Called Under Fire, the report is authored by zoologist Juliet Gellatley, Viva!'s director, following a recent fact-finding visit to Australia at the invitation of Australian wildlife groups. The outcome is a devastating expose of an industry responsible for the biggest wildlife massacre on earth. It accuses Sainsbury's of acting as a Trojan horse for the sale of kangaroo meat and exploiting the gullibility of the British public.

"Sainsbury's has aggressively defended its involvement in the exotic meat trade, excusing it with a series of convincing sounding arguments which come directly from the Australian High Commission in London", says Juliet Gellatley. "Until now, British consumers have had no way of knowing the truth. It is disturbing to find just how misleading these claims are."

Sainsbury's state that just 3.1 million kangaroos are killed from a population of 'over 50 million'. Official Australian DoE figures show the population to be just 19 million and the current annual kill for export is 4.1 million and the total kill is estimated at about nine million. Sainsbury's claims that kangaroos damage crops is contradicted by a four year government study. The claim that kangaroos compete for grazing with sheep is contradicted by six year study from the University of New South Wales. An insistence that kangaroos are killed as part of an official cull are similarly dismissed. Only the biggest and most valuable animals are shot and kill quotas are increased in line with sales. This is not how a cull operates.

"Most disturbing of all is Sainsbury's insistence that the killing is tightly controlled and regulated", adds Ms Gellatley. "The sad truth is that there are no regulations governing kangaroo killing only an unenforceable code of conduct. The shooting takes place at night in remote areas and is completely unmonitored. Extreme cruelty is commonplace. Most sickening of all is the destruction of millions of joeys who are wrenched from their mother's pouches and are clubbed, decapitated or stamped on. But Sainsbury's don't like to talk about this!

"This campaign is important because this trade has to be stopped before it becomes established and sets a precedent", concludes Ms Gellatley. "Foreign governments, acting for purely commercial reasons, are given legitimacy by some British supermarkets who simply accept what they are told by way of justification and simply ignore information when it is provided to them by groups such as Viva!

"With 75 per cent of the world's species facing extinction or in serious decline, the world's wildlife is too important to be seen as another shelf filler alongside cornflakes and soap powder. British consumers have a right to know the facts so they can make informed choices. Sainsbury's is singularly failing to provide them."

Note to Editors: Sainsbury's is now the last national chain store selling kangaroo meat. Safeway, Marks & Spencer and the Co-op have refused to stock it for moral reasons, Kwik Save, Morrisons and Asda say there is no demand. After a previous Viva! campaign, Tesco withdrew the meat from sale while Somerfield cancelled plans to introduce it. Viva! will be intensifying its campaign against Sainsbury's in the near future with an International Day of Action. It has the support of all 40 Australian wildlife groups and some Australian MPs.

For copies of the report Under Fire, trannies of kangaroos or for further information contact: Juliet Gellatley on tel 01273 777688.