Media Release

23rd April 2008

Animal lovers hopping mad over Bath kangaroo burgers

Business urged to drop dead wildlife from menu

A BATH pub serving kangaroo burgers has been contacted by Bristol-based vegetarian campaigning group Viva! asking them to take it off the menu, after concerns were raised by animal lovers.

Viva! have provided The Pig & Fiddle in Saracen Street with details of the extensive cruelty involved in the slaughter of wildlife for meat and current population crisis, and are calling on all Bathonians to reject it.

Viva! opposes kangaroo meat because it claims the trade is cruel as kangaroos are sometimes shot during night hunting parties, and many are clubbed to death as babies. It also claims kangaroos are anything but abundant, with official Australian Government figures showing there are fewer than half as many kangaroos overall as there were in 2001*. Despite fears that such a dramatic decline in numbers could lead to extinction for some species, the commercial kill quota remains high at 3.6 million. Viva! claims that demand for the meat could spell disaster for Australia?s best known animal.

Campaigns manager, Justin Kerswell, says: ?Every year, millions of kangaroos are shot in the wild, at night ? unmonitored and out of sight of any witnesses. Many are incorrectly shot and can die agonising deaths. The worst cruelty of all is reserved for baby ?joeys?, hundreds of thousands of whom are all killed by being stamped on, smashed against wheel braces, by being decapitated or left to die of starvation in the bush. The kangaroo population in Australia has plummeted.

?So called exotic meats are peddled as just a bit of fun ? but they are anything but. 75 per cent of the world?s species are in decline or facing extinction. We are calling on the Pig & Fiddle to do the right thing by not serving up one of Australia?s national symbols dead. Of course, eating any animal causes suffering ? the best way to end this suffering is to go vegetarian.?

Viva! has campaigned against the destruction of wildlife for meat for several years and its campaign persuaded all major supermarkets to withdraw so called ?exotic meats? from sale. The only outlets now selling wild animals are some gastro pubs, a few bistros and independent butchers

ENDS

Notes to editors:

* Wildlife Trade Assessments, Australian Department of the Environment and Heritage

Images of kangaroos and kangaroo shooting are available from Viva!

For more information contact Justin Kerswell or press officer Helen Rossiter on 0117 944 1000 or visit www.savethekangaroo.com