Thought this was a great Article

[Ash]

THERE are countless unimaginable cruelties being unleashed around the world at the moment, and just as many reasons to get angry.

So let's do the numbers.

In China, 50,000 are dead and hundreds of bodies of schoolchildren remain under rubble after last week's earthquake, many the victims of corrupt officials and shonky builders.

In Burma, the final death toll may pass 200,000 and more are homeless and starving because their paranoid and venal militia government refuses to open its borders to relief efforts.

But folks, reserve all your anger for a local travesty.

Australia, the home of the cruel and inhumane, has embarked on a massacre already triggering international headlines and condemnation that will, according to some, forever tarnish our reputation and hurt our tourism industry.

That's right. Four hundred kangaroos are to be culled just north of Canberra. The horror, the horror.

Little wonder a coalition of more than 30 animal rights groups has been gathering in the nation's capital doing its best to whip up a tide of shame and disgust at the notion that we are slaughtering 400 of our most iconic animals.

"Nobody would seriously think that Australia has any right to criticise Japan for its whaling while we are killing 3½ million kangaroos every year for dog food," says Pat O'Brien, the fearless leader of the National Kangaroo Protection Coalition.

Putting aside the fact that Australia has a growing kangaroo meat export business with Japan (a Japanese website excitedly promotes the benefits of kangaroo sushi with chilli, while thousands of tons are shipped for pet food), O'Brien's passion is sadly not matched by his numeracy, or his logic.

There are only about 70,000 humpback whales remaining on this planet. So far, there have been no reported sightings of them braving the drought and entering the Australian interior to graze on precious land reserved for livestock.

There are more than 50 million kangaroos in Australia.

Female humpbacks usually breed every two or three years. Gestation takes more than 11 months.

Kangaroos can breed all year round, and often do. Gestation takes just over a month. They can increase their populations by up to 400 per cent in just five years when food and water is plentiful.

Comparing Japan's slaughter of an endangered species with this week's cull of eastern grey kangaroos by the Defence Department at two of its properties on the outskirts of Canberra just doesn't make sense. But in the animal rights world, sometimes the numbers just don't add up.

O'Brien and others have warned that the death of 400 kangaroos will leave a bloody stain on the national character and impact on the number of tourists who will want to visit this country in future.

"We are expecting hundreds of people and if they start killing them we'll be going inside the fence. We will have a 24-hour guard on them," he has said.

Funny, but there are no reports of animal rights activists gathering on the Snowy Mountains highway. A few years ago scientists set up a study along a 20km stretch of that road to examine roadkill levels. In 10 months, 400 eastern greys were found splattered on the bitumen.

You can't say the animal rights groups are naive when it comes to whipping up publicity. Sir Paul McCartney has been embroiled in the cause, warning against the potential of a massacre.

Last weekend a former Neighbours star, Fiona Corke, travelled to Canberra to raise national alarm.

And guess what? That good old script about the whales was served up yet again. "It is hypocritical that Peter Garrett is running an anti-whaling campaign and yet is allowing hundreds of kangaroos to be killed to make room for a housing development," Corke said.

Well, it's not quite like that. There are actually threatened species hovering on the edge of extinction just outside Canberra, including unconfirmed sightings of one or two politicians who can keep election promises.

In lean times, kangaroos threaten their survival, along with surrounding grasslands. To have moved the 400 kangaroos from defence land would have cost an estimated $3.5m and, according to one report, relocation can often be traumatic and inhumane.

There are more than 3m kangaroos harvested in Australia each year. They contribute to a growing export business that creates jobs and helps to keep kangaroo numbers at a manageable level.

Of course, kangaroos are cute.

But so are rabbits. And we kill them, too, when their numbers explode and they start degrading the environment.

There are many things in this world that deserve every ounce of outrage and anger that we can muster. But worrying about 400 kangaroos being sedated before getting the bullet is not one of them.

It's called pest control.

[benno573]

good article ash...

while i don't support pointless and inhumane slaughter of animals in any sense (i.e. whaling), the killing of 400 kangaroos is not even going to make a dent in the population. i pass way more dead kangaroos on the way to bathurst every year, no hippies stand by the highways stopping people running into them.

just on a side issue - yes they are cute, cuddly etc etc etc. but they do overbreed and would suffer a slow and painful death by starvation (they do in the wild all the time) should they not be humanely disposed of (tranquilized and then euthanased). cows at an aboitoir are not disposed of as humanely, no-one cares how stressed the animals get, they get jabbed by cattle prods etc all the time. but they aren't cute and cuddly...

another point i would like to make - politicians (good on ya peter beattie, genius act this) gave the order in 2001 to cull dingoes on fraser island after an attack on a camper who was FEEDING THE DINGO!!! another iconic australian species, critically endangered in their pure form. no tree hugging hippies came to fight for this much more pertinent cause coz "dingo ate my baby" mentality still prevails. the population on fraser is now on the brink of collapse owing to a greatly reduced gene pool from this cull, estimated to have killed 60% of the islands dingoes, which remain the only pure dingoes in australia. they were there first, we have to accept the fact that they are wild animals and take appropriate precautions to avoid "undesirable contact".

and the people protesting the cull would be better served protesting against the junta in burma, (YES, even Mr Irrelevant, Paul Macartney...) that's a real travesty in process which effect in excess of 2million people directly and countless others indirectly.

only my two cents worth... btw - i love eating kangaroo steaks.

[Do$tylz]

Thats a sweet read. Yeah it is funny that the hippies have decided to jump on this bandwagon to save the 400 roos. I reckon the Govy should give the hippies 1 month to remove the Roos at their own cost and abilities if they love them soo much. After the month .. bullets fly.

[chubbstar]

Do$tylz wrote:

Thats a sweet read. Yeah it is funny that the hippies have decided to jump on this bandwagon to save the 400 roos. I reckon the Govy should give the hippies 1 month to remove the Roos at their own cost and abilities if they love them soo much. After the month .. bullets fly.

Now that would be friggen funny, I would love to see hippes getting the liver kicked out of them trying to cuddle and move the Roo's.:laugh:

Funny stuff:laugh:

[mangler]

chubbstar wrote:

Do$tylz wrote:

Thats a sweet read. Yeah it is funny that the hippies have decided to jump on this bandwagon to save the 400 roos. I reckon the Govy should give the hippies 1 month to remove the Roos at their own cost and abilities if they love them soo much. After the month .. bullets fly.

Now that would be friggen funny, I would love to see hippes getting the liver kicked out of them trying to cuddle and move the Roo's.:laugh:

Funny stuff:laugh:

Hahaha, would love to see that, would make my day, they sure can kick hard! It's absolutely astonishing two watch two big bucks having a go at each other, hearing all the thuds and bangs, they go hard!

They aren't so cute when you see them kicking the crap out of each other, covered in blood, scratches and gouges, fighting to the death. And they certainly aren't cute when they kick and gouge you on the side of the road after you stop to check for a joey in the pouch, or to terminate one that wasn't quite done so by the impact, but has no chance of surviving.

They may be a native animal, they may be cute and cuddly BUT they certainly are nowhere near extinct, they certainly have adapted to settlement of Australia, bordering on pest status even, and they are quite dangerous when you consider the amount of serious accidents caused by them every week throughout Australia. So I personally cannot see the problem of culling 400 in an ethical and humane way.

Not having a go at you here Benno, but just thought I would put forth my point of view on the catle industry.

As for the cows at an abbatoir, no they aren't tranquilised before death, due to the fact they are destined for human consumption, however the method of killing in all Australian licensed abbatoirs is quite humane. The amount of ethics commities reviews, Australian Quarantine reviews etc these abbatoirs have to pass every couple of months, leave no room for error, as even a whiff of inhumane activities reported to the ethics commities can spell bad news for the abbatoir. Also another thing to keep in mind when on this topic is that stressed animals = poorer meat quality, poorer meat quality = less $$$. So it pays for everyone involved from the farmers to the livestock transport mobs, saleyard workers, abbatoir workers, to keep the animals under as little stress as possible.

As for electric prodders, yes they hurt, but they are SOMETIMES much less stressful to the cow than other methods, not all the time, but in certain situations. For example you can get a stubborn cow, you can yell at it till you are blue in the face, whack it with a bit of poly pipe, use a stockwhip, etc and it still won't go where you want it to go in the yards, and in the meantime the animal will be stressed to the max. And 9 times out of 10, you can walk up to the same cow with a prodder, give it one quick buzz, and it will move up in the yards to where you want it to, much less stress for all involved.

Yes there may still be cowboys out there with no cattle handling sense and quite often this is what is portrayed to us in the media (when Australia's cattle industry is under fire for something). But the vast majority nowdays have come to realise that stress = less money, so have adopted low-stress stock handling techniques. Again, not a personal attack just wanted to put forth my point of view.

Better go put the roo-stew on for tonight while I'm at it!

Cheers,

Matt

[Angus]

The article is right its not a comparable situation.

I have been in Moura during drought and seen feilds of emus and roos dying.

If a specific number are culled to ensure there is a surviving breeding stock its for the species benefit. Its tragic but true.

I hesitate to say more without doing all the research as these arguments are usually argued one way and the other using heavy bias. But I really dont believe this activity is being carried our for malicious and bloodthirsty reasons.

Angus

[BlueEvil]

I thought they already started shooting those roos at 16/05 midnight, after the relocation plan has been knocked back twice. It is not feasible to relocate them and they are starving over there. To put the roos down cost a couple of hundreds dollars and 2 nights job but to relocate each one cost $1.5k; it is surprised such a simply case could become that complicated.

[BlueEvil]

Now that the shooting is under way, I'm sure a "Sorry Day" is being organised by the same wankers.

[kevinchen19870316]

man, as beef price's rocketing, why not eat roos? lol, cooks should be busy exploring new recepes.

[Cowfish13]

Roo meat is apparantly better for us, the Kangaroo's don't damage the land as much as cattle and the Kangaroo's are better suited to our environment (need less food & water). Don't know why we don't have Roo's as our major source of meat:dry:

But I don't support the culling of them...

[kevinchen19870316]

what happened in china is that when an animal become pest, government start to encourage and educate ppl eating them, then u'll find there rare to find in the wild, lol

i know maybe roos r not as tasty as cattle or lamp, but well, at least more water's saved and more grass's safed too.

[Dinodadog]

I have heaps of pensioner friends that live on roo meat because they can't afford beef

[Jordan]

is it actualy cheaper then beef?

if its cheaper, better for us and better for the environment, why isnt it a major part of our diets? whats the con with eating it?

[Cowfish13]

Jordan wrote:

is it actualy cheaper then beef?

if its cheaper, better for us and better for the environment, why isnt it a major part of our diets? whats the con with eating it?

I think it is the fact that it is an australian icon:huh: Kinda stupid reason, but some people wouldn't want to eat it because of that:S

[chubbstar]

Roo has a very strong taste, I enjoy it. But I wouldn't eat it more than once a week. IMHO Roo paties are one of the best meals going, But because of the roo meat being so strong we add minced Beef with the minced Roo.

Kev I'm happy I dont live there dude, Eating roaches and rats dont sound good to me.

[kevinchen19870316]

haha. roaches and rats r not on the diet. some birds r near extinct due to the fact that government used to encourage ppl eating them. there were so many of those birds that they eat all the grains and kept ppl starving.

[Angus]

kevinchen19870316 wrote:

man, as beef price's rocketing, why not eat roos? lol, cooks should be busy exploring new recepes.

There is a pretty fancy restaurant at Stradbroke I take Tanya to on special occasions.

I always order the same thing.

"Bush to Beach"

Essentially its a surf and turf variant with a fillet of marinated roo and moreton bay bugs.

Ill tell you what. Bloody fantastic!

I highly recomend it to anyone who has not tried it. Its apparantly very good for you as well. Moreso than beef.

Angus

[kevinchen19870316]

now it's the government who should fund to make some advertisement and let other restaurants know that roos can be awesome when prepared right. well, leave the moreton bay bugs along though, they r always tasty and they r not pest

[mangler]

There's nothing wrong with roo meat, quite tasty. There's nothing wrong with eating an Australian icon, and for that matter one of the animals on our Coat of Arms...

On that note, I've eaten both the animals on our Coat of Arms, several times...

[chubbstar]

Angus wrote:

kevinchen19870316 wrote:

man, as beef price's rocketing, why not eat roos? lol, cooks should be busy exploring new recepes.

There is a pretty fancy restaurant at Stradbroke I take Tanya to on special occasions.

I always order the same thing.

"Bush to Beach"

Essentially its a surf and turf variant with a fillet of marinated roo and moreton bay bugs.

Ill tell you what. Bloody fantastic!

I highly recomend it to anyone who has not tried it. Its apparantly very good for you as well. Moreso than beef.

I'm with ya there Angus, Roo meat has little or no fat. That meal sounds devine, Rabbit is a great meal also, shame thier so hard to come buy. People are even farming Rabbit for the table now. Funny how things move around in a circle. I imagine our older members would have grown up eating Rabbit and Roo.

Jayson

Angus

[mangler]

chubbstar wrote:

Roo has a very strong taste, I enjoy it. But I wouldn't eat it more than once a week. IMHO Roo paties are one of the best meals going, But because of the roo meat being so strong we add minced Beef with the minced Roo.

Gotta agree with you there chubbstar, it is very strong in taste. While I love my beef rare/medium-rare, when I eat a roo steak it must be well done. Maybe that's coz I've seen all the parasitic critters that call roos home, when cutting them up for dog meat.

Cheers,

Matt

[Do$tylz]

its also strong smelling. High in protein and 0 cholesterol.... I believe.

[creature100]

I eat roo meat regularly and really enjoy it. You gotta be careful that you buy the fillet and not just the roo steaks...fillet is much better in terms of tenderness and taste. As for being strong i dont agree...i sometimes make dishes that would usually require beef mince but substitute roo mince and then tell people after they have eaten it that its roo and they cant believe it (can cause a bit of controversy at times.

People that argue about the ethics of eating roo really need to assess the impact that eating exotic animals (beef, lamb, pork)has on the environment as well as on the "cute" native fauna that these people rally to protect. Grazing and agriculture is the biggest threat to sustainable land management in this country and requires urgent attention. At the same time i am not hacking on our farmers, just advocating for a reassessment of current practices in the hope that more sustainable options can be integrated with current practices. Sustainable harvest of kangaroos being one of those options.

My two cents anyway

By the way i had the pleasure of eating possum sausage on the weekend and can say that it was really good...very similar to the standard beef sausage!

[uglyfish]

Angus wrote:

The article is right its not a comparable situation.

I have been in Moura during drought and seen feilds of emus and roos dying.

If a specific number are culled to ensure there is a surviving breeding stock its for the species benefit. Its tragic but true.

I hesitate to say more without doing all the research as these arguments are usually argued one way and the other using heavy bias. But I really dont believe this activity is being carried our for malicious and bloodthirsty reasons.

Angus

i grew up 45mins east of moura and ive worked on many cattle stations up that way..i also used to pro roo shoot up that way and i would shot up too 200 hundred in a weekend..the amount of roos didnt deminish at all...they eat alot of good graising country and crops right out...i dont disagree with controlled culls of them one little bit...

[uglyfish]

roos make good crap bait too

[ellicat]

They're a bit hard to herd into stockyards and cram into trucks for transport to be processed. That's probably the major impediment to getting them as a mainstay item. (As well as the soft-headed Greenies of course)

[Terry H]

mangler wrote:

chubbstar wrote:

Roo has a very strong taste, I enjoy it. But I wouldn't eat it more than once a week. IMHO Roo paties are one of the best meals going, But because of the roo meat being so strong we add minced Beef with the minced Roo.

Gotta agree with you there chubbstar, it is very strong in taste. While I love my beef rare/medium-rare, when I eat a roo steak it must be well done. Maybe that's coz I've seen all the parasitic critters that call roos home, when cutting them up for dog meat.

Cheers,

Matt

Regardless, I like my steaks dead (well cooked). I don't like a cow that moos while I eat it.

[Angus]

I hope your not buying top grade meat Terry.

I cry when I see someone go anywhere past medium rare with a good quality steak.

Ill take mine rare and even blue if its a top notch cut of beef.

Angus

[shortie]

keep the roo's shoot the greenies.

Greenies are in plague proportions

[kriso]

hell they need a epa cull too!

[benno573]

politician cull? :laugh:

[ellicat]

No need to get all politicull on us benno:P :laugh:

[benno573]

oh dear... there's the new low from ellicat.... :laugh:

[Terry H]

Angus wrote:

I hope your not buying top grade meat Terry.

I cry when I see someone go anywhere past medium rare with a good quality steak.

Ill take mine rare and even blue if its a top notch cut of beef.

Angus

As I told you on MSN, I prefer to have no blood visible, "medium well" as you called it, or if any pink only a hint of it.

Top quality meat tastes and feels a lot better on the chew. I hate tough meats that you have to chomp on for ages.

[kriso]

i cant stand garret for some one that was always going on how the government was bad and poisoned our minds now he's the one doing the poisioning! i refuse to listen to midnight oil now for any meaning that there was behind there songs had been lost i reckon.

[ellicat]

update

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/21/2251135.htm

[kreel]

I've found the solution - 30 animal rights groups take 10 roos each, leaving 100 for SIr Paul to put up in a London apartment. Problem solvered! :cheer:

[benno573]

sounds good kreel, would love to watch sir paul with an annoying needy animal around him again. He just got rid of one didn't he??? :laugh:

[Gazza]

I have never bought Roo meat

I always shoot my own and when I do, I always pick the smaller ones about half to 3/4 grown and always when at rest (ie grazing in the paddock)

Head shoot them so they drop on the spot

I then leg them and take the back straps

This meat is then soaked over night in a mixture of salt,vinegar and water drained the next day and either eaten or divided up and frozen

No gamey taste tender as and absolutely delicious :woohoo:

Roast /Stew/ kebabs on the BBQ the list goes on

Cheers Gaz

ps the soaking works on rabbits /ducks etc it takes the gamey taste away

[faulked]

i allways carry a knife with me so if i see one gewt knocked on the road i can pull up tell the driver im putting it out of its misery then whip of a couple of haunches one for me one for the dog and drive on

juist quitely there are a lot of types of roo that are endangerd this aint one , i just wish the greenies would go protect things that need it

like virgins now that could be good sport dodge the greenie and win a virgin

jason