20 January 2010: 

The Australian Society for Kangaroos recently called for the RSPCA to remove kangaroos from their TV commercials on the grounds that they are misleading the public with false advertising. The RSPCA has failed to protect kangaroos across Australia and even actively supports the slaughter of millions of kangaroos and their joeys for profit by the kangaroo industry by their presence on the state Kangaroo Advisory Committees and their ongoing approval of the kangaroo industry.

The Australian Society for Kangaroos is calling on the RSPCA to remove kangaroos from their recent promotional TV advertisements, accusing them of promoting cruelty to kangaroos and baby joeys.

“The RSPCA’ s recent commercial misleads the public that the RSPCA protects all creatures great and small, but this is not the case when it comes to kangaroos and joeys. In fact the RSPCA actively supports the commercial slaughter of kangaroos for profit and its barbaric treatment of millions of joeys that are bashed to death, decapitated and left to die from starvation, exposure, predation and stress”, said Nikki Sutterby, Australian Society for Kangaroos.

“The RSPCA is a member of all state advisory committees that make decisions on the commercial killing of kangaroos, and they are approving it, along with other government kangaroo kills that occur on a regular basis such as those that occurred on Defence bases in Canberra and Victoria recently.”

“The RSPCA has admitted in their 2002 Report that bashing to death or decapitating joeys, as recommended in the Code of Practice for the ‘Humane’ Killing of kangaroos, is not a humane way to kill an animal, and that as result of the commercial kangaroo industry, thousands of joeys are orphaned every year and left to die from starvation predation stress and exposure. Yet they continue to support the industry, and continue to claim that they protect kangaroos”. states Ms Sutterby.

See link to report below:
http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/trade-use/publications/kangaroo-report/welfare.html

“The RSPCA has also recently failed to respond to three logged calls to the Bendigo Inspector about a mob of kangaroos in Bendigo at risk of starvation after their only feeding ground was destroyed by a large development. We have made three reports about these kangaroos but no response has been forthcoming.”

“The RSPCA actively promotes cruelty to kangaroos by supporting the worlds largest land based wildlife slaughter, that kills millions of kangaroos annually for profit. It also supports an industry that conducts regular cruelty on baby joeys. We believe that it is clear that money is more important to them than the welfare of ALL CREATURES great and small, and hence I urge them to stop being hypocrites and remove kangaroos from their TV commercials”, said Ms Sutterby.

 

Download the Press Release pdf file here.