Australia Police close BBQ at Diamond Creek after discovery of decapitated kangaroo

Was the new Jihadi John of the Islamic State (IS) in Australia while locals were celebrating on Tuesday Australia Day? That question likely crossed the minds of revelers who went to the Diamond Creek Walking Track to have a barbecue party.

That’s because park visitors saw a trademark IS way of killing its hostages - decapitated kangaroo head. The head was placed on a barbecue hot plate, while the animal’s body was left about 60 kilometres away. Police also found a skinned rabbit near a children’s playground near the Campbell and Watkins streets intersection, reports News.com.au.

According to Huffington Post, it was a 3AW caller named Michael who saw the head while he was jogging on a nearby track. He immediately took a photo of the place and called the police.

Following the discovery of the animal cruelty at about 8:20 am, authorities closed the public barbecue. The Diamond Creek police, which is investigating the incident, is asking witnesses to come forward and helped solve the crime. Those who have any information about the incident should call Crime Stoppers at 1800 333 000.

Kangaroo slaughter for commercial purposes was allowed by the Australian federal government in 2012. The permission to kill more than 5 million of Australia’s symbol, however, must comply with the Code of Practice of the kangaroo industry that the animal must be shot once in the head only. State governments, such as Victoria, issue 850 to 2,200 permits a year that allow landholders to kill between 30,000 and 70,000 kangaroos yearly.

But Animals Australia reports that about 100,000 kangaroos killed each year do not follow the code. The kangaroos are culled for its meat, for human and animal consumption, and skin which is used to make sporting shoes, gloves and dress shoes.

The kangaroos are shot in remote areas, but some of the animal do not die immediately from the bullet hit and instead go through a long and painful death. Its young, the joey, are too small for commercial use. The orphaned joeys found in pouches of culled female kangaroos are also killed with a bullet or beheaded. Joey that could already jump sometimes escape, but could starve or be eaten by predators as it struggles to survive without the mother roo.

A 2009 report, commissioned by the group Animal Liberation, titled “A Shot in the Dark,” estimates that about 440,000 dependent joeys are clubbed to death or left to die of starvation when their mothers are slaughtered.