RSPCA pulls sale of roo pet food amid animal welfare concerns

The Victorian branch of the RSPCA has made a major decision about the sale of pet food sourced from kangaroos.

The RSPCA has pulled kangaroo meat from its pet food shelves amid animal welfare concerns and how the products were sourced.

The Victorian branch of the society was selling a range of roo-based food products for dogs as recent as last week but has now removed them from sale.

The RSPCA was under pressure from native wildlife groups who say Victoria’s culling of roos – 119,000 last year – was cruel.

The Victorian Kangaroo Alliance said the meat trade was “unethical, unsustainable and unhygienic” and the RSPCA’s sale of roo products was inherent endorsement of the industry practices.

More than 100,000 roos are killed every year in Victoria.

The RSPCA confirmed the roo products had been removed from sale.

“The RSPCA has been examining our sourcing practices, including our retail operations, and as part of this is in the process of withdrawing products containing kangaroo meat from sale,’’ the organisation said.

“This is based on current concerns about animal welfare implications in the sourcing of these products.”

Alliance spokeswoman Alyssa Wormald applauded the RSPCA decision.

“The push to get RSPCA to ditch their kangaroo products was a group effort from many individuals and organisations,’’ Ms Wormald said.

“We are delighted with the rapid response from RSPCA in removing these products nationwide and feel there is goodwill between us.

“It really sends a powerful message to the state government.

“We need a societal change to this colonial thinking that roos don’t belong here. They’ve been here for 20 million years.’’

Wildlife is promoted as a tourist draw in many regional Victorian areas.

The products no longer on sale include processed dry food and kangaroo fillet treats.

The state government introduced the Kangaroo Harvesting Program in Victoria in October 2019 to shoot Eastern and Western Grey kangaroos for pet meat production.

This year until the end of June, almost 40,000 roos have been killed.

Wildlife Victoria has criticised the program for killing native animals for pet food and that it gave commercial incentives to kill wildlife.

Tens of thousands of the macropods are also killed every year by property owners under the Authority to Control system.

Many farmers have said the cull was needed because roos cause crop and fence damage and were a road danger.