Under Fire A Viva! Report on The Killing of Kangaroos for Meat and Skin by Juliet Gellatley BSc (Zoology), Director of Viva!

How Many Kangaroos are Killed? The general trend since the early 1970's has been a steady increase in the number of animals killed commercially, from 885,000 in 1975 to 5.5 million a year today. Legal kangaroo commercial kill quotas 1975 to 2001: 1975 885,000 1980 2.9 million 1990 3.9 million 1998 4.1 million 1999 5.7 million 2000 5.5 million 2001 5.5 million THESE QUOTAS ARE FOR EXPORT ONLY AND DO NOT REPRESENT THE TOTAL NUMBER OF KANGAROOS KILLED. (Note that the kangaroo industry quote these commercial killing figures for export as if they were the total kill.) In addition, millions more animals are legally killed non-commercially. The extent of the non-commercial kill can be shown by the Tasmanian wallaby kill figures, where more than 1 million animals were shot in one year non-commercially - when the official quota was set at 250,000. In 1986, the Queensland government stated that the legal non-commercial kill in addition to the quota was 500,000. By 1991 a Queensland National Parks and Wildlife Officer estimated that: "1 million kangaroos are shot annually in that state in addition to the commercial quota." The illegal kill is also not accounted for in the quota figures; nor are the joeys in the pouches and young at foot who always die when their mothers are shot. According to the Australian Wildlife Protection Council: "...the number of kangaroos and wallabies actually killed each year is as high as TWICE THAT OF THE FEDERALLY SET COMMERCIAL QUOTA." In other words in 2001, the government set official quota for the number of kangaroos to be killed is 5.5 million; in reality in the region of 10 million kangaroos will be slaughtered. Cruelty to Kangaroos The following statement is typical of the Australian government and multiple retailers that sold kangaroo meat in the UK and still sell it abroad: Retailer: " ....the sale of kangaroo meat in no way causes undue stress to the animals". Below, this report examines different aspects of animal welfare in relation to the kangaroo slaughter, in answer to statements released by Sainsbury's when they sold the meat and the Australian High Commission, UK. Retailer: "The professional shooters involved in the cull are licensed and fully trained. They must comply with strict government laws demanding a code of conduct." Kangaroos are supposed to be killed by licensed shooters who are supposed to understand a Code of Practice governing the killing. The statement above implies that all kangaroos killed for meat/skin are shot by professional shooters. This is not the case. In fact, according to the Australian Wildlife Protection Council many shooters are itinerant part-timers. A pro-industry report confirms this, stating: "shooters are almost always self-employed" and they are mainly part-time because kangaroo products are "low-value". (32) In addition, the illegal trade supplies a substantial number of animals for meat/skin. The Code the AHC and retailers refer to is the 'Code of Practice for the Humane Shooting of Kangaroos' (31). However - the reason it is called a code is because it is precisely that. It is a guideline for shooters to follow but lacks any clout in law. The National Kangaroo Campaign, Australia state: "The code is a voluntary code only and no provision exists in it for permits/licences to be suspended in the event of failure to adhere to the code." The code falls down badly in many areas and has done nothing to lessen the concern for the level of cruelty to kangaroos. For example: Joeys The Australian High Commission, London, claims; "the Government code demands that joeys are put down immediately and humanely". Mother kangaroos often have a joey in pouch and a joey at foot - neither can survive without her. The code states that pouch young of a shot female 'must also be killed. Decapitation with a sharp instrument in very small hairless young or a properly executed heavy blow to destroy the brain in larger young...or by a shot to the brain' must be used. When I was in Australia, amateur hunters admitted to cases of joeys being used as footballs; to stamping on joeys heads (but not killing them); to using crowbars or bashing their heads against a wheel brace or just leaving them to die. (Even for those joeys which are dragged out of their mother's pouch and killed according to the code's recommendations - I hardly think that the Commission's description of 'put down' conjures up the reality.) The code does not even make a reference to how older joeys should be dealt with! They are completely dependant on their mothers for milk, warmth in the cold winter nights, protection from predation and emotional support. Without their mothers, they are left to die of starvation or cold or from predation. (25) Dr John Auty BVSc has studied the killing of kangaroos in all Australian States. He firmly maintains that: "Shooters often have a thorough contempt of the law and the Code. They commit cruelty on a regular basis." Dr Auty's credentials to speak on this subject are far more persuasive than Sainsbury's. He has post graduate qualifications in veterinary science and was Chief Agronomist in the Northern Territory; Assistant Director of the Australian Bureau of Animal Health and has worked in the outback for many years where he studied kangaroos. Viva!'s research shows that the killing of joeys is obscene and unavoidably cruel. Other failures of the code to protect kangaroos include the fact that: Some firearms used are unsuitable e.g. shotguns and small rifles when used on wallabies are unlikely to cause instant death. Laws relating to the killing of kangaroos vary between states and some laws contradict the code. For example, in Western Australia there is an open season where shooters can operate without a licence and do not have to stick to the code. Most of all, wildlife authorities do not have the ability to enforce the code. There are not enough staff to cover the vast distances and they rely on the shooters to keep them informed. Source: National Kangaroo Campaign, Australia Most telling is the code itself, which states: "No matter how carefully the shooter aims, some kangaroos will not be killed outright." (31) Enforcing the Code The kangaroo industry state that to enforce the code of conduct: "National Parks & Wildlife Rangers CONSTANTLY conduct unannounced inspections." This is nonsense. Even if the wildlife authorities had powers to enforce the code they could not use them as the shooting takes place at night in remote areas without monitoring. The Australian Wildlife Protection Council says: "the code of practice is legally unenforceable." The number of kangaroos allowed to be killed in New South Wales in 1998 was 1.3 million and yet in 1997 the NSW Parks Law Enforcement Officers were being reduced from a mere 8 down to 6. (18) And in any case, in direct contradiction to the kangaroo industry's claim, the New South Wales National Parks & Wildlife Service state: "Cruelty to kangaroos are regulated and dealt with under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals legislation....NPWS does not have direct access to or maintain records on prosecutions under that legislation". (8 December 1996) Cruelty to kangaroos is ignored by wildlife authorities at both State and Federal level. Further, commonwealth powers in relation to wildlife are restricted to the control of exports under Wildlife Protection (Regulation of Exports & Imports) Act 1982. This allows no power to link cruelty or animal welfare to decisions made as to the number of kangaroos being killed for export (17, 19). Under Fire "Kangaroos are strictly protected" Australian High Commission. Men drive though the bush in four wheel drives, searching for wild kangaroos which they illuminate with powerful searchlights. They are then shot, supposedly in the head. For many animals it is the throat or neck, leaving them struggling and still conscious when they are dragged to the truck. A kangaroo shooter of 20 years who moved to London, UK told Viva! in 1998 (and reiterated a similar quote to the London Evening Standard in 2001): "We often shot kangaroos in the leg because it was a much easier target than the head. You hoped that it would slow them enough to find them and finish them off. That could take some time. I've seen kangaroos running with their guts spilling out.... I'm not proud of what I've done; I just wanted to tell you that the kangaroo industry is lying." Some animals are still alive when their leg is sliced open, a hook is inserted through the gash and they are hauled up onto the truck. Their throat/chest is then slit. The shooter stops from time to time and guts the kangaroos, the head, limbs and tail are chopped off and discarded. The skin is left on until the dead animal reaches the processing works. (32) The carcasses are supposed to be delivered to a chiller, usually at a local town depot before high temperatures help further rotting. They are then taken to a processing plant where skins are pulled off and taken to a tannery to make leather and the carcasses butchered for meat. What is left of Australia's national emblem goes to make fertiliser. Even for an experienced shooter, the small kangaroo head is a difficult target, especially at night with the dazzle of spotlights distorting vision. In 1985 the Australian RSPCA carried out a survey into the kangaroo industry, paid for by government. The RSPCA warn that their results were distorted because "the shooters volunteering information were considered the cleanest in the industry". Even so, they found that "at least 15% of kangaroos killed commercially die inhumanely". They say the true figure is much higher. The Australian RSPCA said in 1997: "The RSPCA opposes the killing of kangaroos for economic purposes...the incidence of cruelty is too high to be justified...we are campaigning against the quota system and the industry it sustains". (20) Amazingly, the kangaroo industry often states that the RSPCA supports the commercial kill. In 1999, Peter Barber, Director of the Victorian State RSPCA put the record straight. He said: "In its 1985 report, the RSPCA voiced its concern over the high incidence of inhumane kills. For some self-promoting reason several people have interpreted the report as an endorsement of the kangaroo industry. This is completely untrue, in fact, absurd." "The RSPCA has steadfastly opposed the quota system and the killing of kangaroos for economic purposes. The industry has not identified that any improvements have been made since the RSPCA report was written and, in any case, as with other self-regulated industries, proper regulation and standards cannot be guaranteed." (22) If a shooter is a poor shot it simply means he uses a few extra rounds of ammunition, using living animals for target practice, many of which will limp off into the bush to die a painful death. In Britain, the use of shot guns with a wide spread of shot, have been consistently decried as an undesirable way of killing foxes by the hunting lobby. Yet in Australia, the single shot of a rifle is portrayed as a humane and infallible method of killing kangaroos. One thing is certain, such a method of killing farmed animals and their young carried out under similar conditions would not be tolerated in the UK and would be seen as what it is - an animal welfare outrage. Video footage filmed by IFAW Australia shows a middle-aged man, an 'experienced' unlicensed but commercial killer, and his son of about 10 years old, killing kangaroos and joeys. It is evidence of just one night's slaughter and contains numerous instances of blatant cruelty: 1. The majority of kangaroos shot are hit in the throat and do not die instantly. 2. The child stands on the face of a wounded, conscious kangaroo as the shooter cuts into its leg in order to place a hook through it. 3. A kangaroo is shot in the throat, hung onto the truck by a hind leg and the truck is driven away with the animal still gasping for breath. 4. A joey is pulled out of the pouch of his dying mother. The shooter comments: "You'd better turn the camera off," as he stamps on the baby's head. The child then also casually twists his foot on its head but the joey is still alive and moaning after these crude attempts to kill it. 6. The shooter allows a pouched young to escape into the bush where it will certainly die. 7. The shooter boasts about shooting pelicans, a protected species of wallaby and tries to shoot at a moving fox. And so it continues.... (For a copy of the footage, contact Viva!.) The shooters may work through most of the night. If the killing is for skin only, often the case in Queensland, the shooters stops from time to time to skin the animals, leaving the carcass. He may kill over 100 kangaroos per night. In NSW and WA, shooting only for skins is illegal and the number of kangaroos slaughtered in one night is limited by what the truck can carry, usually 50. (32) Why Are Kangaroos Killed? Australian wildlife, including kangaroos, is under serious threat from Australian government policy, which now states: "Australian native wildlife is a renewable resource. If managed in an ecologically sustainable manner, wildlife can provide a perpetual source of economic benefits for all Australians." Two main reasons have been given to Viva! by the industry for killing kangaroos. These are: 1. Kangaroos are a major wheat crop pest and 2. Kangaroos compete with sheep/cattle for resources These statements are untrue and do not justify the largest wildlife massacre this planet has ever seen. Let's look at each statement in turn. 1. "Kangaroos no longer exist in wheat areas as they have long since been killed off." (Australian Wildlife Protection Council) (23). A four year study of Grey kangaroos in Western Australia by CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation) found that 95 per cent of wheat crops are never visited by kangaroos (2). Also few kangaroos wander more than 400 metres from their home range in the bush. The study found that kangaroos have virtually no impact on the country's crops, despite claims by farmers that they are a major crop pest and further, the study recommended that farmers who have natural bush land on their property encourage its growth to help keep the kangaroos fed. Dr Graham Arnold, former Senior Principle Research Scientist, CSIRO, Division of Wildlife and Ecology, who studied the impact of kangaroos on croplands, stated in 1998: "Most kangaroos did not like to eat farm crops and would only thrive if given access to their natural foods.........Unless the community manages remnant vegetation to minimise degradation and enhance the regeneration of native plants, kangaroos and some other native species will disappear from much of Western Australia over the next 100 years." He also said: "All the land cleared for farming in Western Australia was habitat for one or more species of kangaroos, wallabies and their relatives. Today, five species are extinct throughout the wheatbelt and four species are found only in a few locations." (22) Furthermore, a study of the kangaroo killing zones quickly reveals that kangaroos are largely commercially shot in areas where they are NOT seen as a problem to crop growers. Instead, commercial killing takes place in regions of extensive grazing. These areas produce almost no crops and account for only 10 per cent of Australia's meat production. (22) Dr Arnold states: "Due to the marginal nature of these areas {where kangaroos are killed commercially for meat and skin}, stocking rates of {sheep or cattle} are traditionally very low. Properties need to be enormous. Indeed, publicity given to property owners in these areas in the outback show that the kangaroo, even if in large numbers, could only be placed very low on a long list of environmental and economic factors effecting their livelihood". Yet farmers and the Australian government regularly refer to kangaroos as pests. Dr Arnold responds: "Pests is an emotive word. It conjures up visions of animals destroying crops. I can think of no situations where this is likely to be true for kangaroos." (22) 2. The second main reason given for slaughtering kangaroos is that they compete for resources with cattle and sheep. A six year study by Dr Steven McLeod at the University of New South Wales (3) is the most comprehensive of its type and thoroughly examines whether the presence of red kangaroos negatively impacts on sheep. When I gave interviews in Australia on the kangaroo trade, the industry's, farmers, politicians and some journalists most favourite excuse for the killing was that kangaroos would eat sheep out of house and home if left to their own devices. According to Dr McLeod some studies previous to his have suggested that kangaroos and sheep compete for food, but none have been conclusive. His study is the first to examine this hypothesis properly. In a nutshell, he finds that: "There was no evidence of a competitive effect of red kangaroos on sheep." (3) This was true even in drought conditions. In the winter of 1991 when the study region was officially declared as drought stricken by the government of NSW, the study found no competition for food between sheep and red kangaroos. The study concluded that red kangaroos do not effect the body mass, wool growth, reproductive output of sheep or the growth and survivorship of lambs. In fact, it was found that red kangaroos "consistently avoid areas used by sheep" and that sheep have a negative impact on kangaroos! Further, Ingrid White who was awarded the Australian Post-Graduate Award for her PhD, started field research for her thesis, Spatio-temporal interaction of mammalian herbivores in the arid zone, in 1994 at UNSW Arid Zone Research Station Fowlers gap, Broken Hill. She states: "Like several other researchers before me, working in the same study area located on a commercial sheep station in the outback of New South Wales and working under real conditions, in real paddocks and with real stocking rates, I found little evidence for detrimental effects of kangaroo on the domestic sheep or vegetation. And this, despite the kangaroos not having been culled as a "pest" species for more than 30 years - and the kangaroos equalling or surpassing the numbers of sheep stocked on the station." (22) Clearly, the reality is the opposite to that which the meat industry would have us believe. And the whole basis upon which the kangaroo massacre has gained public tolerance in Australia is false. Population Matters The kangaroo meat industry contradicts itself in its claims over why kangaroos are killed. On the one hand they state they the animals need to be killed to keep their numbers in check. On the other, they claim that killing kangaroos conserves the species and increases numbers. They cannot have it both ways! There is no evidence to show that kangaroos are commercially killed for meat and skin today as a method of population control. (See 'Quotas - a Cynical PR Exercise' below.) This claim of 'population control' becomes particularly hollow when you realise that the kangaroos are not 'culled'. A genuine cull aims to reduce the size of a population and involves killing whole family groups. It may involve killing the old, sick, diseased and lame animals. In the case of the commercial kangaroo slaughter - only the largest and fittest animals are shot and usually more males are killed (because they are bigger); leaving young females to breed rapidly. The commercial killing industry is not an organised cull working with the best interests of the kangaroo at its heart! The late Dr Peter Rawlinson, zoologist at La Trobe University, Melbourne, said: "Kangaroo culling programs, completely disregard the age and sex structure of herds, and for this reason cannot be taken seriously.... Professional hunters shoot mainly large adult males, because these animals earn them the most money." The estimates of the population sizes of the most commonly killed species of kangaroo vary enormously. In 1983 Barry Cohen, then Minister for the Environment, Australia stated that there were 21 million kangaroos; in the same year the National Farmers Federation claimed there were 30 million! In 1998 the Australian High Commission in London stated that there were over 50 million kangaroos. This is a ludicrous figure and not supported by Australia's Federal Department of the Environment which quoted a total of 19 million animals in the same year. The industry estimated that there were 27 million animals in an interview with myself in 1998. In 2001 they stated that there are 35 or 50 million animals (27); 40 million (28) and 50 million (26)! It is in the killers interests to quote a high number - so even if 35 million were accurate; this is not a high number for a country the size of Australia; nor is it a large number when you consider in the region of 10 million kangaroos were killed last year. (Includes commercial, non-commercial and illegal shootings, joey deaths due to mothers being shot and road kills.) In any event, averaging the staggeringly variable estimates of kangaroo population sizes over the past 30 years, shows that the population has NOT increased and until recently has remained fairly constant, except during severe droughts (e.g. in 1982-83 it dropped to only 11 million). However, there are worrying signs of populations falling today. For example, in New South Wales (NSW) the percentage of all species of kangaroos killed has increased over the last decade. 19% of Eastern Greys are shot and 21% of Western Greys (risen from 14% in the 1980s). Also, in 1996 the NSW kill was the highest on record, whilst the population was the lowest for 11 years. (21) Due to the steady increase in the size of the annual massacre and the decrease in habitat, numbers are set to fall nationwide. The population estimates above are for the main species of kangaroos killed; there are many other macropod species which are endangered or vulnerable. Furthermore, kangaroo expert Dr John Auty BVSc claims that the current population size of the main species of 19 to 35 million today is far less than the numbers which existed when the Europeans first settled in Australia. In other words, the industry's portrayal of the kangaroo being in 'plague proportions' is a convenient but false assertion.

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