While the Australian state of Queensland wants cows to belch like kangaroos, Peter Ampt is hoping the animals will find as much common ground on the grill as they do in the pasture.
Ampt is the manager of Future of Australia’s Threatened Ecosystems (FATE), which aims to make better use of Australia’s native wildlife. That makes the kangaroo, often regarded as a pest by Australian farmers, a prime target.
Instead of being driven out by agricultural practices, the kangaroo is drawn to pastures, where it will take advantage of grass meant for sheep and cattle. Fences do little to keep them out.
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“Kangaroos will follow the stock rotation, so that means that they’re easier to harvest, (and) they’re more predictable where they’re located,” Ampt said.
If Australian farmers are going to shoot kangaroos anyway, Ampt feels they might as well make extra money selling their meat.
“It’s a good complimentary enterprise alongside a sustainable sheep or cattle grazing system, and it could well mean there’s less reliance on sheep and cattle, and some of the income comes from kangaroo.”
A licence is needed to get into the kangaroo business, which involves taking firearms competency, occupational health and safety and food safety courses. Ampt estimated the cost to set up a commercial shooting operation to be $45,000 to $60,000 Cdn.
Although kangaroo is a traditional dish for indigenous Australians, the commercial market is new.
“The kangaroo industry’s been going for about 30 years,” Ampt said.
“It’s still not legal in some states.”
It is legal to hunt kangaroo in four of Australia’s seven states – New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia and Queensland.
Four species are eligible – red kangaroo, eastern and western grey kangaroos and the euro kangaroo.
Hunting is allowed in regions with kangaroo populations of 25 to 50 million.
“Wildlife agencies decide how many kangaroos can be harvested without impacting on the sustainability of the kangaroo population,” he said.
Quotas are 15 percent of the population.
Kangaroo meat is still a small seller in Australian grocery stores, making up four percent of the meat market. According to a survey done by Ampt for the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation, only 14.5 percent of respondents had eaten kangaroo at least four times in the last year, although 58.5 per cent of respondents said they had tried it before.
“It’s a bit venisony, I guess, but it’s quite lean, so you’ve got to be careful the way you cook it otherwise it gets tough and dry, but if you cook it well it’s excellent,” Ampt said.
