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From: Kinship Circle - kinshipcircle [at] accessus.net
Date: Feb 11, 2008 4:07 PM
Subject: ACT/ Protest Australia’s Mass Kangaroo Kill

KINSHIP CIRCLE PRIMARY - PERMISSION TO CROSS-POST AS WRITTEN

2/11/08: Protest Australia’s Mass Kangaroo Kill
www.KinshipCircle.org

“The commercial kangaroo kill quota for 2007 is just over 3.6 million kangaroos. Some skins and meat products are used domestically (60 to 70% of kangaroo meat goes into the Australian pet food market), and the rest is exported to 55 countries as leather or meat for human consumption. Kangaroo leather is widely used in the manufacture of sporting shoes and gloves as well as in dress shoes and accessory manufacture.”

SOURCE: www.animalsaustralia.org/issues/kangaroo_shooting.php

EMAIL kinshipcircle [at] accessus.net FOR WORD DOC OF A FORMATTED LETTER.
Easily modify letter and copy/paste it into an email or print out to fax or mail.

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FULL CONTACT INFORMATION. Sample letter follows.

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AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS
The Hon. Kevin Rudd MP, Prime Minister
Parliament House, CANBERRA ACT 2600
web mail: www.pm.gov.au/contact/index.cfm

The Hon. Peter Garrett AM MP
Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts
PO Box 6022, Parliament House, Canberra ACT 2600
ph: 02-6277-7640; fax: 02-6273 6101
email: Peter.Garrett.MP [at] aph.gov.au
general web mail: www.environment.gov.au/about/comments.html

Mr. Peter Cochrane, Director of National Parks
GPO Box 787, Canberra ACT 2601
ph: 02-6274 2221; fax 02-6274 2349
email: peter.cochrane [at] environment.gov.au

Ms. Kerry Smith, Assistant Secretary, Wildlife Division
Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts
GPO Box 787, Canberra ACT 2601
ph: 02-6274 1224; fax: 02-6274 1600
email: Kerry.Smith [at] deh.gov.au

Department of Environment and Climate Change NSW
PO Box A290, Sydney South NSW 1232, Australia
ph: 02-9995-5000; fax: 02-9995 5999
email: info [at] environment.nsw.gov.au

NSW National Parks And Wildlife Services
NPWS Kangaroo Management Unit
PO Box 2111, Dubbo NSW 2830
ph: 02-6883-5343, 02-6883-5375; fax: 02-6884-8675
email: kangaroo.management [at] environment.nsw.gov.au

Kangaroo Industry Association of Australia
email: info [at] kangaroo-industry.asn.au

Australian Embassy, United States of America
Mr. Dennis J Richardson AO, Ambassador to United States of America
1601 Massachusetts Ave., Washington DC NW 20036-2273
ph: +1-202-797-3000; fax: +1-202-797-3168, +1-202-797-3331
email: public.affairsus [at] dfat.gov.au

LOOK UP AUSTRALIAN EMBASSIES IN OTHER COUNTRIES:
www.dfat.gov.au/missions/

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EMAIL BLOCK: All emails found for this alert.

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Peter.Garrett.MP [at] aph.gov.au, peter.cochrane [at] environment.gov.au, Kerry.Smith [at] deh.gov.au, info [at] environment.nsw.gov.au, kangaroo.management [at] environment.nsw.gov.au, info [at] kangaroo-industry.asn.au, public.affairsus [at] dfat.gov.au

*Kinship Circle cannot guarantee validity of email addresses. During campaigns, recipients may change or disable their email addresses. Emails from government or corporate websites may be incorrect.

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SAMPLE LETTER — This letter is prepared to inform you about the issue.
Try to shorten and personalize your letter before sending.

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Honorable Officials of Australia:

The commercial slaughter of kangaroos for meat, fur and leather demeans Australia’s global image. I call upon politicians to phase out kangaroo shooting altogether. In the meantime, please rein in mass kill quotas that endanger future populations.

The killing methods sanctioned in the National Code of Practice for the Humane Shooting of Kangaroos and Wallabies sicken me. Kangaroos are Australia’s national icon and beloved worldwide. They deserve enforceable protections. Instead, animal welfare oversight is virtually nonexistent.

Hunters spotlight kangaroos in the outback at night. Though they aim for the head, they often miss the brain — leaving kangaroos with gaping head and mouth wounds. An estimated hundreds of thousands of maimed animals suffer prolonged death every year.

Orphaned joeys, considered worthless, are yanked from their slain mother’s pouch for a grisly death. The Code recommends they be decapitated with a sharp blade; shot at point blank range; clubbed with a metal pipe; or slammed against a tow bar or other firm object.

Older joeys (who live in and out of the pouch) succumb to exposure, starvation or predation. Some 300,000 “at foot” joeys die each year.

I oppose the mass slaughter of Australian wildlife for both ethical and ecological reasons. A two-year investigation shows kangaroo numbers in
shooting ranges — areas also imperiled by drought — have dropped about 59%, from over 57 million in 2001, to roughly 23.6 million in 2006.

The government claims some of the annual cull is “damage mitigation” because kangaroos degrade grazing grounds. But there is not enough impartial scientific data to justify slaughter. Destructive agricultural practices, on the other hand, are proving unsustainable.

Australia’s kangaroo kill is the largest known slaughter of land wildlife. I respectfully ask the government to work toward the non-consumptive “use” of kangaroos for tourism. Please maximize eco-tourism instead of killing.

Thank you,

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SOURCE OF INFORMATION FOR THIS LETTER CAMPAIGN

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* Kangaroo Shooting
www.animalsaustralia.org/issues/kangaroo_shooting.php

* Kangaroo Protection Coalition
www.kangaroo-protection-coalition.com/kangaroos-in-europe.html

* New Kangaroo Code Sanctions Animal Cruelty
www.animalsaustralia.org/features/kangaroo_code_sanctions_cruelty.php

* NSW Kangaroo Management Plan 2007 - 2011
www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/npws.nsf/Content/kmp_2007_2011_draft

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Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare action alerts kinship circle brenda shoss kangaroo kangaroo slaughter kangaroo meat meat hunt hunting kangaroo hunt pet food leather kangaroo skin australia kangaroo leather tourism eco-tourism ecotourism flickr photos