Despite their ubiquity in Australia, kangaroos mean something different to everyone. While to some they're a national icon or a cute and cuddly delight, to others they're jacked-up predators - and, to many more, a pest.
But one ANU professor says changing our way of thinking to see kangaroos as a source of food could improve their welfare, reduce carbon emissions and support Indigenous communities.
Dr George Wilson says Australia should consider managing kangaroo numbers through commercial production.
In a new article published in the journal Ecological Management and Restoration, Dr Wilson said encouraging private land owners in western NSW and Queensland to commercially harvest kangaroos would limit food waste and improve animal welfare.
The statement has been endorsed by a group of 25 ecological, conservation, animal welfare, and Aboriginal agencies.
Dr Wilson said there were about 40 million kangaroos on private grazing properties in these regions, with about 6 or 7 million having perished during recent droughts. Managing those numbers would prevent further harm, he said.
"In the long term, it would make a lot more sense for the kangaroos to be worth something in the hands of the graziers. And therefore, they might stop regarding them as pests, but as part of their assets to be managed," Dr Wilson said.
Dr Wilson believes Indigenous communities could use their traditional knowledge to help harvest the animals, and farmers could earn carbon credits for trading in more sustainable kangaroo meat.
"Kangaroos produce 35 times less methane per kilogram of kangaroo meat than beef does," he said.
"Instead of letting beef numbers come up to the same level, or maybe even go beyond that ... if we actually increase the numbers of kangaroos and use those to produce meat, we might be able to generate a carbon credit."
Belconnen Eco Meats butcher Gino D'Ambrosio sells roo in sausages, steak and mince. He said it is popular for being a lean, protein-rich and sustainable meat.
"Kangaroo meat is one of those meats that's very good for you, and we should be using more of it," he said.
"Especially here in the ACT where we bury [culled kangaroos], we should actually use the meat."
Animal activist Robyn Soxsmith, from the Animal Protectors Alliance, said culling kangaroos was unnecessary and cruel, in addition to creating undue stress on the animals that survive.
"Slaughtering kangaroos traumatises mobs. Kangaroo families are terrorised night after night for months, year after year," she said.
"Stress is often fatal to kangaroos [and stress] caused by large shooting is extreme."
Dr Wilson said shooting kangaroos was the most humane way of culling them.
"It's animal welfare that really motivates me," he said.
"We want to see private land owners bring in professional shooters to ensure roos are put down humanely."
