So if you took part in our recent action calling on Qld Premier, Anna Bligh, to protect roos instead of encouraging Queenslanders to eat them, then you might have received the same lame response from the Qld Govt that I did. If you haven't here's a few snippets:
The kangaroo is an iconic Australian animal. It is also the foundation of an important commercial industry ... and contributes approximately $270 million annually to regional economies.
Kangaroo numbers in Australia have increased substantially since European settlement…
The commercial harvesting of kangaroos in Queensland is strictly monitored and controlled by the Department of Environment and Resource Management.
The National Code of Practice for the Humane Shooting of Kangaroos and Wallabies for Commercial Purposes 2008 has been produced to ensure that all harvesting of kangaroos is undertaken in a way that minimises pain and suffering. The Code also provides for the humane euthanising of pouch young and young at foot.
In other words: "Don't worry, we've got it under control. There's plenty of kangaroos, and bucket loads of cash to be made. So what are you worried about?"
What the Premier neglects to mention is the fact that severe droughts have seen roo numbers in shooting zones across WA, SA, NSW and QLD drop by more than half since 2001. She also doesn't mention the fact that the 'humane euthanising of pouch young and young at foot' recommended by the National Code of Practice is for joeys to be killed by decapitation or a blow to the head from a blunt object (like a towbar).
But the part of her letter that really rubbed me up the wrong way was this bit:
The working group that produced the Code included representatives from Commonwealth, State and Territory Government authorities responsible for kangaroo management and welfare, the kangaroo industry, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) and Animals Australia.
Animals Australia was on that working group - to represent the animals' interests - but unfortunately the final product did not reflect our recommendations. So to suggest we supported the final recommendations is about as far from the truth as you can get. It's bad enough that the Queensland Premier is planning to hock slaughtered Aussie wildlife to Queenslanders as food! But to suggest that an animal protection group gave a tick of approval to codes that permit joeys to be decapitated is not cool.
We were so appalled by this gross misrepresentation of Animals Australia's stance that we had to respond. If you want to check out the response from Animals Australia's Executive Director, Glenys Oogjes, to Anna Bligh's letter click the image below. And please take a moment to let the Premier know that she should be looking out for our national icon, not supporting it's slaughter.
« CSIRO's (Not So) Wellbeing Diet • Kick-Ass Poster Giveaway! »
Subscribe to Blog Feed
Ozzies don't even eat that much kangaroo meat, tourists do.
anyways, i hope they stopo the killing, there is no need anymore. so many are gone already.
i hope the letter helps.
Cheers.
via Unleashed
And to clear up any confusion: Animals Australia totally opposes the killing of kangaroos as it is unnecessary, unsustainable and inhumane.
via Unleashed
I can't believe that they are approving the decapitation and bludgeoning to death of Joeys!
*angry face*
via Unleashed
via Unleashed
I thought something was very very wrong when I got my standard response and AA was mentioned... bastards...
via Unleashed
i wonder what the response to the animals australia letter will be, some bullshit story i guess. all the facts are there to stop it continuing..except it still keeps money rolling in..so why would they stop? -.-
via Unleashed
via Unleashed
via Unleashed
Dear Premier Bligh,
I'm writing in response to the letter you sent me in reply to my protest of the mass killings of our kangaroos.
Your letter states that the killing of kangaroos is an important commercial industry that supports regional Australia. As stated in my first letter,
these people can be trained for more humane and sustainable jobs, such as environmental care or tourism.
The kangaroo is an Australian icon not a commercial industry and by killing the kangaroo you are symbolically killing our icon.
Kangaroos are being killed in a cruel and brutal way, and it has been proven
that people who are cruel to animals and it doesn't have to be just dogs or
cats, all animal, are also a threat to people as they are capable of doing
the same to humans as they do to non-humans. Therefore you are supporting
potential criminals and the money obtained from these killings is in my
view, blood money.
Through out your letter you refer to these mass killings as harvesting the
kangaroos. These are living breathing animals that feel pain, have
emotions, who have very strong family bonds in their mob or herd, they have
a hierarchy and social structure, are extremely intelligent, extremely
sensitive and they suffer a lot of grief when their family members are
killed or when they're stressed, and certainly there are stories of mothers
dying when their joey dies. Kangaroos are not wheat or any other grain to
be harvested, therefore please do not refer to these mass killings, murders
or slaughters as a harvest just to make things sound softer or better.
Your letter also states that kangaroo numbers have increased in Australia
and therefore you see this as sustainable. The following news stories
contradict your statement:
'Roos 'on the brink of extinction'
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/world-news/oz-societies-says-kangaroos-on-the-brink-of-extinction_10083263.html
Oz societies says kangaroos on the brink of extinction
http://www.abc.net.au/cgi-bin/common/printfriendly.pl?http://www.abc.net.au/nsw/stories/s1102538.htm
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24165654-1702,00.html
Australia holds the disgraceful record of having the largest commercial
wildlife slaughter in the world, with around 4 million kangaroos killed each
year not counting the illegal killings.
The killing of Australia's kangaroos constitutes the biggest land wildlife
massacre in the world, surpassed only by the decimation of the American
bison in the last century.
Just like the Koalas, the kangaroos are going down the same path, who
before 1900's numbered in the millions, despite regularly suffering enormous
losses to bushfires and disease epidemics in the first decades of the
twentieth century's extensive forest clearance and large scale hunting for
the koala's warm, cheap, durable fur saw populations crash. The slaughter
reached a peak in 1924, when over two million koala pelts were exported to
Europe and America, and by the end of that year the species had been
exterminated in South Australia and nearly wiped out in Victoria and New
South Wales. A healthy population surviving in Queensland was next to suffer
when in 1927 the state government bowed to commercial pressure and allowed
an open season-600,000 more skins were exported. Public outcry in Australia
and abroad eventually resulted in legal protection, and since the 1920s
intensive conservation measures, including captive breeding and
translocation efforts, have allowed populations to partially recover. Today
koalas are still under intense pressure in many parts of their range, but
are not classified as threatened. The Australian government lists koalas as
vulnerable, but has not put them on the country's endangered list.
It seems that the Australian government has not learned much from its
previous mistakes and continues to repeat them. The Kangaroo will end up
the same as the Koala if the current trend continues.
There has been a public outcry for many years nationally and internationally
and still it goes on deaf ears. Recently the Russians have banned kangaroo
meat and when more intervention from other countries takes place, like it
has with the mass slaughter of the seals in Canada where the EU now has
banned all seal products, then maybe the kangaroo will have a chance and the
Australia government will finally have to stop these brutal, cruel and
inhumane killings of these innocent, defenceless and voiceless animals.
The following websites contradict the rest of your letter and hopefully will
enlighten you to stop, these horrendous mass slaughter of kangaroos. But
then on the other hand my experience of governments is that they lack big
time in morals, ethics, and compassion when it comes to animals, as the all
mighty dollar seems to overrule.
Australian Wild life Protection Council
http://www.awpc.org.au/kangaroos/book_files/killingforprofit.htm
The Killing of Kangaroos, Australia's Icon
http://suprememastertv.com/bbs/board.php?bo_table=Stop_Cruelty&wr_id=19&goto_url=
Animals Australia
http://www.animalsaustralia.org/issues/kangaroo_shooting.php
There are many more websites with more information if you wish to expand
your research.
Finally, I must say that for you to send this lengthy response to me and
many, many others is a very good sign that the outcry for the kangaroos may
finally be making an impact otherwise our letters and our petitions would be
ignored.
I ask that you do not respond to this letter with another one of your
automated letters as I have already received four of them in my email box
and it would tell me that you have not read this one. And what does four
letters to the same email box tell you?
Hoping that you will actually read my letter.
via Unleashed
via Unleashed
i'm thinking too many people in positions of power (govt and corporate) equate compassion with stupidity, like we cant read through the nonesense, double speak and recognise the contradictions they so arrogantly flaunt. again, grrrr.
i think i am going to take up some culture jamming to make myself feel better
via Unleashed
am replying and asking others to do the same, its ridiculous that was was replied was just a load of crud and its just another 'couldnt be bothered' copy and paste job. effin meateaters!!!!
via Unleashed
Thank you for your recent correspondence concerning animal welfareissues associated with commercial kangaroo harvesting. I have beenrequested to reply to you on the Premier's behalf. The kangaroo is an iconic Australian animal. It is also the foundationof an important commercial industry that supports regional communitiesacross Australia. The Kangaroo Industry Association of Australiareports that the commercial kangaroo industry provides over 4000 jobsand contributes approximately $270 million annually to regionaleconomies. Kangaroo numbers in Australia have increased substantially sinceEuropean settlement due to the development of the pastoral industryresulting in increased availability of food and watering points. Basedon scientific advice commercial harvesting of the dominant kangaroospecies has been determined to be an ecological sustainable means ofmanaging Australia's kangaroo population. Three macropod species are commercially harvested in Queensland forsustainable management and conservation purposes. These are the easterngrey kangaroo, the red kangaroo and the wallaroo. The commercial harvesting of kangaroos in Queensland is strictlymonitored and controlled by the Department of Environment and ResourceManagement (DERM) under the Nature Conservation (Macropod) ConservationPlan 2005. The Wildlife Trade Management Plan for Export - Commercially HarvestedMacropods (2008-2012) is administered under the Nature Conservation Act1992. This legislation prescribes how the commercial harvesting ofkangaroos will be achieved in a sustainable and conservative manner. The industry operates under an annual quota system limiting the numberof animals that can be sustainably harvested. Aerial surveys areconducted annually to determine the kangaroo population with the harvestquota typically being set at between 10 to 20 percent of the populationdepending on the population density. A harvest period is issued by DERMand outlines the start and finish date of a harvest season. This periodis continuously monitored and reviewed and can be adjusted toaccommodate varying factors such as drought. In Queensland a licence or permit is required for the commercialharvesting of kangaroos. To obtain a licence the applicant is requiredto complete a TAFE training course and firearms competency training.Harvesting can only take place on properties where prior approval hasbeen obtained and the information is recorded on the licence. Additionally, the National Code of Practice for the Humane Shooting ofKangaroos and Wallabies for Commercial Purposes 2008 has been producedto ensure that all harvesting of kangaroos is undertaken in a way thatminimises pain and suffering. The Code also provides for the humaneeuthanising of pouch young and young at foot. The working group thatproduced the Code included representatives from Commonwealth, State andTerritory Government authorities responsible for kangaroo management andwelfare, the kangaroo industry, the Royal Society for the Prevention ofCruelty to Animals (RSPCA) and Animals Australia. The working groupalso sought public comment on the revision of the Code. The commercial kangaroo industry operates under a national code ofpractice for the humane shooting of kangaroos and wallabies. This codeoutlines the minimal standards of humane conduct that is mandatory underthe Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act 1999. Thecode is reviewed every 5 years and was reviewed and endorsed by theNatural Resource Management Ministerial Council on 7 November 2008. It is also a requirement under the Animal Care and Protection Act 2001(ACPA) that commercial harvesting be conducted in a humane mannerwithout cruelty. The Kangaroo Industry Development Committee brings together industryrepresentatives, researchers, government, educators and regulatorybodies to support the industry adapt to changed circumstances followingthe suspension of access to the Russian market from 1 August 2009. The Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation, inconjunction with other agencies, is coordinating a response to ensurethe impact of these changes to industry and regional communities isminimised. The committee will investigate whole of industry issues andstrive to find long-term sustainable solutions. The overriding issue for the Queensland Government is the conservationof the three commercially harvested species of kangaroo in healthypopulations. Again, thank you for bringing your views to the Premier's attention. Yours sincerely Nick WilliamsSenior Policy Advisor
via Unleashed
via Unleashed
via Unleashed