Category Archives: Australia and NZ

Australia and NZ

Kangaroos – The largest land-based commercial slaughter in the world

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Moratorium urgently needed as kangaroos head towards extinction

After investigating the state government data pertaining to kangaroo densities across the Kangaroo Management Zones, it has been found that kangaroos are now ‘quasi extinct’ across most of NSW, South Australia and Queensland.

‘Quasi extinction’ refers to population densities of less than five kangaroos per square kilometre and has been defined by the Murray Darling Report as ‘the nominal value of kangaroo densities taken to be the effective loss of the species’.

Letter from an Ex- Kangaroo Shooter

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I was a professional kangaroo shooter 38 years ago. Now I spend an inordinate amount of time in the defence of animals that are doing poorly at the hands of humans.

You may ask as to what has led me to do a complete turnabout in my thinking, and expect some profound answer explaining that at such and such a moment in time the sky opened up and all of a sudden I saw the light. Sorry to disappoint, but it did not happen this way.

If there is any profundity in my “conversion”, it is that I have come to the realization that we are all led down differing paths in life by our genetic make-up and the circumstance that we find ourselves in.

In my case, 38 years ago, the whole social, political and animal concern scene was vastly different to today’s. There was a predominate attitude of human matters being at the fore of thought and a mish-mash of ideas when dealing with the other animals on the planet.

On the one hand, personal pets were gaining in the welfare stakes, as were wild creatures that had “fluffy” appeal. On the other, domestic stock conditions were degrading rapidly into the factory farm situation that is still rampant to now. This some decades of time saw European cities and other population centres around the Western World explode into greater awareness of the suffering of our “food”.

Unfortunately, socio/economic pressures, had rural climes, to a large extent, excluded from this expansion of a new way in thinking about the rest of nature. In this distant past, the kangaroo was erroneously thought of as a pest that was diminishing the financial returns of those who depended on their income in outback areas.

This excuse was reasoning enough for kangaroos to be killed without compassion, for they were the enemy. Even so, I, and I would suggest, many other kangaroo shooters, were and are, very uneasy with the practice of having to kill Joey’s on a never ending basis. It was not understood then, that the Joey-at-foot would also die in a state of terror by psychological deprivation, predation or starvation.

Many kangaroo shooters now convince themselves that this joey escapes and lives happily ever after. Delusions of this sort are not uncommon in the industry and in governments and their acting agents. Self-delusion played a big part in my experience as a kangaroo shooter but let me state here in the most unequivocal manner that is possible, to be able to self deceive is part and parcel of being human.

There will be those that read this in a most judgmental way, comforting themselves with the thought that they could never had done such a thing as kangaroo shooting. Be very careful of that kind of thinking because it does not accord with the facts about the capacity of humanity to be inhumane to people and animals, given the right set of circumstance.

Be very careful that you are not self-deluding yourself on this point, for if you are, you are just the person who could be a kangaroo shooter if the situation dictated it so. I do come across this kind of condemnation but it so insignificant when compared to the mental anguish I put myself through on a daily basis as to be non-existent. This will be carried till the day I die.

Thoughts of the terrible woundings and as stated, the slaughter of the innocents and now with greater knowledge, thoughts of the at-foot-Joey’s left to fend for themselves in their thousands. Thoughts of taking the lives of countless numbers of kangaroos for convenient reasons. Thoughts of being a part of the juggernaut that was and is altering the genetic make up of a marvellous animal. Thoughts of my part in vilifying the kangaroo with the end result of it not having the awed respect, as it should, of the Australian people. Every time there is a wanton act of cruelty to kangaroos, I must bear some of the blame.

I stopped being a kangaroo shooter for many reason, with the cruelty only one of the many. The kangaroo is not a pest and it is only the greedy and the foolhardy who believe it is a resource to be used at whim. Australia must re-define its stubbornly inadequate definition of what is compassion and in doing so reap the rewards of not only doing the right thing, but the very tangible benefits of the eco-tourist dollar.

No doubt, other kangaroo shooters will read this, so it seems appropriate to leave a message for them. If you can see past the self-delusion of what you are doing to other sentient and suffering capable creatures, for the sake of your future mind, do not wait for kangaroo shooting to be discarded as a remnant of our brutish past, as it will, but choose to get out now. The rest of your life will thank you for this very wise action. This I guarantee.

David Nicholls
ExKangarooShooter@hotmail.com

Please sign these petitions

Stop the unlawful violent killing of protected native kangaroos
www.gopetition.com/petitions/kangaroo-extinction.html

Stop Australia’s wildlife slaughter
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/stop-australias-wildlife-slaughter.html

Save the kangaroos
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/save-all-the-kangaroos.html

Stop the unlawful violent killing of protected native kangaroos
http://www.change.org/petitions/chief-tams-minister-stop-the-unlawful-violent-killing-of-protected-native-kangaroos

Demand an end to the barbaric slaughter of kangaroos for meat
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/249/352/069/demand-an-end-to-barbaric-slaughter-of-kangaroos-for-vile-meat-industry/?

Stop eating kangaroo meat in Australia

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/770/032/361/stop-to-eat-the-kangaroo-meat-in-australia/

Stop cruel kangaroo massacre by pet food company Purina
https://www.change.org/p/stop-cruel-kangaroo-massacre-implicated-by-pet-food-company-purina

Stop the slaughter of kangaroos in Canberra
http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-the-slaughter-of-kangaroos-in-canberra

End the cruel slaughter of kangaroos on public reserves
https://www.change.org/p/shane-rattenbury-end-the-cruel-slaughter-of-kangaroos-on-public-reserves

Stop proposed cull of kangaroos at Majura
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/stop-proposed-cull-of-kangaroos-at-majura-act.html

Stop kangaroo meatworks
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/stop-kangaroo-meatworks.html

Stop kangaroo killings
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/stop-kangaroo-killings.html

Adidas stop using kangaroo leather
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/adidas-stop-using-kangaroo-leather/

Stop the slaughter of kangaroos to make soccer shoes
https://www.change.org/p/nike-stop-the-slaughter-of-kangaroos-to-make-your-soccer-shoes

Help save the kangaroos from being killed for Chinese meat market
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/628/254/903/help-save-the-kangaroos-of-australia-from-being-killed-to-start-a-meat-market-for-china/?TAP=1319

Stop turning 500,000 hectares of Australia’s woodland into farmland
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/254/102/737/help-save-the-largest-temperate-woodland-in-the-world-and-the-animals-and-birds-that-live-there/

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Population figures
http://www.stopkangarookilling.org/

National Codes of Practice for the Humane Shooting of Kangaroos
http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/wildlife-trade/publications/national-codes-practice-humane-shooting-kangaroos-and-wallabies

Message to Iceland to say no to kangaroo meat
http://www.savethekangaroo.com/message-to-Iceland

Mother’s Day Disgrace
http://www.savethekangaroo.com/mothersday

For details of an international campaign against this trade contact
Viva! 12 Queen Square, Brighton BN1 3FD, UK
Tel. +44-(0)1273 777688 Fax +44-(0)1273 776755
E-mail: enquiries@viva.org.uk
Website: www.viva.org.uk

How you can help [VIVA]
If you see kangaroo meat being sold in a shop or restaurant, please complain to them and also report it to VIVA at their website http://savethekangaroo.com/.

Write letters to the Prime Minister of Australia, the Minister for Agriculture, the Minister for the Environment.

Post comments and links to articles on the internet on sites like Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr.

  • Don’t eat or buy kangaroo meat for yourself, your family or your pets.
  • Print this flyer and put it on noticeboards, share with friends.
  • Boycott any restaurants who sell kangaroo meat and be sure to tell them why.
  • Share petitions and other info with your friends, far and wide.
  • Watch Youtube slide show at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKCQZ5MsQ_o
  • Join a kangaroo organisation (see Links below).
  • Write to the following people in N.P.W.S. and tell them what you think of the Kangaroo Industry:

Lisa Corbyn NSW dgunit@environment.nsw.gov.au

Sally Barnes NSW is directly under Lisa Corbyn sally.barnes@environment.nsw.gov.au

Mark Peacock Western Division Director mark.peacock@environment.nsw.gov.au

Joshua Gilroy joshua.gilroy@environment.nsw.gov.au

Nicole Payne nicole.payne@environment.nsw.gov.au

Michael Archer m.archer@unsw.edu.au Instigator of the fatal FATE program which allows shooters to go onto private property to shoot kangaroos and give the farmers a portion of the profit.

Do you think eating kangaroo meat is good for you? Think again!
https://www.facebook.com/john.kaye.mlc/photos/a.10150115554930524.395707.62117790523/10155257213525524/?type=1&theater

Kangaroo meat fails basic hygiene tests
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/nsw-kangaroo-meat-fails-basic-hygiene-tests-20150306-13uyft.html

The following is from the website of the Australian Kangaroo Society
http://www.australiansocietyforkangaroos.com

YOU can HELP SAVE thousands of kangaroos and their joeys. Here is a list of immediate actions you can take to help save the lives of thousands of joeys from a cruel death….

Boycott
Refuse to buy products made from kangaroo meat or skins, or from companies who sell them. Please see list of pet food and footwear companies who do/don’t use kangaroo products below.

Shoe companies who use kangaroo skins
Adidas, Gideon, Hi-Tec, Nike.

Shoe companies who didn’t deny the use of kangaroo skins
Puma, Reebok, Diadora, Converse.

Shoe companies who don’t use kangaroo skins
Dunlop, Kswiss, ASICS, Brooks, Saucery, Rivers, Fila, Diana Ferrari.

Hall of shame petfood companies
Please do not purchase pet food from any company that sells kangaroo meat. If you have time write to them and tell them why you are not buying their products.
http://www.farmina.com/
http://www.vetsallnatural.com.au/
http://www.woolworths.com.au
http://www.eukanuba.co.uk/about-us
https://www.purina.com/
http://www.naturesgift.com.au
http://www.vippetfoods.com.au/about/v-i-p-petfoods/
https://www.addictionfoods.com/
http://www.exoticmeatsales.com
http://www.sydneypetfoods.com.au

Pet Food companies who DON’T use kangaroo products
[Please note this list is ever changing – always check labels.]
Cobber
Dine
Fancy Feast
Four Legs
Friskies
Lucky Dog
My Dog
Nutridog
Optimum Advantage
Pedigree
Pal
Scotty’s
Snappy Tom
Whiskas

Spread the word
Refer this website to your friends so that they can learn the truth and take action too!

Become a member
Become a member of the Australian Society for Kangaroos and help us in our work to save millions of kangaroos and their joeys. Go to the JOIN US page for details.

Donate
Make a donation to the Save a Joey campaign so that the Australian Society Kangaroos can continue its work to save millions of kangaroos and their joeys from a cruel and unnecessary death. Go to the DONATE page for details.

Write
Write to the Prime Minister and your local state Minister and tell them that you oppose the killing of kangaroos and their joeys for profit. Please see contact details below.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott
Email: http://www.pm.gov.au/contact-your-pm

Federal Minister for Environment- Greg Hunt
http://www.greghunt.com.au/ContactGreg.aspx

Australian State and Territory Greens
http://greens.org.au/our-story/contact

NSW Minister Environment & Climate Change, The Hon Robyn Parker MP Tel: (02) 9995 5000
Email: info@environment.nsw.gov.au

SA Minister Environment & Conservation Hon Ian Hunter MLC Tel: 08 8204 1910
Email: dewnr.CustomerServiceCentre@sa.gov.au

WA Minister Environment- Hon Albert Jacob
http://www.premier.wa.gov.au/Ministers/Albert-Jacob/Pages/Contact-The-Minister.aspx

QLD Minister for Natural Resources & Mining, Hon Andrew Powell MP
Tel: 13 74 68
Email: info@ehp.qld.gov.au

Tasmanian Minister for Environment Parks and Heritage
The Hon Brian Wightman MHA Tel: 1300 368 550
Email: information@dpipwe.tas.gov.au

[Victoria, NT and the ACT do not currently allow the commercial slaughter of kangaroos.]

Misc - Kangaroo stats Misc - Kangaroos 1 Misc - Kangaroos 2

 Articles

Can Australia save the dingo which is now close to extinction
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/extinction-countdown/2010/07/26/can-australia-save-the-dingo-from-extinction/

Koala’s cry at timber’s threat – koalas are also killed en masse
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2013/s3808542.htm

Kangaroos at risk as threatened species
http://www.kangaroosatrisk.net/

Animal Protection Institute on kangaroos
https://www.voiceless.org.au/the-issues/kangaroos

Videos

Kangaroos on track to extinction
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUZrKj6ClBg

Roo meat still contaminated
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X44BbN3N9MM

Africa, Australia and NZ, Bears, Big cats, Canned hunting, Deer and antelope, Elephants, Lions, N America, Other, Rhinos, Trophy hunting, Wolves and foxes

Why Trophy Hunting Must End Now

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People and companies - Charlotte and Dan Peyerks

You might not have heard about Dan and Charlotte Peyerk from Michigan. Charlotte was arrested for illegally killing a grizzly bear in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Her son Mark was also convicted and they were ordered to pay fines of $25,000 and $30,000 respectively.

In court, it was mentioned that the Peyerks tried to alter the date on their camera so that the trophy pictures would show that the bear was shot during the hunting season. The Peyerks also falsified the date of the kill on a state harvest tag and on a Safari Club International trophy entry form.

Later hunts were more successful, according to federal prosecutors. U.S. District Court magistrate Scott Oravec was apparently offended by the lengths to which the Peyerks went to cover up their poaching. “In imposing sentence, (he) commented that besides the illegal taking of wildlife, the more aggravated criminal conduct was the defendants’ multiple written false statements to cover up the illegal kill,” the government’s press release said.

This is typical of the behaviors of these trophy hunters. That is why usually the first thing that comes out of their mouths is “The hunt was legal“!   Killing animals such as lions, leopards, elephants, giraffes, hippos, zebra and rare antelope, deer and sheep for sport ought not to be legal and many people amazed that it is.  Anyone with enough money can go to any one of a number of sites on the internet and buy a permit to kill these animals.

There is a bloodbath going on not just because of poaching, but through the legal killing of animals whose lives are sold for hard cash. The law must be changed to protect them before it’s too late as more and more species and sub-species become endangered or extinct.

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Astonishingly this is the hobby of many wealthy people in the US, who would rather obsessively travel the globe to kill as many animals as possible of as many different species as possible – including rare and endangered animals which most of them particularly relish and will pay small fortunes for the permit to kill – rather than to help animals or people.

Each year tens of thousands of animals are killed by US hunters in foreign countries. The body parts are legally imported back into the US. While the Endangered Species Act only allows importation of endangered species for scientific research, there are loopholes allowing trophy imports.

Pro-trophy hunters argue this is good for conservation. Their stance is that the money spent on the hunt is poured back into the community for conservation efforts. In reality, research published by the International Council of Game and Wildlife Conservation (a pro-hunting group) shows that only 3% of revenue from hunts goes back to local communities.

Other research has shown that hunting has almost no benefit whatever to the local communities, although it usually does have a detrimental effect, as it inevitably has a negative impact on local ecosystems.  There are links to a number of these articles on the Welcome page of this blog.

In contrast, ecotourism is a $77 billion global industry, employing tour operators, guides, lodge and restaurant employees. vehicle drivers, park guards and people who benefit from the sale of souvenirs.

According to the Alaska Dispatch – like so many other trophy hunters, who often become obsessed with their ‘hobby’ – big game pursuits in all corners of the globe soon became Charlotte Peyerk’s passion, and her list of accomplishments is truly impressive. Charlotte’s hunts include 26 countries on five continents. She has taken far more than 174 animals to date of which hundreds are registered with SCI (Safari Club International), and she has taken 17 species of sheep in five years.

In spite of the fact that she was convicted by a federal court for illegally hunting the bear, Charlotte Peyerk was awarded the club’s (Safari Club International) Diana Award in 2010, on top of that Charlotte is also listed as vice chairwoman of the award selection committee.

You would think that the Ethics Committee will censure Charlotte, and strip her of her Diana Award, and cancel her membership. Instead the Safari Club International promotes this “stamp collector” approach to hunting with various levels of awards. There are mutterings within the hunting community that SCI members regularly flaunt rules by engaging in shady hunts. The awards are terribly important to these trophy hunters because these Safari hunting Clubs offers dozens of awards for killing an assortment of its more than 500 different “record book” animals, ranking the biggest tusks, horns, antlers, skulls and bodies of hunted animals. Hunters receive “Grand Slam” and “Inner Circle” award trophies, among others, for shooting a prescribed list of animals. For example, the “Trophy Animals of Africa” award requires the hunter to kill 79 different African species to win the highest honor.

SCI has an award for “Introduced Trophy Animals of North America,” glorifying hunters who frequent captive hunting ranches. To earn every SCI award at the minimum level, a hunter must kill at least 171 different animals. Many members go well beyond that number. Some of these hunters have more than 600 different animals listed in SCI’s record books.

SCI has dozens of award categories like:

The Diana Award to encourage women to hunt.

The Young Hunter Award to encourage children to hunt.

The International Hunting Award, based on the number and quality of trophies, the number of countries hunted in, total number of hunts taken and the level of entries in the record book.

The World Conservation & Hunting Award, which has nothing to do with conservation. Rather, hunters must kill more than 300 species on six continents.

World Hunting Award Rings require 11 Grand Slams, 17 Inner Circle Awards at the Diamond Level, the Fourth Pinnacle of Achievement and the Crowning Achievement Award—which amounts to a huge menagerie of dead animals.

Inner Circle Awards include Trophy Animals of Africa, Spiral-horned Antelopes of Africa, Pygmy Antelopes of Africa, Wild Turkey Trophy Animals of North America, Introduced Animals of North America, Trophy Animals of South America, Antlered Game of the Americas, Trophy Animals of Europe, Trophy Animals of Asia, Trophy Animals of the South Pacific, Wild Pigs and Peccaries of the World, Antlered Game of the World, Mountain Game of the World, Wild Sheep of the World, Chamois of the World, Red Deer/Wapiti of the World, Predators of the World, Ibex of the World, Gazelles of the World, Wild Oxen of the World and Wild Goats of the World.

Grand Slams, including the African Big Five, Dangerous Game of Africa, African 29, North American 29, Cats of the World, Bears of the World, North American Wild Sheep, North American Elk, North American Caribou, North American Deer, White-tailed Deer of the World, European Deer, Moose of the World, South American Indigenous Animals and Wild Turkey.

Trophy hunters are usually very competitive and love to show off.  No wonder hunters like Charlotte, Melissa Bachmann, Olivia Nacos Opre, Corey Knowlton, the Schockey family and and many, many more must have been under sufficient pressure to kill so many animals to win these awards!

Time has come that we should stop these Safari hunting Clubs from encouraging such excesses and the endless quest for sick awards to those who have lots of spare money and who call themselves “conservationists”?

This is a matter of kill as many animals as you can in as many continents as you can in the shortest time to be awarded all these trophies.

This is the most disgusting sick sport ever and must be stopped!

I am sure that if the general public knew this was happening, the vast majority would not agree that hunting ought to be a pastime at all – particularly trophy hunting – and there are estimates that would be around 95% of the general population.

To normal right-thinking people these practices would be abhorrent and if people knew what was going on there would be such an outcry that laws would be passed to make these practices illegal.  Yet most people don’t even know that this is happening.  

Let’s share the heck out of this article, with friends, family, and anyone and everyone else we know on or outside of Facebook.

The best way to help the animals is to tell the world what is going on, as there are far too many people who don’t know.

Safari Club International Awards and animal hit lists, awards and recipients: http://member.scifirstforhunters.org/static/WHA/

Trophy hunters - Stupidity sees rare white moose let's kill it

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