Kangaroos

Kangaroos are highly persecuted in Australia. They are supposedly protected as a native species, but they are ’culled’ by government, landowners and farmers. They are shot by recreational hunters. They suffer deaths on roads, and homelessness and starvation due to habitat loss. They are dying in fires and drowning in floods.

Their greatest existential threat, however, is the government-approved commercial kangaroo industry, which kills them for leather and petfood.

Thanks to the commercial industry, kangaroos are the victims of the largest slaughter of land-based wildlife on the planet. In 2021 in NSW alone, commercial shooters killed over 40,000 kangaroos per month. This figure does not include joeys, because the industry does not count them.

The NSW government promotes, financially supports and even actively participates in this brutal killing. It is an international disgrace and a shameful way to treat an Aboriginal totem and our national emblem.

In 2021 the Animal Justice Party secured a Parliamentary Inquiry into kangaroos in NSW, the first of its kind in over 50 years. The Inquiry report highlighted serious concerns about declining kangaroo numbers across the state, erroneous counting methodologies, a lack of transparency and complete lack of monitoring at the point of kill.

The Inquiry also shone a light on the brutal treatment of joeys by the commercial industry. The national code of practice states that when a female kangaroo is shot, the joey left behind should be decapitated or bashed against a bullbar. However, it is just as common for the joey to flee and die a slow, lonely death calling out for their dead mother.

With evidence from the 2021 Parliamentary Inquiry suggesting that the long-term survival of kangaroos is at risk, we’re pushing harder than ever to end the commercial slaughter of kangaroos and wallabies, and close the processing plants.

The impact of exclusion fencing, natural disasters, climate change, and non-commercial killing were also highlighted as having serious impacts on the long-term survival of the species. 

Our Plan:

• Real protection for our native icon the kangaroo
• The implementation of all recommendations from the Parliamentary Inquiry
• Genuine consultation with First Nations peoples, for whom the kangaroo is a totem animal
• Immediate moratorium on the commercial killing of kangaroos 
• Immediate moratorium on exclusion fencing, and a review of the impact of exclusion fencing on kangaroos and all native wildlife
• Independent review of all counting methodologies and population and data modelling
• Review and assessment of the impact of climate change on kangaroos, including the impact of fires and floods on population numbers
• An order that the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment collect and publicly release data on all joey deaths occurring in the commercial kangaroo industry, including in-pouch, at-foot, and joeys at-foot who have fled. 
• Protection of kangaroo habitat through the creation of more reserves and national parks.
• Promotion of coexistence between farmers and landholders with kangaroos and all wildlife