It is one of the emblems of Australia that participates in the promotion of the country. But a symbol that is experiencing a population explosion which is not without problems: kangaroos could starve by the millions.
The kangaroo poses a major environmental problem to the gigantic country because of its jagged reproductive cycle: their numbers can reach tens of millions when fodder is abundant after a good rainy season. But massive hecatombs can also decimate them when food runs out. "During the last drought, we estimated that 80% to 90% of kangaroos died in some areas," environmentalist Katherine Moseby told AFP.
Avoiding catastrophic deaths
"They go into public toilets and eat toilet paper. Or they lie on the roads, hungry, while their young try to feed," she continues. According to Moseby, killing kangaroos – and using them for butchery and leather goods – would be both a charitable way to save them from excruciating suffering, and a way to control their population.
"This limits the number of animals so that in the event of a drought there are no welfare problems," says Katherine Moseby. "If we looked at them as a resource and managed them that way, we wouldn't have the catastrophic deaths that we know."
The Australian government protects the kangaroo, but the most widespread species are not in danger of extinction. This means that they can be hunted, with permission, in most of the territory.
Up to five million kangaroos killed per year
Every year, up to five million kangaroos are slaughtered for their meat or leather. And according to Dennis King of the Kangaroo Industry Association of Australia, the country is on the cusp of an animal population boom.
"After three years of La Niña on the East Coast, this is the perfect growth scenario for kangaroos for the next two years," he predicts, referring to the atmospheric phenomenon that has generated heavy rainfall in Australia. "The reproductive cycle is accelerating," notes Dennis King.
According to his estimates, Australia's kangaroo population fell below 30 million after the terrible droughts of the early 2000s, but it has since rebounded and could soon exceed 60 million.
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Animal rights groups denounce commercial slaughter as a "cruel slaughter" and have pressured major global sportswear brands, such as Nike or Puma, to stop using kangaroo leather in their products.
"Nike parted ways with its sole kangaroo leather supplier in 2021 and will stop making any products with kangaroo leather in 2023," a company spokeswoman said in March.
In the US state of Oregon (northwest), where Nike was founded, elected officials introduced a bill in early 2023 to ban the use of "any part of a dead kangaroo". "These endemic animals are slaughtered for commercial profit," Animals Australia said.
Anger
But campaigns to end the industry, while well-intentioned, are misleading, warns George Wilson, a leading expert on kangaroo population management.
"They say it's not ethical. But it's not ethical to let them starve," he told AFP. "What would be cruel would be to do nothing," he adds.
An opinion shared by Katherine Moseby. "Stopping killing kangaroos for their leather or meat will not bring any benefit," she says. "This will make things even worse."
