The bill, introduced into the US Senate last month, came with plenty of emotive and uncompromising language.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe mass killing of millions of kangaroos to make commercial products is needless and inhumane,\u201d said the Democratic senator Tammy Duckworth, as she introduced the Kangaroo Protection Act<\/a> to ban the sale and manufacture of kangaroo products in the US.<\/p>\n With the high-profile former Democratic presidential nominee Cory Booker as a co-sponsor, the two senators said Australia\u2019s commercial kangaroo harvest<\/a> was \u201cunnecessarily cruel\u201d and their proposed ban would protect \u201cmillions of wild kangaroos and their innocent babies who are needlessly killed every year\u201d.<\/p>\n Backed by animal rights campaigners, the move is the latest in a string of attempts in recent years<\/a> in the US Congress to ban kangaroo products. A similar push is ongoing in Europe.<\/p>\n Last week the Center for a Humane Economy, which runs the Kangaroos Are Not Shoes campaign, announced British sportswear brand Umbro was the latest to join the likes of Nike, Adidas, Puma and Asics in phasing out the use of so-called \u201ck-leather\u201d that has most often been used in some of their brand\u2019s football boots.<\/p>\n But the success of the campaigns, and the ongoing criticism of Australia\u2019s regulated kangaroo harvests, hides a complex story and one which, Prof Chris Johnson says, is \u201cinfuriating\u201d for many Australian conservationists and ecologists.<\/p>\n \u201cThe public advocacy by opponents has been very effective, but unfortunately it\u2019s all wrong, is conceptually muddled and it\u2019s not based on knowledge or experience,\u201d says Johnson, a kangaroo expert and professor of wildlife conservation at the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage.<\/p>\n A US ban would be harmful to kangaroo populations, Nationals leader David Littleproud says. Photograph: Peter Parks\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n The Nationals leader and shadow agriculture minister, David Littleproud, accused the governing Labor party of failing to \u201cdispel misconceptions around the use and overseas imports of kangaroo products\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThis has allowed animal activists to spread false information that kangaroos are being killed solely for [soccer] cleats.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s important to note that without a commercial industry, conservation culling is still needed to occur to manage populations.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know kangaroos can breed easily and are not a threatened species. The practical reality of import bans in the US would be detrimental to kangaroo populations in Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n The government did not answer questions sent to the agriculture minister, Julie Collins.<\/p>\n The kangaroo \u2018harvest\u2019<\/p>\n Since European colonisation, farmers have grown pasture for livestock and added watering holes across Australia\u2019s landscape, both of which help kangaroos to survive and, in times of good rainfall, flourish.Governments have backed controls and culls<\/a> of the kangaroo\u2019s natural predator \u2013 the dingo.<\/p>\n Johnson says grazing from abundant kangaroos can take away areas that other native animals such as bandicoots and dunnarts use to hide from introduced predators like cats and foxes.<\/p>\n \u201cOvergrazing can be a serious ecological threat,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cThe harvest protects other native species because it protects vegetation. If the kangaroo program fails, that would be a contributor to increased extinction threat.\u201d<\/p>\n Regulated commercial kangaroo harvesting takes place every year in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia.<\/p>\n Since 2010, data collated by the Australian government shows<\/a> that between 1.1 million and 1.7 million kangaroos have been killed annually under the commercial harvest.<\/p>\n Harvest quotas are set at about 15% of the estimated kangaroo population, but the data suggests less than a third of the quota is used up each year.<\/p>\n Barbaric or humane?<\/p>\n Kangaroo harvesting takes place at night, and a national code of practice<\/a> says the animals should be killed by a bullet to the head.<\/p>\n Ben Pearson, Australia and New Zealand country director for World Animal Protection, says this method of killing, coupled with a lack of oversight of both commercial and non-commercial kangaroo culling, which is also done under licence, is a concern.<\/p>\n \u201cIn other animal farming industries there is a requirement for humane slaughter which includes stunning before slaughter,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cWith wild harvesting, kangaroos are shot outright and evidence suggests that many are not killed instantaneously, instead being merely wounded and thus suffering from gunshot wounds. Kangaroos that are wounded but escape could suffer over a prolonged period.\u201d<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Sign up to Clear Air Australia<\/p>\n Adam Morton brings you incisive analysis about the politics and impact of the climate crisis<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Campaigners say they oppose \u2018the killing of kangaroos for non-essential items like football boots\u2019. Photograph: Joe Castro\/AAP<\/p>\n A 2021 inquiry in the New South Wales parliament on kangaroo welfare<\/a> found there was a lack of monitoring at the \u201cpoint of kill\u201d for both commercial and non-commercial shooting, but the state government supported only two of the 23 recommendations in full<\/a>.<\/p>\n The inquiry heard that kangaroo kills were deeply distressing for some Aboriginal people, and animal rights groups said kangaroos had a right to live freely without human interference.<\/p>\n If female kangaroos are shot, harvesters can find young joeys still alive in the mother\u2019s pouch.<\/p>\n