I can answer the farming :) They aren't. Since European occupation has changed the land, massively increasing the amount of grazing land, kangaroo numbers have gone up hugely - they're a well designed desert animal, and something a cow would look at in despair is a feast for a kangaroo. They're culled yearly to keep the population in check - exactly what that means is up for debate (the good of the kangaroos? The sheep? The dairy industry?). The culls provide meat and hide and fur for various industries, and kangaroo leather is a frequently used material here.
I consider them bright and canny, but I think sheep are too - more than people think. The culling is overseen by the RSPCA to ensure it is humane, but those definitions might be up for debate too.
Ethically, from a global perspective, it is vastly more sensible for an Australian to eat kangaroo rather than beef - kangaroos do vastly (I mean, VASTLY) less damage to the land, suffer less in droughts, and the gaseous waste by products from their digestive systems are not expelled as methane but rather concentrated as an acid that is turned back into fuel for the kangaroo. They are optimised for Australia. We shouldn't have a huge dairy industry - that's destroying our fragile environment.
I believe it's a better choice than beef for Australians. For those overseas, those pesky airmiles blow the eco-footprint out a big way.
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Date: 2007-08-24 03:29 am (UTC)I consider them bright and canny, but I think sheep are too - more than people think. The culling is overseen by the RSPCA to ensure it is humane, but those definitions might be up for debate too.
Ethically, from a global perspective, it is vastly more sensible for an Australian to eat kangaroo rather than beef - kangaroos do vastly (I mean, VASTLY) less damage to the land, suffer less in droughts, and the gaseous waste by products from their digestive systems are not expelled as methane but rather concentrated as an acid that is turned back into fuel for the kangaroo. They are optimised for Australia. We shouldn't have a huge dairy industry - that's destroying our fragile environment.
I believe it's a better choice than beef for Australians. For those overseas, those pesky airmiles blow the eco-footprint out a big way.