NSW changes rule to boost kangaroo slaughter
The NSW Government has removed the cap on the number of professional companies allowed to harvest kangaroos in response to lobbying by the industry and farmers claiming animals are dying from drought.
In 2016, the commercial harvesting quota for red and grey kangaroos was 2.5 million but only 350,000 were harvested because of restrictions on the number of licenses. With the removal of the cap, the number of kangaroos harvested will skyrocket.
The Minister for Primary Industries, Niall Blair said this week that lifting the cap was one measure ‘‘that allows us to manage kangaroo populations in a humane and sustainable way, reducing the burden on landholders, the environment and primary production’’.
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The existing cap allows only 11 companies to harvest kangaroos. The government already had interest from more than 18 companies some near Broken Hill where numbers are very high - which are keen to enter the market and start processing kangaroos.
‘‘This means we have a chance to grow the kangaroo processing industry by over 86 per cent within the current and sustainable quota that already exists,’’ Minister for Regional NSW John Barilaro said.
Blair and Barilaro announced the change on Thursday morning. Barilaro said lifting the cap will encourage more companies to start processing kangaroo meat, but will not affect the current quota of kangaroos that can be culled each year.
‘‘The cap was an outdated concept based on historic commercial arrangements under the Kangaroo Management Programme,’’ Barilaro said. ‘‘NSW was the last remaining state to have the cap in place.’’
The move was welcomed by the Pastoralists’ Association of West Darling’s president Lachlan Gall who has been lobbying for the cap to be lifted for two decades.
He said it would allow new players to enter the commercial kangaroo industry and increase the number of kangaroos that are taken by commercial harvest.
While there were 11 processor licences, there were only seven companies in operation, which had limited the options for companies to sell their products.
The decision is bound to pit those campaigning against kangaroo culling against many NSW farmers and others who say shooting starving kangaroos is more humane than letting millions of animals die a slow death.
The decision coincides with the opening this month of a controversial new movie called Kangaroo: A Love-Hate Story after heated responses from viewers in the United States.
A Variety magazine review said the provocative movie ‘‘drilled deeply into the complex question of why Australia’s beloved and iconic creature is also regarded as a dangerous pest that must be slaughtered and turned into everything from fancy fashion products to pet food and gourmet cuisine’’.
Gall argues that city dwellers who argue that culling kangaroo numbers is inhumane have not seen kangaroos dying from drought. ‘‘The alternative to death by shooting is death due to drought, which is animal cruelty on an industrial scale. People who don’t experience it first-hand cannot possibly have any idea of how distressing it is to see mother nature assume the role of population controller.’’
In western NSW near Broken Hill, Gall said there are hundreds of thousands of kangaroos that dying from drought.
In 2016, the NSW kangaroo population was estimated to be 14.4 million, and this included only those species that are harvested: the red kangaroo, Eastern grey, Western grey, and wallaroo.
‘‘Clearly an instantaneous death from a shot to the brain is infinitely more compassionate than allowing millions of kangaroos to die, as a result of drought conditions across the state,’’ he said. – Fairfax