by David Cassuto (x-post from Animal Blawg)

Kangaroos are routinely brutalized and treated as pests in Australia.  This from the email regarding some recent developments:

THINKK, the think tank for kangaroos, based at the University of Technology Sydney and supported by Voiceless, released two reports late last year examining the killing of kangaroos in Australia.

Each year over three million kangaroos are ‘harvested’ and over a million joeys are killed as part of the commercial industry.  This is the largest land-based slaughter of wildlife in the world.

The reports, titled “Advocating kangaroo meat: towards ecological benefit or plunder?” and “Shooting our wildlife: An analysis of the law and policy governing the killing of kangaroos”, conclude that:  

• • emerging science indicates that kangaroos are not pests;
  • over 20 years of harvesting kangaroos has had no demonstrable environmental benefit;
  • increased consumption of kangaroo meat by humans is likely to place kangaroo populations at risk;
  • State governments once treated kangaroos as agricultural pests yet today they are treated as a resource;
  • the current law is a form of legalised cruelty.

Please download the reports by following this link.http://www.voiceless.org.au/About_Us/Misc/THINKK_the_think_tank_for_kangaroos.html

For additional information about THINKK, please visit their website athttp://thinkkangaroos.uts.edu.au.