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The Kangaroo Industry - FACTSThe kangaroo industry represents an international model of wise and sustainable wildlife utilisation. It also points the way forward to a more sustainable system of producing meat in our arid grazing rangelands. The kangaroo industry is worth AUD$270 million per year and directly employs 4000 people, many of these jobs are in remote areas with few other employment opportunities. Kangaroo harvesting is sustainable: Human predation is a natural part of kangaroo biology, after-all people have been harvesting kangaroos for over 40,000 years! The modern day commercial harvest has been utilizing kangaroos for over 40 years. During that time populations have fluctuated solely in response to seasonal conditions. The graph below is taken from Australian Government data available at http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/trade-use/wild-harvest/kangaroo/population/index.html. The troughs in kangaroo numbers reflect drought conditions and the peaks runs of good years. The current population is in fact the same as the long run average, this in-spite of the recent worst drought on record! This is simply because the quota is only set at 10-12% of the population, and during droughts the government authorities review it mid year, to ensure that the take is only ever that which the population can sustain. 
No credible Australian scientist has expressed concerns over the sustainability of the kangaroo harvest. Kangaroos are super-abundant. With a population in 2008 of million, kangaroos are actually amongst the most abundant large wild land mammal on earth. Kangaroos
are humanely harvested: The Royal Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) has independently monitored the kangaroo
harvest and reported that 99.8% of kangaroos commercially harvested
are dispatched by a high powered bullet to the head or the junction
of the head and neck (http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/trade-use/publications/kangaroo-report/index.html).
The RSPCA and the Australian Veterinary Association support the
professionalism of kangaroo harvesters. The kangaroo industry is tightly controlled. Kangaroo populations are estimated every year by Government authorities to determine a sustainable quota which is usually between 10-12% of total population. All harvesters must undergo training and assessment by regulatory authorities and report monthly on what kangaroos they take and from where. Intensive government monitoring is directed to all aspects of the industry to ensure compliance with the regulations. Australian ecologists support the kangaroo industry. A wide range of professional conservation groups support the kangaroo, harvest believing that it delivers important environmental benefits. Some examples include:
The Australian public support the kangaroo harvest. Surveys consistently indicate that less than 5% of Australians oppose the kangaroo industry. Sales of kangaroo product are constantly growing as many Australians appreciate the exceptional quality of these items. More detailed
information on these issues and the industry in general can be found
at: A list
of kangaroo producers is at: Retail
outlets selling kangaroo meat are listed at: For more information email kiaa@bigpond.net.au A
selection of ecologists and conservationists who are on record
as supporting the kangaroo
A real good news storyThe kangaroo industry is tightly controlled by Australian government, intensively monitored, has a 40 year history of sustainably utilising a super-abundant species, has the support of major veterinary and animal welfare groups, is widely supported by Australian ecologists because it delivers important environmental benefits and has the potential to offer a solution to one of Australia’s more pressing environmental problems. If that ain’t a good news story what is????????? The story here is about Australians adapting our food production systems to suit our unique environment, rather than attempting to adapt our environment to suit European agricultural techniques and causing enormous environmental harm by doing so. It’s about Australian’s finding a solution to the degradation of one of the worlds most fragile environments caused by introduced hard footed sheep and cattle. It’s about Australian’s attempting to make a living off our land from what it produces naturally. It’s about just how good the natural products this land has to offer are. And FinallyKangaroos don’t emit methane! Sheep and cattle on the other hand belch it by the tonne lot, and methane is 21 times worse than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse warming gas. Greenpeace has recently estimated that the beef industry alone accounts for 15% of Australia’s carbon footprint. Kangaroo meat is perhaps the one meat we can eat with a carbon free conscious.
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