Target: John Bradley, Secretary of Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action
Goal: Do not authorize more kangaroo culls for harvesting.
Kangaroos are a staple of the Australian landscape, and in the past year they’ve taken a major hit due to flooding in various regions. Now one of these hard-hit regions wants to take even more from the beloved animals and the resulting hundreds of thousands of deaths will be entirely legal.
The state of Victoria in Australia has been operating a grey kangaroo so-called harvesting program. This initiative should be called a cull, however, because it permits killing a set number of kangaroos for both meat and because of the animals’ intrusion onto owned land. A limit is set at the beginning of each year, with numbers of permitted killings rising by almost one-third this year as compared to last year. Now, over 160,000 kangaroos may be culled for their meat, while 69,000-plus may be killed by landowners for the apparently unforgiveable crime of roaming their territories.
Worse yet, a government agency supposedly devoted to environmental conservation is authorizing this cull. Sign the petition below to prevent these leaders from doing more damage to an Australian icon.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Secretary Bradley,
Animal Justice MP George Purcell noted that “we don’t know how many kangaroos have been lost in unprecedented flooding across Victoria.” He then urged you to reconsider your commitment to the marked increase in kangaroo harvesting targets within Victoria. Please take his very relevant concerns, along with the protests of countless advocates across the country, under serious advisement.
This agency’s mission includes preservation of native landscapes and promotion of biodiversity. The grey kangaroo is an integral and almost inseparable part of the Australian landscape. These animals deserve protection, not prescheduled execution.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: Jarrah Tree
