MYSTERY WIRE — An animal welfare group has leaned on Hollywood to help spread the word about an ongoing threat that some people call the ‘Kangaroo Conspiracy’ involving Australian hunters who slaughter kangaroos on an industrial scale.
“Kangaroos and their many species are native species. They belong in Australia,” Animal Wellness Action founder Wayne Pacelle told Mystery Wire in October of 2020. “They’ve been in Australia for thousands and thousands of years. They’ve evolved with the landscape. They do very little damage to the landscape. Some of this kind of smearing of the kangaroos, if you will, is an effort by ranchers and others to just have an open playing field and do whatever they want. Kangaroos, some are somewhat abundant, others are endangered. The reality is the fires killed millions of them. Now commercial hunters are slaughtering them in incredible numbers.”
In a news release, the Animal Wellness Action group wrote “The Center for a Humane Economy to premiere a powerful short film (just 60 seconds) made by two top Hollywood filmmakers drawing attention to this outrage in the Outback. If you’re willing, please take part in a social media storm to support the Kangaroo Protection Act and promote our new video to pressure Nike to STOP the slaughter.”
Animal Wellness Action also wrote that legislation has been introduced in Congress to address the mass slaughter of kangaroos for athletic shoes and other garments.
It is called the Kangaroo Protection Act, H.R. 917, introduced by Representatives Salud Carbajal, D-Calif., and Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Penn.
The act, if passed and signed, would ban the sale of any kangaroo parts in the United States.
