Australia has launched its biggest ever push for visitors with a $360 million (Aus) promotional campaign. Seeing mobs of kangaroos in the wild is a must for most visitors but the chances of them achieveing this are diminishing by the day. “Many an outback tourist will lament that of the few kangaroos they saw, the majority were roadkills”, says Dr David Croft, University of NSW.

The problems stem from the country’s commercialisation of wildlife which this year will see 4.4 million adult kangaroos slaughtered for meat and leather, with sports multinational Adidas being the biggest purchaser of the latter. Hundreds of thousands of baby ‘joeys’ – considered useless byproducts – will also be killed by the officially recommended method of being bludgeoned with iron pipes or decapitated.

A report leaked to the Australian press reveals that the Government now admits the annual slaughter is unsustainable as there are no longer enough kangaroos to satisfy the commercial demands. The problem is exacerbated by a recent severe drought which has led to an unprecedented collapse in kangaroo numbers. Despite this, the Government has refused to end or even significantly reduce the commercial death toll in what is the biggest massacre of land animals on the planet.

Campaign group Viva! has consistently warned that this catastrophe for kangaroos was inevitable. It now appears that it is also catastrophic for Australia’s embryonic safari tourism, which is likely to be killed off before it even gets started. Earnings from tourism are already worth $70 billion and many in Australia believe that promoting ecotourism could swell this figure hugely. It compares with just $200 million earned from killing kangaroos.

Viva! campaigner, Justin Kerswell, says: “It’s something of a sick joke that a kangaroo logo is being used to attract tourists to Australia. If the Government continues with its policy of mass slaughter, it might as well replace its national emblem with a Dodo.

“Each of these magnificent, gentle and unique creatures is worth just a few dollars dead. The pitiful earnings of the industry as a whole show that foreign currency earnings are not the reason for sustaining the slaughter and there are other considerations at work. It is mostly about providing low incomes to unsustainable rural communities in return for votes. Kangaroos are dying to keep politicians in employment. Given the choice, I know which most people would rather have!

“For anyone planning to travel to Australia, Viva! would urge them to contact the Australian Tourist Commission and complain about the barbaric destruction of the unique wildlife that distinguishes this extraordinary country.”

For further information on Viva!’s campaign to stop the kangaroo killing, go to
www.savethekangaroo.com or call 0117 944 1000.

Viva!
8 York Court
Wilder Street
Bristol
BS2 8QH
T: 0117 944 1000 F:0117 924 4646 E: info@viva.org.uk