Roo factory a bad idea

-LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Dear Editor,

It was with disgust and disbelief that I heard of the proposed Inglewood kangaroo processing facility currently under consideration by the Loddon Shire Council.

In addition to the decimation of a species to create a few jobs, it is an insult to Indigenous peoples for whom kangaroos are totem and a kick in the guts to wildlife volunteers who sacrifice their cash and time to rescue and rehabilitate injured and orphaned animals.

Furthermore, increased shooting at night will risk the amenity and safety of regional Victorians whilst distressing all those who value our wildlife and animal welfare.

The Kangaroo industry is unethical, unsustainable and unhygienic. The commercial killing of kangaroos is the world’s largest terrestrial wildlife slaughter and a national disgrace.

It is entirely unregulated as kangaroos are shot in the wild at night with no supervision to ensure compliance with animal welfare requirements.

Data from the recent NSW parliamentary inquiry into the commercial kangaroo industry indicates that 40 per cent of kangaroos are mis-shot and die slow agonising deaths whilst joeys are considered a waste product and bludgeoned, decapitated or escape to die from exposure, starvation and predation.

Independent studies show that kangaroo populations are declining, and the flawed rhetoric of the industry has recently been exposed in the NSW inquiry.

Even without delving into the methodological errors and analytical biases in the official Victorian kangaroo survey reports (which they have proven by producing estimated increases that are biologically impossible), the numbers for Loddon from the Arthur Rylah Institute suggests that ALL of the kangaroos (estimated 83,800 in 2020) in the local government area would be gone within less than a year at the proposed processing rate of 2000 carcasses per week.

Given that the entire Kangaroo Harvest Program quota for the Lower Wimmera zone is 25,850 kangaroos in 2021, the facility will run out of legally killed kangaroos from the area within 13 weeks of opening.

Kangaroos are iconic and worth much more alive for their inherent, totemic and tourist value.

In fact, tourism generates more to Australia’s economy than everything else put together, with nature-based tourism the most rapidly growing sector.

Studies by Griffith University and Tourism Australia show the biggest attraction of our country to international travellers is our wildlife, proving that live kangaroos are worth far more to our economy than pet meat.

Killing off the town’s biggest asset and distressing tourists with an influx of kangaroo ‘harvester’ utes is a big mistake for Inglewood.

The wildlife trade is a known cause of virus transmission and emerging pandemics (75 per cent of new infectious diseases in humans are zoonotic) and yet we still foolishly continue to exploit our wildlife.

Kangaroo ‘harvesting’ is not hygienic with carcasses driven around all night covered in dust and insects. Kangaroo meat has a high incidence of parasites, toxoplasmosis, e-coli, salmonella and other pathogens.

Imports of kangaroo meat have been banned and stocks removed from shelves in areas across the globe on hygiene and animal welfare grounds. The potential health catastrophe for locals is exacerbated by inevitable smells, pollution and waste from the facility which is in close proximity to residential and recreational zones.

I hope Loddon Shire Council, the Environment Protection Authority and PrimeSafe consider our legacy as a nation and how history will judge their actions.

Is the unsustainable, unsanitary and inhumane killing of these gentle native creatures really worth a handful of jobs?

Kangaroos are unique, sentient, sensitive, social and family-oriented, and they deserve our protection and respect.

India Armstrong

Central Goldfields Wildlife Rescue

Maryborough