about the kangaroo industry
• So what’s the real ‘story’ here?
• A list of credible scientists supportive of the kangaroo industry
• Contacts