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The Swans are Black
The Australian kangaroo, sacred, vermin or gastronomic delight
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On the international scene in
the early 1970's, the United Nations International Union for the
Conservation of Nature looked closely at the threats to wildlife world
wide. They produced a resolution calling for conservation through
sustainable utilisation, the fundamental thinking being that if wildlife
has a commercial value there will be commercial incentives to maintain both
it and the ecology which it depends on. Within the details of this
resolution the IUCN produced a series of guidelines for sustainable
utilisation, these have been summarised into 6 'rules of thumb' (IUCN
1980).
In the mean time the commercial sector has been doing what it does best and
simply getting on with things. Commercial harvesting of kangaroos started
in a serious way in the late 1960's. The justification was as pest control
for farmers and the meat product was sold as pet food. The industry has
grown through good and bad times since then to the stage where for the last
15 years the total productivity has increased at an average rate of
5%/year.
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Growth in
Kangaroo Harvest 1986-1995 |
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Total industry worth during this time would
have increased even more than this due to increasing proportion of meat
production going to human consumption rather than pet food. There are very
few Australian industries of any sort, let alone rural ones, which can
match this sort of sustained growth rate.
Kangaroo meat is exported to over 40 different countries with total meat
exports now exceeding 5 million kg/year. In addition domestic consumption
has been steadily increasing and the low fat nature of the product is
generating a following amongst the health conscious. Kangaroo leather is
recognised world wide as being the strongest light weight leather
available. It is the product of first choice for the manufacture of high
grade sporting shoes, for example the vast bulk of goals kicked in world
class soccer are kicked with kangaroo leather. Nationally the industry is
worth some AUD$200 million per year and employs some 4000 people (KIAA
1997). |
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