'Kanga-bangers' served in Aus
2008-03-14 10:52
Sydney - Most Australians have eaten kangaroo meat and the best way of getting them to eat more of the national animal is to turn it into pies, mince and gourmet deli meat, researchers have found.
The findings, published in local media on Friday, come amidst growing international protests over plans to cull 400 kangaroos on defence department land where they are said to be overgrazing.
The British-based Viva! - Vegetarians International Voice for Animals - says more than 2 000 people have signed a petition on its website against the cull and local protesters have threatened to blockade the site from Saturday.
But millions of kangaroos are slaughtered in the wild every year on the basis that there are too many, with much of the meat being used for pet food, and attempts are being made to make it more appetising for humans.
The latest research, "Consumer attitudes to kangaroo meat products" by academics Peter Ampt and Kate Owen, says the unique hopping animals, which appear on the country's coat of arms, provide "the ultimate free-range food".
More than 58% of Australians have eaten kangaroo, up from 51% a decade ago, the authors say, suggesting there is scope for growth.
"Kanga-bangers"
"The most promising products in which kangaroo manufacturing meat could be used (are) mince, deli meats and pies," their report says.
A survey had shown that "there was a clear preference for the Chunky Beef and Roo pie (rather than just kangaroo)."
Kangaroo sausages are already marketed as "kanga-bangers", while tourist shops sell kangaroo scrotum purses and kangaroo paw back scratchers as souvenirs of a trip Down Under.
Official government figures show the kangaroo population "has fluctuated between 15 and 50 million animals over the past 20 years in the harvested areas, depending on seasonal conditions."
A supporter of the animal rights group Viva!, former Beatle Paul McCartney, has called the commercial slaughter of kangaroos a "shameful massacre."
"There is an urgent need for action to protect kangaroos from a barbaric industry which slaughters them for meat and leather," he is quoted as saying on Viva's website.