There is roo meat in my pot once or twice a week.

If you don't like the flavour you can get marinated packages in the supermarket. Another trick is to slice thick pieces in half so they cook more quickly and evenly, the rare bits have the strongest flavour.

Note that you (non vegitarians) only need to eat 150g of meat a day, that is quite a small piece. If you eat a slab the size of a rump steak it may well be overpowering.

I much prefer the steaks and roasts to the sausages.

About the environmental impact. Surely we must be able to support a roo industry if we removed some of the sheep and cattle from our farms and stations.

Predictable tiresome responses from the "animal rights brigade" (many of whom appear to be vegetarians). The overseas "libbers" are simply crazy, and claims of the imminent demise of kangaroos is laughable once one spends some time in the bush. Improved pastures and added watering points have led to explosions in roo populations in some areas.

I've wondered for years why more effort wasn't put into controlling kangaroo numbers by eating them. It's good to see roo meat more commonly available on supermarket shelves, although it's not at all cheap in the remote town I live in, which is literally overrun with roos but there is no roo shooting locally (much of the immediate area is National Park).

A great many roos around my town are killed on the road. This keeps the panel beater in business.

My experiences with roo meat have been mixed. Some I have shot and dressed myself have been delicious while bought meat can be very gamey. Hunters after their own meat steer clear of "big bucks" as they are the gamiest (the same with billygoats, the meat is rank in proportion to their stench). Roo steak in a restaurant once was fabulous. Smallgoods made from roo are also nice although fat has to be added since it's so lean.

It is as always predictable that the people who oppose the kangaroo meat industry or a kangaroo cull are labelled as "vegetarians", "misinformed" or "greenies". Where do the people who agree with eating kangaroo meat or think we have an overpopulation of kangaroos that need to be culled, get their expert information from? Is it perhaps from the media? Maybe it is from the research they themselves have done? Is it from independent experts who have done years of research into these matters and have published their findings? Or is it just their opinion?
Why are they the only ones that seem to think they have an informed opinion?
I also live in the bush. The area I live in, though affected by drought, is still lush and green, has plenty of water, lots of grassy paddocks with many cows and bush not yet affected by urban sprawl and massive clearing. I do not see thousands or even hundreds of kangaroos in the fields or killed on the roads. In fact my husband has to slash our cleared areas a couple of times a year to keep the pasture down. Where is this overpopulation? Could it be in areas where there are localized concentrations which may be due to:
- a seasonal plentiful food supply
- loss of habitat due to bush fires, urban sprawl or habitat destruction by man, including overgrazing
- a supply of pasture that can be found in drought areas beside roads
- being fenced in by man-made structures with no management plans or wildlife corridors to allow for natural movements of mobs which they do to avoid over grazing any particular area?

We need to look at the bigger picture and realise that simply eating our wildlife will not feed our "overpopulation" because we do not have sufficient numbers of them to supply demand without wiping them off the face of the earth. So, independent research should first be done before we come to any "informed" decisions.

I would like to respond to John Kelly's article.
Mr Kelly;you may have a great majority of the Australian public fooled with the propaganda from the Australian Kangaroo Industry but some of us thankfully are a lot wiser!
I think you are fully aware as to why Victoria does not have a commercial kangaroo industry. It has been proven over and over again to be completely unsustainable.The reason the AKI is pushing so hard to start the industry here in Victoria is simply because you are unable to sustain it in NSW.We all know shooters are paid by the kilo.Tell me why then there are a number of areas where so called harvesting occurs where the average age of the kangaroos are two years old or less.I think you know it because the larger animals have just about been wiped out.Highly sustainable is it?
Tightly regulated? I beg to differ. I have seen some of these "tightly regulated" so called humane kills! Are you trying to tell me all these animals are killed instantly? Please do not insult my intelligence any further.I challenge any of the forum readers to attend a nights shooting and actually see for themselves what is involved in this digusting industry.What about all the joeys at foot that are left to slowly starve to death or are predated upon by foxes and dogs.Are you seriously trying to tell us that all these joeys are humanely dealt with? As for the pouched young;apparently the AKI find it acceptable to smash their head in or stomp on the joey.Is a humane death?
In regard to kangaroo being a healthy meat,one would have to have their head in the sand not to realise how contminated the carcasses are that are shot in the field and brought back to the chillers. I see you failed to mention the risk of toxoplasmosis as well.
Come on Australia it is time to wake up and stop believing the lies from the AKI.By the way yes I am a vegetarian and for a dam good reason.

I often form opinions from scientists of note.

In this case, I would defer to the former head of Zoology at the University of Queensland, Professor Gordon Grigg.

http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/eserv/UQ:8969/Chapter26.pdf

http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/eserv/UQ:10246/gg_new_mil_kang.pdf