In just days, hundreds of Unleashed members let Wicked know that stickers telling motorists to 'run down' roos were, well, not funny, and not cool. Good news -- Wicked got that message loud and clear, and posted on their website today the following statement:

Following a week of intense protesting from Animal Rights Activists around the world, we have decided to remove the controversial ‘Kangaroo’ stickers from our fleet of vans. We have come to realise that this is a sensitive issue for many people and have taken their arguments into consideration. Whilst there was never any malicious motive behind the design of the sticker, we can appreciate how some groups could be offended. (more here)

Kangaroos need all the help we can give them. Millions of these amazing animals are hunted and killed every year by shooters for their skins and meat. Collateral damage -- baby joeys -- are often flung against tow bars or decapitated. The last thing these vulnerable need are ill-informed motorists thinking they need to run them down with their vans too.

Fortunately for roos, Wicked's change of heart will help to encourage tourists to treat our amazing wildlife with what they deserve -- respect. Please drop by Wicked's facebook page and thank them for swiftly removing these stickers form their vans!

When I think of boxing kangaroos I think of enormous male red roos, fighting each other in truly awe inspiring displays of dominance.

Unfortunately, the words 'boxing kangaroo' make too many people think of the cartoonish image of a roo wearing boxing gloves. In Texas, the Rocky Show Circus has taken this image way too far, by not only making a real kangaroo wear boxing gloves, but also boxing shorts, and then forcing him into an actual boxing ring to spar with people. How demeaning to such a magnificent animal!

Long suffering 'Rocky' the roo, frightened audiences recently by knocking over a woman, crazy enough to get in the ring with him, before trying to mount her. In one news article about the incident, an expert said that Rocky was displaying 'natural' behaviour!

Hmph! If you ask me, there is absolutely nothing natural about a rambunctious roo being kept in captivity! Kangaroos are highly social animals but Rocky never even gets to lay eyes on another hopper. Roos are also shy by nature, yet Rocky is expected to box strangers in front of a crowd. Rocky could reach speeds of up to 70km/hr in the wild, but in this farcical circus, his muscular hind legs, adapted for marvellous jumping, are wasted because of his restrictive environment. It's no surprise that he's showing some frustration.

Too many animals used for human entertainment display abnormal behaviours. A beautiful elephant rocking back and forth in boredom; a massive killer whale swimming round and round in circles in his tank; a caged bird, never allowed to fly, pulling out her feathers ... You get the idea.

Rocky should be in a mob happily bounding around the open plains of Australia. Not wearing a costume in a boxing ring in Texas!

Once you get past the many spelling mistakes on their website, I'm sure you'll agree the Rocky Show Circus actually looks way more exciting when Rocky isn't even on stage! Please click here to send the organisers a message to let them know their circus would be so much better if they cut out the cruelty, and binned the boxing!

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.