bwana, you might look at it this way. Here and throughout the West we shoot tens of thousands of little buggers; ground squirrels, prairie dogs, etc for reasons I'm guessing aren't much different than those for which the big stuff is killed in Oz, except in scale and obviously that the animals are of course much smaller...

I can only imagine the logistics of meat handling would be immensely challenging, particularly if meat quality must be maintained for human consumption. In such temps, the stuff must go off fast.

Sarg, it must have been a monumental case of "Hurry up and get gutting!!!", yes?

Regardless of the need, my gosh there is no cotton-pickin' way such a government program would occur here. Would be tied up in court forever...no matter how much good common sense it makes!