Government sanctioned slaughter of kangaroos in Australia sees millions of kangaroos killed every year for human consumption, dog food, belts, sports shoes, and more. In addition to harvesting, sports hunters and dogs, cruelty by humans (target practice and physical abuse), road kill, and farmers round out the killings of these magnificent animals. Australia leads the world in the highest terrestrial slaughter of a native wildlife species.

Kangaroos cannot be farmed which means they have to be chased to slaughter. The Australian government have "strict" humane guidelines to shoot the head or the heart, though this is most often not enforced. Hunting mostly happens at night with flood lights on trucks that blind the animals giving them no chance to flee. As the slaughter is at night there are increased chances of missing head shots. No mercy is shown as shooters blow off jaws, eyes, or an arm or leg, though neck, not head shots are common. The animals may not be dead when hung from the truck where the shooters slice open throats to bleed them out. Other kangaroos are still alive and will hop away only to die several days later in pain from their injuries. Joeys are to be decapitated, but are instead smashed up against a solid surface to die...if they are lucky.  Often "roo shooters" toss in pouch joeys on the ground to slowly die with no mother to protect them. The ‘at foot’ (out of pouch but still nursing) joeys are also left motherless.  Slowly they painfully die of exposure and starvation, or die at the jaws of dingoes. Bodies of hairless joeys have been found thrown on to bushes to die a slow painful death. It is generally believed that no shooter will ever allow himself to be filmed killing joeys.

Four species of kangaroos (Reds, Eastern Greys, Western Greys, and Wallaroos) are “harvested” for meat and skins, and what kangaroos remain, farmers are allowed to slaughter under ‘damage mitigation permits’ where entire mobs are wiped out regardless of the size of the kangaroo. The average lifespan of kangaroos in Australia is 2 years old. It is rare to find a full sized older kangaroo buck as they are being killed years before they reach their full size.

Farmers have erected “cluster/exclusion’ fencing which continue to kill thousands of kangaroos. The fences keep kangaroos outside of access to water and food, though farmers say they are locked inside so shooters can slaughter the entire population. They die from lack of food and water and are forced to cross over open roads where they are killed by the thousands every year. Sport shooting with dogs is common play in Tasmania where they are hunted down and shot. No rules of engagement apply to these fun loving souls. In Tasmania they also bait carrots with 1080 poison (used to ‘remove’ unwanted populations of animals. Banned in most countries, 1080 is still used liberally throughout Australia to control so-called ‘pest’ species, and reduce ‘browsing damage’ caused by native animals on private land). 1080 takes up to 72 hours to kill in a painful slow death.  Of course, more than kangaroos are affected by these poisoned carrots. As though slow death painful poisoning is not enough, illegal cruelty activities towards kangaroos continues to increase in frequency. Harvesting kangaroos for meat and skins, drought/flood, road kill, fires (which killed at least 3 billion wildlife animals), the kangaroo is in critical danger of becoming extinct.

Thirty years ago kangaroo mobs of 500-1000 were not unusual. The majority of mobs now may have 10-20. Some western areas still see large mobs, but the families (mobs) are far apart especially because of the “cluster/exclusion’ fencing which keeps mobs separated, starving and dying.

The slaughtered (harvested) animal is transported for hours in the hot sun to the closest chiller. Kangaroo meat has been found to contain high levels of E.coli, Salmonella, and parasites which cooking does not entirely eliminate. Kangaroo meat has NOT been consistently found safe for human consumption even if well cooked. Chillers often have hogs hanging next to kangaroos increasing the chance of meat contamination and parasites. There are no sanitary steps to clean chillers, so blood is dried and filthy because animals are hung from the outside of the "roo" trucks that travel along dusty and dirty roads.

Please understand that these animals are in danger of extreme pain and suffering because sharp shooters often make mistakes, especially at night. Kangaroos are a big money business, and Chewy has refused to remove their kangaroo dog food from their product line likely due to lost revenue. Chewy states the company love customers and their pets like family. Yet, they show NO regard to what animals go through to get into their products. Chewy focuses on PET food and supplies which is why this petition is starting there. It needs to hit them in their pockets before they will listen to the very real inhumane slaughter of an animal just to go into dog food and dog toys. Yes, dog toys!

We need to stand up against companies and businesses that support this horrific abuse. We are starting with Chewy, Inc. Companies like Nike, Converse, and other sports companies use kangaroo skins in their shoes. K Leather means kangaroo leather. Research this and you will find the abuse to be well known around the world. Please sign this petition. Every signature matters!