May09
California Finds a Way to Be Nasty to Kangaroos
Posted at 05:03 PM | Permalink
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Comments (9)
First of all, Happy third day of Be Kind to Animals week! I hope your week has been as jam-packed with compassion for animals as mine has (mental note: don't ever say that again). In case you're casting about for some easy ways to help animals that will fit into your schedule, one great thing you can do is write to your legislators about pending bills that will affect animals in your area. The good news is that PETA keeps track of all these bills, and can keep you informed about what's going on and what it all means through our Activist Network, which you can sign up for here.
Conveniently enough, if you live in California, you can get started right away. The particular bill that's pending right now is a singularly unpleasant piece of legislation that seeks to undo an act that made it illegal in the state of California to sell kangaroo skin. As you might imagine, nobody bothered to ask the kangaroos how they felt about this bill, and various interests that stand to profit from their suffering—including the California Chamber of Commerce—are making an effort to push this one through. You can learn more by clicking here, and you can help out by using the form to write to the Chamber of Commerce about the bill, and the contact information provided to let the senator responsible for this bill know why it's such a lousy idea. For anyone who's not convinced that this bill needs to be firmly defeated, here's a short video (warning: this one's really graphic).
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kangaroo leather
Comments
Please, please stop this bill. I live in rural Australia and am a rehabber of these poor animals. I have seen all sorts of horrific things happening to these poor animals and hear it all the time in the area where I live. Apart from the so called professional shooters there are so many other idiots that can get a licence for any reason that don't have the proper shooting skills and basically injure the kangaroos to live on and die a very slow death. The government over here don't care about wildlife and will keep handing out licences until they are almost extinct, it is a huge money making thing for them. The populations are diminishing so quickly with the drought and loss of habitat all they needs is another demand for them to be killed. This is a totally inhumane thing and is not regulated at all, there isn't anyone out there in the middle of the night checking on these shooters, so how can they police this barbaric act.
Recently my neighbour was shooting in the middle of the night without a licence, I reported him and they let him off. This is the standard in Australia, the fact that the noise frightened my roos in my pen and one ended up breaking her back and having to be euthanised didn't bother them at all. She was only a few months from release and had over come a bad head injury from being hit by a car, what a waste and nobody cares.
Posted by: sonia | May 9, 2007 10:41 PM
what the hell is going on in this world, to come to now shooting kangaroos!! come on now!! they are harmless and then to wear there fur?? what is going on everyday humans surprise me with horrible acts of cruelty to animals and it breaks my heart to hear of this, but sonia you are an angel for what you do and for what all of the people on this earth who love animals!! pay it forward!!
Posted by: kris shulfer | May 10, 2007 04:12 PM
On the site about this you can send an email about how horrable it is to torture these poor animals and i got a few emails back saying that their spam blocked my email from getting through. Is there anywhere else we can go to write these people about this? I cant believe how evil people can be to hurt these animals. Its sickening and something needs to be done.
Posted by: Jodi | May 11, 2007 12:08 PM
Hey Jodi,
If you want to call the California Chamber of Commerce to let them know how you feel about their support for this bill, the number is
916-444-6670. And if you're a California resident, the info to contact your legislator is at http://getactive.peta.org/campaign/kanga_petition
I hope that helps!
Thanks so much for taking action on this.
-jack
Posted by: Jack | May 11, 2007 12:19 PM
who the hell still wears fur?
i know that j-loser does! wat an idiot!
Posted by: pookie | May 13, 2007 04:49 PM
One thing to say "nothing surprises me anymore in this rotton world"
PS. I would love to skin those so called MEN!!!
from Jan
London
England
Posted by: jan | May 15, 2007 11:22 AM
I have just finally seen this footage and would like to say that grey kangaroo joeys still take milk from there mums until they are around 15kgs, that joey they took with them was probably around 5kgs so if they had just let it go then it would have died a very slow death. Most shooters don't bother with the bigger joeys only a few take them home to raise as a pet, the mind boggles how they can separate the animals they are shooting to the pet one they have at home. How could he kiss it on the head after killing it's mother. I get these sort of people ringing me for advice of how to raise a roo but they don't admit that they are shooters, I wonder why!!
The aboriginals of Australia are allowed to kill kangaroos to eat, which is what they do but the joeys from those kangaroos are usually given to the kids to play with and basically they die from starvation or stress. That joey they had would have been petrified, unfortunately kangaroos don't make any noise when they are scared, if only they could scream then someone would listen to them.
Posted by: Sonia | May 15, 2007 11:59 PM
Pookie,
Kangaroo skins is made in to football boots or running shoes etc. Most of it is also used to make souvenirs like wallets, purses etc. The scrotum of a roo makes a little purse, lovely.
Posted by: sonia | May 22, 2007 02:25 AM
I was just wondering where in Australia you live Sonia?
Which of the 51 species of Kangaroo are you referring to when you say they are "almost extinct"?
The seven species targeted by professional shooters are in plague proportions. The last census estimated the populations of these larger species at over 50 million, the cull for the same year was 7 million.
The smaller, endangered species are all at threat largly from feral animals such as foxes and cats. Strangly enough Peta supported the ban on fox pelts, which directly resulted in a fox population explosion.
I hate animals being exploited for human use. But please do not detract from the fight by using lies and half truths.
Posted by: Guido Pestoni | February 20, 2008 06:58 PM