California to impose ban on kangaroo trade with Australia

The state Senate of California sets a ban on the trade of kangaroo skins and meat with Australia, failing the lobbying effort of the federal government to extend the trade beyond the end of the year, 2015. The Australian government was accused by animal welfare groups of misleading the Californian Senate to overturn the upcoming ban.

California has banned the trade of kangaroo parts in 1971 until 2007. But the ban was suspended that allowed the sale of products such as meat and gloves made from kangaroo skin. However, the suspension is set to expire at the end of 2015.

The Kangaroo Industry Association of Australia was paid $143,000 by the Department of Agriculture to pay US firm Manatt, Phelps and Phillips to lobby Senate members. But the Food Empowerment Project submitted an official complaint, claiming the Australian government did not properly register the lobbying.

The Kangaroo Industry Association said that there was nothing wrong with the lobbying. In fact, the kangaroo industry supporters said that it will continue the campaign against the ban on kangaroo trade.

“The Australian government wishes to grow our strong economic ties by removing unnecessary trade barriers that are not grounded on science,” said Kim Beazley, Australia’s ambassador to the US. Supporting the kangaroo trade, Beazley said that the four species of traded kangaroo are abundant, with numbers over 50 million or double of Australia’s human population.

But campaigners against the animal trade said that the government provided a misleading data, indicating that kangaroo numbers have grown healthily in recent years. “Californians want nothing to do with Australia’s massive commercial slaughter of millions of these wonderful creatures every year,” said Wayne Pacelle, chief executive of the Humane Society of the US.

To date, programmes of killing and export of kangaroos have been approved by Australian states New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia. In 2012, the killing of 5.2 million kangaroos has been supervised by the federal government.

“It’s disturbing to see how they’ve acted over there. This industry is inhumane and cruel but despite this the government has misled the Californian senate and its people,” said Nikki Sutterby of the Australian Society for Kangaroos. She added that describing the trade as sustainable is a “fraud” and “greenwashing,” which the government aims to lead people to buy more kangaroo products.

But the Kangaroo Industry Association denies the claims of animal welfare groups and stated that their statements don’t resemble the truth. John Kelly, executive officer of the association, said that the population of kangaroos are “super abundant” and “there are a great deal more than there used to be.”

The Californian senators received emails from farmers with kangaroos on their land, suggesting that controlling kangaroo numbers is vital if the animals are to stay on the land. The kangaroo populations could cause an enormous amount of damage, which makes harvesting the animals as “environmentally and agriculturally essential,” Kelly stated.

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