The kangaroos of Australia are at risk of mass starvation if population growth is not controlled, wildlife experts and environmental groups warn, with some recommend killing of marsupials.

A symbol of Australia, kangaroos are one major environmental problem for the vast country because of their rapid reproduction: their numbers can reach tens of millions when food is plentiful after a good rainy season. But there can also be mass centipedes when food is lacking.

“During the last drought, we estimated that the 80% to 90% of kangaroos they are dying in certain zones,” he told AFP ecologist Kathryn Mosby.

“They go into public toilets and eat toilet paper. Or they are left lying on the streets, while their young try to feed themselves,” he continues.

According to Mosby, killing the kangaroos – destined for the butcher or the tannery – would be both a way to keep them from suffering and a way to control their population.

“That will allow to reduce the number of animals so that in the event of a drought, there are no welfare issues,” says Mosby. “If we think of it as a resource and manage it that way, we won’t have the catastrophic deaths that we know.”

The Australian government protects kangaroos, but they are not in danger of extinction. This means that their hunting, which requires a permit, is allowed in most of the territory.

Every year, up to five million kangaroos are killed for their meat or skin. And according to Dennis King, of the Kangaroo Industry Association of Australia, the country is on the brink of a demographic boom for the animal.

“After three years of La Nina on the east coast, it’s the perfect kangaroo growth scenario for the next two years,” he predicts, referring to the atmospheric phenomenon that caused heavy rainfall in Australia. “The reproductive cycle is accelerating,” notes King.

Australia’s kangaroo population is estimated to have fallen below 30 million after severe droughts in the early 2000s, but has since recovered and may soon exceed 60 million.

Killing

Animal protection organizations denounce their killing for commercial reasons as “brutal slaughter” and have put pressure on international sportswear giants such as Nike or Puma to abandon the use of kangaroo skin in their products.

“Nike discontinued its sole supplier of kangaroo leather in 2021, and will stop making products with kangaroo leather in 2023,” a company spokesperson said in March.

In the American state Oregon (northwestern US), where Nike is headquartered, lawmakers filed a bill in early 2023 to ban the use of “any part of a dead kangaroo.”

“These endemic animals are being slaughtered for commercial gain,” complained Animals Australia.

But campaigns to end this industry, while well-intentioned, are misguided, warns George Wilson, one of the world’s foremost experts on kangaroo population management.

“They say it’s not ethical. Nevertheless it is not ethical to let them die from hunger,” he tells AFP. “What would be cruel would be to do nothing,” he adds.

A view shared by Mosby. “Stopping killing kangaroos for their skins or for their meat will have no benefit,” he said. “It will make the situation even worse.”