http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangaroo_(meat)

I guess they don’t farm it, but the article states the hides are indeed also sold from culling operations, so anyone trying to paint a picture of skinned carcasses littering Australia is way off base.

Since roo meat is eaten down under, I’d rather imagine a great deal of the hides come from slaughterhouses

Eating Kangaroo? I like some wild game but I think I’d have to pass on that.

I rather suspect, too, that this is a tactic to increase waste disposal costs, thus increasing price, thus hoping to inflate finished good price and decrease consumption. Be advised, then, that many ranchers are also farmers - increase the costs in the aniumal arena, and watch it get passed on in the plant foodstuffs - it’s what my cousin does.

It’d be a horrible waste if this wasn’t the case, I have about as much use for hunters who take the meat and discard the rest as I do for trophy hunters, which is to say, none.

Look, I don’t value the life of a joey more than its mama. Some animal rights activists argue for the “cuteness” factor. But killing a grown animal for its skin or killing a juvenile animal because it can’t survive on its own because you killed its mama for its skin — these are equally unacceptable.

I understand that nature is violent. I understand that on a few, rare occasions, humans may have to kill animals — such as to cull a herd that has massively outgrown its carrying capacity. But I support burying those creatures, not taking their hides or flesh. I am sure someone could make a nifty lampshade out of my hide when I die, but I’d rather they didn’t. And I’d rather Adidas not make soccer boots from kangaroos.

If there is a private human organization that is willing to take these joeys, bottle feed them, save them and give them to zoos to live out the rest of their natural lives I’d be all for it (most zoos only have limited space for so many kangaroos or any other type of animal, but still, might save a few). But most animal rights activists are opposed to the existence of zoos too, so we’re back to square one.

Of course, then, the CA dudes for my district (Assembly and Senate) always vote for big industry … all hope lost there.

Thanks for the call to activism, Hugo!