June 2, 2021
A proposed US import ban on kangaroo products has been described as ideological warfare by Katter’s Australian Party MPs, with the party throwing its support behind the roo export industry as it continues to grapple with the fall-out of the COVID-19 crisis.
The meat and product ban, termed the Kangaroo Protection Act, is currently being considered by the US congress. A ban is already in place in California, having been passed in 2016.
The bill is backed by various lobbying groups, including the Center for Humane Economy whose Kangaroos are not Shoes campaign opposes what it describes the “largest land-based commercial wildlife slaughter in the world.” 1
KAP Leader and Traeger MP Robbie Katter said the legislation was misguided and could relegate thousands of kangaroos to cruel deaths caused by starving and dehydration, especially during drought.
He said the attack, and the lies being pedalled by ideologies to gain maximum impact, on Australia’s successful commercial kangaroo harvesting industry showed the activists’ contempt toward the Aussie way of life.
“We are going to bear witness to more of this sort of radical, dictatorial behaviour by activists who pretend to be acting on the grounds of animal welfare but are really mounting an ideological crusade that they want everyone to comply with,” Mr Katter said.
“If they successfully have kangaroo products banned, they’ll be moving to livestock pretty soon and while this debate is taking place over in the US – this sort of thing usually rolls down hill; it won’t be far until the movement begins here.
“Kangaroo harvesting is a long-entrenched practice in Australia, including in my electorate, that has an overwhelmingly positive impact on our environmental biosecurity.
“No at-risk species are harvested, and suffering of animals is minimal to non-existent.”
Mr Katter said commercial kangaroo harvesting was closely regulated in Australia.
“It is a heavily-regulated practice; the population is monitored, quotas are set and then the harvesting process is closely managed.
“Probably too much so in my view – there’s a lot of red tape.
“People need to realise that the current kangaroo population has been artificially enhanced by European settlement, which brought water from the artesian basin to the surface at hundreds of thousands of watering points across the country.
“There is nothing natural about the numbers of kangaroos we see today, and our country is not equipped to sustain them.”