Misinformation fuelling US roo leather ban prompts Washington call

Connecticut is considering legislation to prohibit the sale of any kangaroo product and follows

The move has been driven by emotive misinformation by animal activist groups, claiming millions of kangaroos are needlessly slaughtered for their skins, with joeys "yanked from the pouches" and "violently swung against the side of a car".

California banned roo leather in 2016 and it's feared the trend will continue, as US politicians look to appease animal activists while avoiding the usual protests from domestic voters and agricultural groups that accompany animal welfare restrictions.

Kangaroos Industry Association of Australia chief executive Dennis King will call the Australian embassy in Washington about the alarming pattern.

Mr King said he doesn't doubt the move is coming from concern about animal welfare, but unfortunately the Americans had been the victims of an animal activist misinformation campaign, claiming two million kangaroos are killed for leather just to feed the demand of the soccer boot industry.

"They're driven by false information coming out of Australia, there's a number of organisations here that continually put out false information on this issue," Mr King said.

"Most of [these animal activists] have never been into the bush, they've never travelled through an area where kangaroos are in plague proportions."

The national roo population is estimated to be 40 million, but can sharply increase in good seasons, causing damage to farmland, habitats, along with posing a risk to motorists and suffering starvation from over-grazing.

State government conservation programs, and not the leather industry, that dictated how many roos are harvested every year.

Quotas are set to ensure only a sustainable proportion of kangaroos are commercially harvested and the actual number harvested is well below the quota, while strict rules ensure roos and their joeys are harvested humanely.

"I don't see Australian's telling them about how to deal with their white-tailed deer, which are native and overpopulated in America, or anyone making moves to prevent the sale of deer products," Mr King said.

"The commercial industry doesn't exist just because we wanted to sell meat and skins... there are too many of these abundance species and we are a tool the government uses to try and control those numbers.

"Processing the skin and meat is a way of honouring these animals that need to be harvested for population control, rather than just leaving it there."

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Strict rules about how adult roos and joeys are harvested by shooters.

"The animal is respected the whole way through and it's no different than the processing of cattle," Mr King said.

Mr King will contact the office of State Representative David Michel, the politician who introduced the Connecticut motion, and also hopes to travel to the United States this year to dispel the misinformation.

"We will continue to fight this ridiculous fight, but it has become very frustrating.... unfortunately it;s going to keep happening and we know that," he said.

In 2021, a bill was introduced to Congress that would see kangaroo products banned across the United States, with penalties of $10,000 and one year in gaol. The bill has been referred to a number of committees and is yet to be voted on,