Published on :
In Australia, the kangaroo industry might face serious challenges as Oregon in the United States is regarding to pass a law banning the import of kangaroo products. This is the headquarters of the equipment manufacturer Nike, which uses kangaroo leather for the manufacture of its football boots.
With our correspondent in Sydney, Grégory Plesse
The kangaroo is the animal emblem of Australia, but also the source of an industry which brings in 130 million euros each year, but which might be harmed by an import ban which is currently being considered. Oregon.
In Australia, kangaroos are hunted by professionals whose activity is regulated, but very insufficiently, according to animalist MP Mark Pearson, who recalls that when hunters kill adult females, they also kill their babies. .
The latter also kill many female carriers of babies, indirect victims of this activity.
Nike does not tell France, Europe or the world that each year, 500,000 baby kangaroos are killed with rifle butts and that this is the direct consequence of their activity.
The European Union, by far the largest importer of kangaroo meat and leather, recently opposed a ban on the import of kangaroo meat.
The news is a bit of a comfort to Dennis King, executive director of the Kangaroo Industry Association, who says he is a victim of misinformation. ” We respect the lives of the animals we slaughter, in compliance with the rules set by the government, he said. And we exploit every part of the animal. None are killed just to make football boots. »
The kangaroo is in any case not an endangered species. There would be more than 40 million across Australia. Hunters kill one to two million per year, to sustain a sector that employs 3,000 people.
► To read once more: Australia officially recognizes the koala as an endangered species
