"Belgium must ban the import of kangaroo meat as she did it for seal products. "

Friday January 17, 2020 - Brussels,

After a week of targeted actions, GAIA succeeded in convincing Carrefour Belgium, Makro, Cora, Match and finally Spar (Colruyt Group) to abandon the sale of kangaroo meat.
“We welcome the decision of the supermarket chains.
By ending the sale of kangaroo meat on their shelves, Carrefour Belgium, Cora, Makro, Match and Spar are giving an important signal to the government and the consumer: kangaroo meat has nothing to do in our supermarkets, says Ann De Greef, Director of GAIA.
It is time for parliamentarians to take up this issue and ask the Federal Minister for the Economy, Nathalie Muylle (CD&V), to ban the import of kangaroo meat into Belgium. "

A week was enough to convince all Belgian supermarkets to stop selling kangaroo meat.
The main association for the defense of animals in Belgium carried out a name and shame action: for several days, supporters of GAIA flooded the customer services and social networks of the main Belgian supermarket chains by asking them to immediate marketing of kangaroo meat.
If the association welcomes the announcements made by the signs, it deplores the continuity of hunting kangaroos in Australia, despite the fires ravaging the country.
By slaughtering 1.6 million kangaroos per year, the country exports more than 3,000 tonnes of kangaroo meat annually to more than 60 countries.
Including Belgium.
With 632 tonnes of kangaroo meat imported each year (representing 180,000 animals), our country is the world's largest importer of this meat, ahead of Germany and Papua New Guinea. 27% of kangaroo meat exported from Australia arrives in Belgium.

Organized violence

"Kangaroo meat is the result of particularly cruel hunting: kangaroos are hunted at night with a gun.
Rarely hit in the head, they are condemned to long agony, "says Ann De Greef.
Commercial hunting also causes collateral victims: each year, around 800,000 very young joeys (still in their mother's pocket) and 300,000 less young (able to move around) are abandoned to certain death or massacred.
"When they are not left to their fate, the joeys are slaughtered by beating their heads violently.
Baby joeys, who are still in their mother's pocket, are beheaded.
These brutal methods of killing are legally authorized, ”explains Ann De Greef.
And to alert: "However, despite the bush fires which are already ravaging the kangaroo population, the Australian government plans an authorized hunting quota of 6 million kangaroos for 2020."

For a legal ban

GAIA therefore calls on the Belgian government to permanently ban imports of kangaroo meat: "Belgium has played a pioneering role in being the first country to ban seal products.
And it was only under his leadership that the European Union banned the trade in seal products in 2009.
A region, a state, a federal government can make a lasting difference.
Including for kangaroo meat, insists Ann De Greef. It is time for parliamentarians to take hold of this problem and ask the Federal Minister for the Economy, Nathalie Muylle (CD&V), to ban the import of kangaroo meat into Belgium. "