Thursday, October 02, 2008

Good and bad news for kangaroos.

Call me an old fashioned prude if you must, but I find men who fart to be rather uncouth. Thank goodness that women seem to be physiologically programmed not to indulge in this unpleasant practice. It appears that kangaroos are the similarly programmed. These creatures give off far less methane than the usual domestic livestock. According to today's Telegraph, their dubious reward for this natural politeness is that Australians are going to start eating them in great numbers. Its yet another initiative in the long term battle to protect our climate from global warming.

We've known for many years that cows in particular cause huge damage to the environment by their methane production. It has led to much academic research and political discussion. Now, Professor Ross Garnaut from the University of New South Wales is taking this research to its logical conclusion by suggesting that Australians should forget the 'Skippy factor' set aside their squeamishness and eat kangaroo instead of lamb and beef. He suggests that by 2020, beef cattle and sheep numbers should fall by 7 million and 36 million respectively, allowing for an extra 34 million kangaroos up to a total of 240 million.

This report extends to 620 pages, and one of its authors describes kangaroo meat as low in fat, high in protein and clean in that the kangaroo is the ultimate free-range animal. It should also help counteract the negative impact that too much Fosters's have on the bodies of Australian men, and make Australia a much more pleasant place to live.

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