California kangaroo import ban

[Arkhangel]

A ban on the sale and import of kangaroo products is set to be reimposed in California on January 1, despite controversial efforts by the Australian Government to have the restriction permanently lifted.

The Australian Government believes there are 600 retailers selling kangaroo products in California, including meat, pet food and leather products such as football shoes and some gloves used by fire fighters.

It has been illegal to import kangaroo products to California since 1971, but in 2007 a moratorium was placed on that ban, largely due to the lobbying efforts of sportswear companies that wanted to sell football shoes made from kangaroo hides.

The moratorium is due to end on January 1, 2016 and violators could face fines or prison sentences.

Animal rights groups in California have said the ban should never have been suspended.

"These iconic species in Australia really should not be killed in such staggering numbers for something as frivolous as shoes and pet food," Humane Society of the United States lobbyist Jennifer Fearing said.

Supporters of kangaroo harvesting say the practice is science-based and environmentally sustainable while critics say it is a threat to the animals' survival.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-31/california's-kangaroo-market-in-limbo/7058626

This is ridiculous, and I say that as someone who is a strong proponent of animal rights and welfare. Kangaroos are so far from endangered that they are regularly culled in their hundreds to save them from starving due to over-population. Kangaroo 'farming' is vastly more environmentally sustainable and also more humane than traditional sheep or cattle farming. This seems like a case of people with good intentions and little actual knowledge of the situation deciding they need to protect kangaroos because they're somehow exotic to the American eye - when actually, probably the best way of explaining it is that they're like deer in other places: they're commonplace, have huge wild populations, and are in no danger whatsoever of dying out.

Dear Californians, thank you for your concern. We have literally thousands of actually endangered animals for you to choose from, please pick another

[polishgenius]

Kangaroos are charming and, because they stand on two legs, easier to anthropomorphise than the average animal. Hence, this sort of thing.

[MercenaryChef]

Had a really underwhelming kangaroo burger once. 

Ban them.

[Ixodes]

Can we still have boxing matches with them?

[TrueMetis]

Ah the HSUS, fucking scum. They make the same claim about the Harp Seal hunt, despite there being 7 million plus of the damn things. I wonder if they'd be okay with a racist as fuck "products hunted by the natives are okay despite using the same techniques because the natives are magic" policy for kangaroos. Like the EU did when they banned seal products.

[Arkhangel]

Don't get me wrong, I don't think the HSUS are bad people nor do I think the kangaroo meat industry is flawless or that it doesn't need tighter regulation. I think a blanket ban on kangaroo products is misguided and unhelpful, but I'm all on board with regulating the shit out of killing practices, as I am for other meat industries.

[JarvisRodriguez]

It seems Strange to me that Kangaroos aren't farmed in the United States.  Texas and California seem like Prime 'Roo Territory, and a Healthy Alternative to Factory Farming.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

It seems Strange to me that Kangaroos aren't farmed in the United States.  Texas and California seem like Prime 'Roo Territory, and a Healthy Alternative to Factory Farming.

DID YOU LEARN NOTHING FROM THE SIMPSON'S EPISODE?

Do not introduce invasive species.

[Tears of Lys]

/thread crossover

I think I'd like to own a kangaroo for about five minutes.  I'd like him to punch out door-to-door salesmen.

[sologdin]

there are things designated as 'kangaroo products'?

[Tears of Lys]

there are things designated as 'kangaroo products'?

Of course.  Pouch liners, ear groomers, foot protectors for bouncing around the outback.  Every 'roo who considers himself stylish will want to keep themselves up. 

[Larry of the Lawn]

Baculum of kangaroo was one of the top secret santa gifts this past holiday season, world wide.

[Larry of the Lawn]

Kangaroo 'nads have been helping open bottles and cans since man took his first steps on the African plains.

[Guest]

Why do Californians know more about kangaroos than Australians? Why do Californians know more about gas prices than other Americans? Why do Californians know more about dead celebrity image rights than other Americans? Why do Californians know more about everything than everyone else, according to them? Maybe they don't... 

[Bonesy]

Someone just outed themselves as a Texan.

[sologdin]

Kangaroo 'nads have been helping open bottles and cans since man took his first steps on the African plains.

surely kangaroo products are amateur hour.  why not breed a pool of kangaroo laborers to place downward pressure on wages and break unions?

[Arkhangel]

Not a chance, the only thing kangaroos like better than skipping out of work early is a bit of industrial action. There's a reason the collective noun for a group of kangaroos is a mob (trufax).

You're thinking of koalas.

[Stubby]

You have not experienced true terror until you have seen a mob of thousands of them crossing a road.

[The Marquis de Leech]

Reminds me of New Zealand possum fur exports.

Possums (while scarce in their homeland of Australia) are an introduced pest that eat copious amounts of native bush, and spread disease. Some bright spark periodically comes up with the idea of turning them into fur coats - except that they run headlong into the international mantra that Fur Is Evil(TM).   

[Ouroboros]

Reminds me of New Zealand possum fur exports.

Possums (while scarce in their homeland of Australia)  

Bollocks. I can't go a day without seeing possum road kill or having to deal with the little bastards running across my roof. Possums are as common as bats.