To Help Land, Australians Rethink Role of Kangaroos
Copyright 2001 The New York Times
December 16, 2001
By JOHN SHAW
SYDNEY, Australia, Dec. 16 — "Throw another roo rib on the barbie" may lack the sales appeal of the grilled-shrimp slogan that Australia once used to attract American tourists.
But harvesting Australia's 25 million-strong kangaroo population to sell the meat around the world is a central element in a new land care strategy being promoted here by scientists, ranchers, environmentalists and government officials.
The kangaroo, unique to Australia, is among the world's most numerous large mammals, a pest in some areas that competes with cattle and sheep for grasslands, and, for some, a low-fat delicacy.
Despite the kangaroo's symbolic status, about two million are killed each year to control the population, and most of those end up as pet food. The kangaroo's value and treatment are now the subjects of renewed debate here.
Advocates of kangaroo ranching differ on the specifics, but agree that it has a place among a variety of long-term actions needed to halt chronic soil degradation and diversify sources of farm incomes.
They urge making the prolific kangaroo an export product as a way to jump-start economic and conservation reforms in arid rangelands.
Animal welfare activists here and in the United States argue that mass harvesting could lead to the extinction of several major species.
But although vast numbers of kangaroos are killed each year by professional shooters and on the nation's roads, kangaroos still outnumber the human population of 19.3 million.
The main lobbying groups on rural issues, the National Farmers Federation and the Australian Conservation Foundation, are warning of "an alarming crisis in degradation of the productivity and environmental value of rural landscapes."
Citing "a long history of inappropriate land use," the groups called, in a recent report, for "changes in rural economies" to enable 15 percent of all agricultural output to come from "environmentally accredited" land within 10 years.
That would require public and private investment of about $30 billion to protect and repair threatened and damaged soil, water and vegetation resources. It would also require a change of heart and habit among beef and wool producers, as well as most of the nation's political leaders.
In last month's national election, in which Prime Minister John Howard and his conservative government won a third term, the major parties did not address the erosion, salinization and acidity already degrading an estimated five million acres.
Michael Archer, an American- trained biologist who is the director of the Australian Museum here, is raising money for a research and advocacy program of "land experiment" called the Future of Australia's Threatened Ecosystems.
Professor Archer called for a new "economic strategy to reduce dependence on conventional livestock, increase sustainable kangaroo harvesting, and double protected zones to about 20 percent of all land."
Around the township of Wentworth, 500 miles west of Sydney, 16 sheep and cattle ranchers who work 800,000 acres recently decided to rotate herds and encourage the growth of resilient native grasses.
Annabel Walsh, a rancher whose family has 10,000 sheep on 60,000 acres, says they have to shoot 1,200 kangaroos each year. "Pressure on the land is our problem," she said. "There has been overgrazing for a century. But solutions have to be ground-up from local people, not top- down from city experts."