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Culled kangaroos to be processed as pet food as part of two-year trial
Updated Wed 19 Mar 2014, 8:00pm AEDT

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-19/culled-kangaroos-to-be-processed-as-pet-food/5330318

VIDEO: Government to trial culled kangaroo meat as pet food (7pm TV News VIC)

Kangaroos will be shot and processed into commercial pet food as part of a two-year trial approved by the Victorian Government.

The trial applies to eastern grey and western grey kangaroos that have been culled under wildlife control programs.

In the past three years, the Department of Environment and Primary Industries has issued authorisations for the culling of up to 69,000 kangaroos.

Ninety-five per cent of them are discarded.

Victoria's Agriculture Minister, Peter Walsh, says the animals are supposed to be buried but that does not always happen.

"That is a waste and this is an opportunity for those carcasses to now be put into the pet food supply chain," he said.

"This is about utilising the carcasses that are currently there following a cull under a wildlife control permit."

Mr Walsh says the trial does not change the status of kangaroos as a protected species in Victoria.

The trial will take place in 12 local council areas including Southern Grampians Shire, Horsham, Benalla and Wangaratta.

Wildlife Victoria's Karen Masson says it is sad that culling is the only wildlife plan the Government can come up with.

"We would like to see them involved in more real management issues especially around kangaroos and other wildlife," she said.

"In a protein-starved world that's a criminal waste of a valuable resource.

John Kelly, Kangaroo Industry Association

John Kelly from the Kangaroo Industry Association wants the trial to go further.

"They've been largely left on the ground to rot and we've always been saying that in a protein-starved world that's a criminal waste of a valuable resource," he said.

Mr Walsh refused to be drawn about allowing the meat to be used for human consumption.

"It's not about a commercial kangaroo harvesting industry in Victoria," he said.

"It's about making sure the waste that's currently there is utilised."

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John aka NitroX

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