Defend kangaroos from Chinese exports
- by: Lorelle Taylor
- recipient: Australian Minister for the Environment Hon. Greg Hunt MP
The Australian Department of Agriculture has been conducting trade talks with China with the aim of boosting kangaroo meat exports to that country. They are hoping for an increase of exports from around $20 million per year to $600 million per year.
Kangaroos are not agricultural products, but wild animals. The method of killing these wild animals by rifle shot, mostly at night, risks cruel injuries to adult kangaroos. Joeys, which are not weaned until up to 18 months old, are treated even more cruelly, being either decapitated, killed by a blow to the head, or allowed to escape to face starvation in the wild.
Although governments argue that roo populations require culling to maintain environmental balance, what they fail to mention is that kangaroos have in-built population controls. During conditions which threaten survival of the mother, embryo development is arrested until conditions improve.
It is time that we placed greater weight on the value of animals as individuals and as integral parts of the biodiversity required to maintain life on our planet.
Please sign this petition to ask the Minister for Environment to defend the kangaroo from further onslaught, to step in and stop these negotiations before they go any further.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-08/kangaroo-meat-china-barry-osullivan/6603484
http://www.australiansocietyforkangaroos.com/not_so_green.html
http://www.animalsaustralia.org/issues/kangaroo_shooting.php
Minister for the Environment Hon. Greg Hunt MP
The Australian Department of Agriculture has been conducting trade talks with China with the aim of boosting kangaroo meat exports to that country. They are hoping for an increase of exports from around $20 million per year to $600 million per year.
Kangaroos are not agricultural products, but wild animals. The method of killing these wild animals by rifle shot, mostly at night, risks cruel injuries to adult kangaroos. Joeys, which are not weaned until up to 18 months old, are treated even more cruelly, being either decapitated, killed by a blow to the head, or allowed to escape to face starvation in the wild.
Although governments argue that roo populations require culling to maintain environmental balance, what they fail to mention is that kangaroos have in-built population controls. During conditions which threaten survival of the mother, embryo development is arrested until conditions improve.
It is time that we placed greater weight on the value of animals as individuals and as integral parts of the biodiversity required to maintain life on our planet.
Please defend the kangaroo from further onslaught. Please step in and stop these negotiations before they go any further.
