VEGAN FOOD & LIVING OCTOBER 73from British supermarket shelves.
However, in recent times there has
been another push to consumers. In
the past few years, we have persuaded
Morrisons, Tesco and Sainsbury’s
to drop it after brief dalliances. Lidl
have sold kangaroo meat for short
periods. However, fellow budget
chain Iceland is now boasting a new
permanent line of speciality meat and
game – including kangaroo, venison,
ostrich, buff alo and crocodile. It is not
uncommon for businesses to try out
novelties like this to boost sales – but
for these animals the consequences
can be devastating.
It is also ironic that some UK
retailers are trying to justify selling
kangaroo meat as a ‘green alternative’,
considering the sizeable greenhouse
gases generated by transporting it
literally from one side of the Earth to
the other. Hard-hoofed animals such
as sheep and cattle destroy the fragile
ground soil in many parts of Australia,
but that does not mean plundering a
native species is a sensible alternative.
The idea that kangaroo meat is a
healthy option has also been widely
debunked. Sellers in the UK often claim
their suppliers “...process the meat in
EU-approved facilities that ensure the
highest standards of food safety and
hygiene.” However, this ignores the
actual killing and initial butchering of
the animals, which happens where they
are shot in the heat and the scrub of
the Outback. In June 2017, a kangaroomeat processing plant in Australia
was closed because of food safety
fears. A recent report in the Australian
press said that investigations found
numerous failures in basic hygiene
by the NSW kangaroo meat industry.
This led Australian MP John Kaye to
say: “This so-called healthy alternative
to other red meats could be riddled
with pathogens.” Indeed Russia has
a continuing ban on kangaroo meat
because of unacceptably high levels of
E.coli bacteria.
It can also be a source of food-borne
toxoplasmosis caused by eating raw/undercooked meat containing parasitic
cysts, which can be a danger especially
to pregnant women. Because kangaroo
meat is often undercooked (due to low
fat content) this can heighten the risk
of infection. Worryingly, the British
government has confi rmed that there
are no checks on kangaroo meat by
British authorities and that they rely on
testing in Australia before the meat is
exported. And this is despite Australia
cutting back on monitoring of food
related illnesses.
We often get asked why we choose
to campaign for kangaroos over, say,
chickens. The answer is, we don’t.
Ultimately, we advocate for all animals
by promoting veganism and we actively
expose conditions for farmed animals
in the UK. There are, however, specifi c
issues when you commercialise wildlifeand that is nowhere more apparent
than with kangaroos.Supply and demand
Numbers of farmed animals are tightly
controlled and dictated by demand.
However, the populations of truly wild
animals such as kangaroos can fl uctuate
wildly for a variety of reasons, including
drought, disease and over-hunting.
A market needs supply. A growing
market needs an ever increasing supply.
Although the Australian government
says it tightly monitors numbers, it
is really just guesswork. The bottomline is that when you commercialise
wildlife in this way, you sign their death
warrant. Australia has the world’s worst
record for extinctions in modern times- with a number of kangaroo species
now gone forever. Localised extinctions
of some kangaroo populations have
already been reported in certain areas
of the country.
That’s why we support wildlife
groups in Australia fi ghting the
unsustainable and cruel trade in
kangaroo meat and skins. This does not
detract from any other campaign, in
fact we emphasise again that it acts to
bring in new people to the concept of
going vegan.
To fi nd out more about Viva!’s
ongoing campaigns to help protect
kangaroos and to get active visit
http://www.savethekangaroo.com
The annual slaughter of kangaroos is not
about removing sick or weak animals
VFL17.Kangaroos.indd 73 07/09/2017 11:17