Specialists pointed out that killing kangaroos and sending them to consume their meat or to benefit from their skin, is a way to avoid severe suffering and to control their numbers.

Edited by| Paul Mitchel

Australia  section -  CJ journalist

Sydney - June,11,2023

Millions of Australian Kangaroos may starve to death unless the current dramatic increase in their numbers is controlled, wildlife experts and conservation organizations have warned, with some even suggesting the execution of some of these animals to save the rest, according to AFP.

Kangaroos, the symbol of Australia, are a big environmental problem for the giant country due to their breeding cycle, as their number can reach tens of millions when Feed is plentiful after a heavy rainy season. But their numbers may decline sharply in the event of food shortages.

“During the last dry season, our estimates showed that 80 percent to 90 percent of kangaroos died in certain areas,”said ecologist Catherine Mosby.

She noted that these animals “get into public toilets and eat toilet paper. Or she lies on the roads hungry while her little ones are trying to find what to eat”.

According to Mosby, killing kangaroos and sending them to consume their meat or to benefit from their skin is a way to avoid severe suffering and to control their numbers.

“This keeps the number of animals under control, avoiding any problems related to their welfare in droughts,” says Mosby, adding that “if we look at them as a resource and manage them in this way, we will not see a catastrophic reduction in their numbers as is happening now”.

The Australian government provides protection for kangaroos, but the most widespread species is not in danger of extinction. This means that its hunting is permissible, subject to permission, in most territories.

Every year, up to five million kangaroos are slaughtered for their meat or skins. According to Dennis King from the Australian kangaroo products sector Association, the country is on the cusp of a boom in animal numbers.

“Three years after the phenomenon of +El Ninia+ on the East Coast, this is the ideal scenario for the growth of kangaroos over the next two years,” explains King, referring to the atmospheric phenomenon that caused heavy rains in Australia. King notes that the” reproductive cycle is accelerating " in Kangaroos.

According to his estimates, the number of kangaroos in Australia fell to less than 30 million after a terrible drought in the early first decade of the XXI century, but has since returned to rise and may soon exceed 60 million.

Animal welfare organizations denounce the commercial slaughter of these animals, calling it a “cruel slaughter”. She has pressured major global sportswear brands, such as “Nike” and”Puma”, to stop using kangaroo leather in their products.

A Nike spokeswoman said in March that the company " separated from its sole supplier of kangaroo skins in 2021, and will stop manufacturing any products with kangaroo skin in 2023”.

In the northwestern US state of Oregon, where Nike was founded, local officials introduced a bill in early 2023 to ban the use of “any part of a dead kangaroo animal”.

The animal welfare organization Animals Australia condemned the”slaughter of these endemic animals (in Australia) for commercial profit".

But the campaigns to end this industry, despite their good intentions, are misleading, according to the leading expert on kangaroo population management George Wilson.

“They say it's not ethical, " Wilson explains. But what is immoral is to let her starve”. “The brutal thing is not to stand idly by” in front of this problem, he adds.

An opinion shared by Mosby that “stopping the killing of kangaroos for their skins or meat will not bring any benefit”, but “will only make things worse”.