Roo meat is cheaper. Better for you. Better for the environment. Has the most humane methods of butchering than traditional meats.

The taste is a matter of taste. As far as I'm concerned cow meat is only fit for pets and tastes like fatty vomit. But each to their own.

Colinsett. Everything we do takes scant resources from the soil. I'm not going to stop eating because of it. Lucky for me my meat of choice is the most efficient method of using said resources.

'Sustainable harvesting' of kangaroos is a contradiction in terms. It is both controversial and deeply problematic for mainstream environmentalists and totally unacceptable to animal liberationists such as myself.The truth is kangaroo 'harvesting' is not and never has been, a sustainable industry. For one thing shooters aim for the biggest and fittest animals, the reverse of evolutionary pressure which keeps the species fit and healthy by selecting the old, the sick and the weak.After years of exploitation by this rapacious industry the kangaroo population has been weakened to the extent that it is now rare to find a fully developed male kangaroo.

John Kelly claims the kangaroo industry is highly regulated when in fact mere 'guesstimates' form the basis for annual kill quotas. The Code of Practice stipulates that kangaroos must be killed with a single shot to the head. However, this is a voluntary code. Supposing it were otherwise, kangaroos would continue to be shot in the mouth, limbs, or stomach by unsupervised, weary shooters in outback areas. Little or no monitoring or policing in the field, or at the point of kill, is undertaken.

The industry is neither humane, environmentally friendly nor a potential high contributor to the national economy. It should be shut down immediately, the sooner the better.

Kelly and his industry are to be congratulated.

Unlike farms, indigenous food harvesting does not involve destruction of flora and fauna; does not cause soil damage from land-clearing and ploughing; and because fertiliser is not required, water tables, creeks, lakes and oceans are not polluted with NPK chemicals. Moreover, in regions where highly destructive burn-offs create green pick for cattle in the dry season; these would no longer be required, especially if we replace cattle with buffalo.

Aboriginal communities that lack enterprise opportunities; would gain genuine economic independence.

Kangaroo and wallaby meat are highly susceptible to environmental influences; seasonal and immediate (in fact all meat is); and to wet season worm infestation in the meat. Secondly, marsupial meat needs to be cooked differently to beef, pork and lamb.

Perhaps of some interest wild food enthuisiasts, I operated a safari in Kakadu, featuring Buffalo Fillet; cooked fast, thin and frozen on a butter-greased plate, heated to smoke temperature. The many European chefs who were my 5000 or so clients joined their traveller mates in proclaiming buffalo to be the nicest meat they had eaten. This included avowed vegetarians, who otherwise avoided meat purely because of the hormones, antibiotics, animal protein and other toxins and hazards added to European-accessed meats.

I mention this because there will eventually be a recognition of the value of Oz Indigenous meats in Europe and elsewhere; which we should be careful to regulate now. If we do not, then prices will rise to meet that market and Aussies will not be able to afford it.

True story "If it not been for Lulu alerting my wife to my plight, I might not be here today. I had been knocked unconscious by a falling tree branch following a storm, I lay unconscious, Lulu the kangaroo stood over me, with her big hind legs at my back ‘barking’ like a dog for help. My wife called an ambulance and I was airlifted to Melbourne’s Alfred Hospital Trauma Centre where I was
treated for head injuries. Lulu’s courage made headlines around the world and Lulu became a kangaroo heroine. It made Media news Internationally, Lulu’s amazing act of
love, intuition and courage was rewarded by an RSPCA NATIONAL ANIMAL VALOUR AWARD, the first native animal in the world to
receive such an honour.. Having raised her from the time my son found her, I have known that Lulu was and still is very smart. She opens our back door, comes into our house and lays around the
open fire with the rest of the family. To catch her taking fruit from the fruit bowl, going to the pantry to help herself to whatever takes
her fancy, is truly amazing. When she has filled her belly she goes back outside and hops into her own bed which we set up for her, near our dog, for a siesta. Lulu is a wild kangaroo, and is free to leave us whenever she chooses. It does show that kangaroos are smart and with a little love and kindness they will respond in a way that will surprise you. We have not seen any kangaroos in our area since the cull, which was not long after Lulu
had saved my life. Permits ‘fast tracked’ by the Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment Wildlife Authorities to kill kangaroos in our area, has left their populations Eastern grey
decimated, with few left anywhere, to be seen. Victoria’s La Trobe Valley Councilors promised they would investigate providing safe habitat, in continuous, connecting safe wildlife areas to
keep kangaroos free from shooters, sadly, it is now forgotten and the promise has not been forthcoming.

MaggieS. You have been misinformed.

Loss of genotypes through shooting of larger animals assumes the larger animals have not yet successfully procreated.
Having said this I would like to know where your misinformation, regarding the lack of fully formed male Kangaroos, comes from.

Commercial roo culling is heavily monitored.
In NSW in 2001 there was an average of 5.6 inspections per day made by Safe Food NSW alone. This does not include inspections made by NSWNPWS officers and RSPCA officers.
It varies from state to state but some hand out fines for carcasses with body shots.
Commercial Kangaroo culling is humane, environmentally friendly and should be encouraged.

If there is pressure on our fragile arid range lands it is man made.
Over the last 10 years, 30 million kangaroos were slaughtered and 3 million joeys bashed or abandoned to a cruel death. Shooting of the largest and fittest kangaroos has raised concerns about loss of natural selection processes, and already there is evidence of declining genetic strength in kangaroo populations. Kangaroos are affected by drought, bush fires, loss of habitat and, with the impact of the kangaroo meat industry, loss of genetic strength. The kangaroo meat industry wants authorities to lower the weight limit because they can’t find kangaroos large enough to kill. Lowering the limit, combined with an increase in quotas to meet consumer demand, might be the first steps along the road to extinction. What will happen then to the 4000 jobs?
If the kangaroo industry “is a tightly regulated industry.”, who monitors these “assessed, licensed shooters” out there in the “outback” at night? Australians are good shots with firearms, but they do miss occasionally, and many kangaroos each night are shot in the leg or arm , in the chest, eye or ear and are able to get away to die a cruel slow death. Joeys are ripped from their mother’s pouches and stamped on or have their heads bashed in. Joeys still at foot, and dependent upon their mothers, hop off into the night to call for their mothers for days until they too perish slowly from starvation, stress and predation. Other meat industries would never be permitted to operate in this manner.
Other meat industries have stringent health regulations and standards none of which are met in the case of bush-killed kangaroos.
Before we decide to believe John Kelly that kangaroo meat is “designed for our times”, let us look to the future and think what this will really mean to our biodiversity, environment and our health, if we start to eat our own wildlife. Let the voice of those people who have no vested interest be heard and let there be independent research done before we tread this road.