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My intro to the pet meat trade was in 1970 around Kalgoorlie.
To shoot kangaroo's you needed a licence and the quota was 4000 per year per shooter.
Mobile chillers or freezers were set up in the bush with your camp nearby.
Shoot all night ,reload bullets,repair tyres and get some sleep was an average day.
Temps during the day could be up around 90-100 degree's.
Goats,donkey,horses and camel were usually only an opertunistic target unless roo numbers were down.

1974 saw a move to Kununurra where donkey and horses were the main animal harvested.
Animals were shot then boned out on the ground with all meat being put into a big ice box on the back of the tojo.
Big ice blocks and a cup of sodium sulphate were added to the ice box.
The meat was then taken to a 40 foot freezer trailer and hung on hooks to drain and freeze down.
!975 saw me shooting at Derby ,once again donkey horses and the odd mule.
This time the animals were cut into quarters,hide on ,hung on the side of the Tojo to drain and cool out then hung in a chiller until they were picked up and transported to a processor for boning out.
The majority of the horse and donkey ended up in South Australia and used for small goods,sausage ect.
Some meat was sent to Uncle Bens in Woodonga for processing into pet food.
Kangaroo's and goats came next down around Carnarvon,same deal,shoot, gut ,unload,reload ammo,repair tyres,sleep and drink piss.

Then hope that the processor pays for the meat you worked bloody hard for.

It is not an easy life!!!!!

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"Dogs always bark at their master"
Sir Seretse Khama.25th June 1949

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