California was due to resume its ban on kangaroo skin/meat imports at the end of 2015, with the commercial kangaroo industry confident it would convince legislators to permanently lift the ban and allow unimpeded & unchecked importation of products made from kangaroos.

At the beginning of September 2015, over 70 scientists, academics and public figures signed this open letter to Californian lawmakers expressing increasing concern about the science used to justify the continuation of the kangaroo shooting and export industries. 

On 11 September the industry’s bill to permanently lift the ban failed to pass the Californian Senate, allowing the ban to be reinstated from 1 January 2016. The kangaroo industry and Australian government is continuing to convince Californian legislators to lift the ban.
Read more here

---

An open letter to lawmakers of the State of California concerning the importation of kangaroo skins and meat, signed by concerned scientists, academics and other public figures.

We, the undersigned, urge Californian lawmakers to reinstate the ban on imported kangaroo products. 
 
We are concerned that claims regarding the sustainability of the kangaroo meat industry, health benefits of kangaroo meat, the supposedly humane killing process, and other matters widely used to promote the continuation and expansion of the kangaroo meat industry are scientifically unsubstantiated. 

On the contrary, we believe scientific evidence clearly demonstrates that the slaughter of kangaroos, the largest commercial killing of land-based wildlife in the world, is putting at high risk both kangaroo populations and people’s health, and causes profound suffering to the kangaroos, particularly the dependent young.

Specific areas of concern include:

Sustainability

• An 85% loss of open woodland habitat; urban development; crop and livestock farming; and continuing industrial-scale slaughter excludes kangaroos across vast regions where historical records described them as once widespread and abundant.


• Government raw survey data shows wide landscapes now significantly depleted of kangaroos. For example the 2010 NSW western zone survey data showed Red Kangaroos absent from 56% of their former range and Grey Kangaroos absent from 69% of their historical ranges.  


• Kangaroos breed slowly and have high juvenile mortality.  For example, a Grey Kangaroo doe can produce up to 8 independent joeys in her lifetime, with just two likely to survive to independence.


• Maximum wild population growth rates average ~10% in optimal conditions, with annual declines of up to 60% during drought.  It is biologically impossible for kangaroo populations to “explode”.


• Shooting quotas of 15-20% +  of population estimates risk exceeding actual kangaroo population growth rates.


• Critically flawed kangaroo survey methodologies inflate population estimates, from which commercial shooting quotas are then over-allocated.  Non-commercial and illegal shooting of millions of kangaroos is not considered in the management calculations of the commercial industry.

Cruelty

• Shooting occurs away from scrutiny in darkness when brain shots are difficult. Each year hundreds of thousands of kangaroos are bodyshot and a calculated 855,000 dependent young suffer violent deaths in the wild, with shooters required to shoot at-foot joeys, and decapitate or head-bludgeon pouch joeys.


• Research finds most dependent at-foot joeys are left to suffer starvation or predation in the field and pouch joeys’ heads are generally swung against vehicles, which may not kill them outright.

Contamination

• Kangaroos are shot in conditions placing public health at risk, with repeated findings of contaminated kangaroo meat over many years. In 2014 Russia banned kangaroo meat imports for a third time due to contamination.


• Kangaroo meat harbours many human affecting pathogens including Salmonella spp and Toxoplasma gondii. Ongoing testing of retail ready kangaroo meat at processing plants and supermarket shelves for E. coli and Salmonella spp shows unacceptable high counts of both pathogens.

---

Signatories

Note: Academic titles reflect the ranking system of the country of employment, where applicable.

Dr Alka Arora 
Core Faculty
California Institute of Integral Studies

Dr Meera Atkinson
University of Technology
Sydney, Australia

Dr Rosemary Austen MBBS
Scientist, General Practitioner, wildlife behaviourist & rehabilitator
Canberra, Australia

Dr Liv Baker
Animal Studies Teaching Fellow
College of the Environment
Wesleyan University, Connecticut

Dr Jonathan Balcombe
Biologist, author
Director of Animal Sentience, Humane Society Institute for Science & Policy 
Washington DC

Dr Johannes Bauer
Technical Advisor – UN Food & Agriculture Organization
Former Scientific/Policy Advisor in wildlife management to EU & UN
Bathurst NSW

Dr Marc Bekoff
University of Colorado, Boulder

Dr Dror Ben-Ami
Lead Researcher Ecology & Research Associate 
Centre for Compassionate Conservation
University of Technology Sydney, Australia

Dr Jeffrey G Borchers
Ecologist, LPC
The Kerulos Center, Oregon

Louise Boronyak-Vasco
Senior Research Consultant, Institute for Sustainable Futures
University of Technology Sydney, Australia

Dr Melissa Boyde
Editor, Animal Studies Journal

G.A. Bradshaw PhD, PhD
CEO
The Kerulos Center, Oregon   

Dr Rachael Briggs
Philosopher 
Stanford University

Associate Professor David Brooks
Author, Editor
University of Sydney, Australia 

Professor Deborah Cao 
Griffith University
Australia 

JM Coetzee
Author, Nobel Prize Laureate

Claire Colebrook
Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Literature
Pennsylvania State University

Professor Carole Cusack
University of Sydney, Australia

Dr Robert Darling   
Professor of English, Division of Humanities & Fine Arts
Keuka College, New York

Dr Margo DeMello 
Animals & Society Institute, USA

Nicola Donovan
President
Lawyers for Animals Inc, Australia

Dr Sara Dubois 
Chief Scientific Officer
BC Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
Canada

Dr Rosemary Elliott
President, Sentient
The Veterinary Institute for Animal Ethics, Australia 

Dr Mehreen Faruqi
Greens Member of the Legislative Council
Parliament of NSW, Australia

​Professor Steve Garlick PhD, MCom
Economist, Applied Ethicist, wildlife behaviourist & rehabilitator 
Centre for Compassionate Conservation, University of Technology Sydney 
Founder & President of the Animal Justice Party of Australia

Dr Carol Gigliotti
Emily Carr University
Canada

Dr Jason Grossman
Philosopher of Science
Australia 

Associate Professor Eleonora Gullone
School of Psychological Sciences 
Monash University, Australia 

Dr John Hadley
Snr Lecturer in Philosophy
School of Humanities & Communication Arts
Western Sydney University, Australia

Kevin Hart FAHA
Edwin B Kyle Professor of Christian Studies 
University of Virginia

Dr Andrea Harvey
BVSc DSAM (Feline) DipECVIM-CA MRCVS
RCVS Recognised Specialist in Feline Medicine
European Veterinary Specialist in Internal Medicine
Australia

Ruth Hatten  
Senior Policy Officer, The Animal Law Institute
Member, Voiceless Legal Advisory Council
Associate Academic, Centre for Compassionate Conservation, University of Technology Sydney

Dr Thomas Hikade
Hon Associate, University of Sydney
Australia

Associate Professor Jay Johnston
Department of Studies in Religion
University of Sydney, Australia

Dr Lisa Kemmerer
Professor of Philosophy and Religions
Montana State University Billings

Professor Anne Keogh AM
Senior Heart Transplant Cardiologist
Heart Transplant Unit, St Vincent’s Hospital
Sydney Australia

John Kinsella
Author, Fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge, 
Adjunct Professor, University of Western Australia

Dr Kate Livett
Independent scholar and editor
Australia

Dr Dan Lyons
CEO, Centre for Animals and Social Justice
Honorary Research Fellow, Department of Politics
University of Sheffield UK

Virginia McKenna OBE
Founder Trustee
Born Free Foundation

Associate Professor Elizabeth McMahon 
Head, Dept of English, School of the Arts and Media
University of New South Wales, Australia

Christine Mason
Poet (as Cally Conan-Davies)
Manitou Springs, Colorado 

Dr David Mason
Former Poet Laureate of Colorado
Professor and Chair 
Department of English, The Colorado College

Dr Jeffrey Masson
Author

Professor Freya Mathews
Philosophy, School of Humanities & Social Sciences
College of Arts, Social Sciences & Commerce
La Trobe University, Australia 

Dr Brian May CBE
Save Me Trust

Raymond Mjadwesch
Consulting Ecologist/Conservation Biologist
Bathurst, Australia

Dr Alison Moore
University of Wollongong, Australia

Dr Lynn Mowson
Human Rights and Animal Ethics Research Network 
University of Melbourne, Australia

Glenys Oogjes  
Executive Director
Animals Australia  

The Hon. Mark Pearson
Animal Justice Party Member of the Legislative Council 
NSW Parliament, Australia

Associate Professor Frances Press
School of Teacher Education
Charles Sturt University, Australia

Dr Fiona Probyn-Rapsey
University of Sydney, Australia

Dr Daniel Ramp
Director, Centre for Compassionate Conservation
University of Technology Sydney, Australia

Senator Lee Rhiannon
Australian Greens Senator for NSW
Parliament of Australia

Professor Catherine Rigby FAHA 
Chair of Environmental Humanities
School of Languages, Literatures, Cultures & Linguistics
Monash University, Australia

Dr Sophie Riley
Senior Lecturer, Law
University of Technology Sydney, Australia

Dr Jane Roy
Communicator and Editor
Formerly University of British Columbia
Simon Fraser University, British Columbia

Dr Tracy Ryan
Independent scholar and author
Australia

Dr Kenneth Shapiro 
Editor, Society and Animals

Brian Sherman AM Hon Litt D (UTS)  
Businessman, philanthropist
Managing Director, Voiceless, the animal protection institute

Ondine Sherman
Author
Managing Director, Voiceless - the animal protection institute

Peter Singer, AC
Ira W.DeCamp Professor of Bioethics
University Center for Human Values, Princeton University

Dr Tony Smith
Independent scholar 
Bathurst NSW Australia

Dr Maria Taylor 
Science Communications, Australia National University
Author,  NSW Australia

Associate Professor  Nik Taylor 
School of Social and Policy Studies
Flinders University, Australia

Dr William C Taylor
Associate Professor Genetics UC Berkeley
CSIRO Senior Principle Plant Scientist, retired
NSW Australia

Professor Helen Tiffin 
Visiting Professorial Fellow
University of Wollongong, Australia

Dr Christine Townend 
Author, Australia

Dr Margaret van Heekeren
Snr Lecturer - Journalism
School of Communication & Creative Industries
Charles Sturt University, Australia

Dr Dinesh Joseph Wadiwel 
Socio-Legal Studies & Human Rights 
School of Social and Political Sciences 
University of Sydney, Australia

Brenda Walker 
Writer, Winthrop Professor of English & Cultural Studies 
University of Western Australia

Dr Arian Wallach
Eureka Prize Winner and Churchill Fellow
Centre for Compassionate Conservation
University of Technology Sydney

Dr Yvette Watt
University of Tasmania
Co-Director UTAS Environment Research Group
Committee member, Minding Animals Australia 

Dr Mark Westman BVSc (Hons), MANZCVSc (Animal Welfare)
PhD Scholar, Veterinarian
Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Sydney

Dr Richard J White
Senior Lecturer in Human Geography 
Sheffield Hallam University, UK

Professor Stuart White
Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures
University of Technology Sydney, Australia

Dr Diedre Wicks
Author, sociologist
Hon. Research Associate
Newcastle University, Australia

Dr Cynthia Willett
Professor, Philosophy Department
Emory University, Atlanta 

Banner image: Mariel Becker
Young Eastern Grey Kangaroo: Macropus giganteus