Aussies urged to rear kangaroos, not sheep
Australian farmers should rear kangaroos rather than sheep because they do less damage to the country’s environment, according to University of Sydney ecologist Chris Dickman.
in areas where over-grazing by sheep just hasn’t worked and where incomes are
coming down where it is not sustainable,” Dickman said at a biodiversity
conference in Sydney this week.
New markets
Dickman said
overgrazing by sheep eroded topsoil, unlike kangaroos which were light on the
environment. However Australians have long believed the country gained
prosperity “on the sheep’s back” and farmers indicated that kangaroo farming was
impractical.
New South Wales Farmers Association vice-president Graham
Morphett also said there was a lack of demand kangaroo meat. “Farmers are always
looking for new ways and new markets. They would do it if it was a possible but
I haven’t heard of any people changing over,” he told the ABC.
A lot
of kangaroos
Australia has almost 60 million wild kangaroos that
support a market in meat and other products worth about AUS$200 million (US$172
million a year) according to the Kangaroo Industry Association of Australia’s
website.
