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Your federal legislators have the power to cut off the US market for kangaroo products!
FIND YOUR FEDERAL REPRESENTATIVES HERE.
Once you find your House of Representative and Senators, call and tell them to support H.R.4995 or send them an email.
You can use the example language below in your calls and emails.
● The commercial kangaroo industry represents the largest slaughter of terrestrial wildlife in the world. An average of 1.6 million adult kangaroos have been shot each year for the commercial trade in kangaroo meat and skins since 2000.
● An additional estimated 400,000 orphaned dependent joeys are also killed and discarded as “by-catch” of the kangaroo industry every year though we don’t know exactly how many, as these deaths are not counted.
● According to the Government’s figures, between 2001 – 2021, the kangaroo population dropped from 60 million to 31 million. This is a total loss of 29 million or 48% of the population in 20 years.
● It is estimated that 5 million kangaroos died in the 2019-20 black summer bushfires - but in spite of these extreme weather conditions and loss of life, Australia has continued to kill kangaroos for commercial purposes.
● While the industry and governments seek to promote this industry as a ‘sustainable use of wildlife’, this dramatic decline in population suggests otherwise.
● There is no evidence to support the claim that kangaroos have ever been overabundant - this is a myth pushed by government and industry. In reality, kangaroos in fact have slow rates of reproduction, high rates of juvenile mortality (70% in the first year under normal conditions and up to 100% in times of drought) and fertility that declines with age and acts as a self-regulating brake on population increase.
● Long-term studies show that the maximum natural rate of population growth (replacement rate) is 8-10% per annum for grey kangaroos and 13.5 % for red kangaroos. Quotas for the commercial kangaroo industry are set well above these established natural population replacement rates, raising serious concerns about sustainability.
Nike and Puma have both recently announced that they will stop using kangaroo skins in their product lines, in favor of synthetic materials which have gain popularity due to their higher performance.
In closing, as with many other legislative efforts we have worked on, saving wildlife is a supply and demand issue. If we can cut down on the demand, then we can put an end to the "supply."
Let's help our Australian friends by passing H.R.4995, The Kangaroo Protection Act!
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