We'll Have The 'Roo--Medium Rare

To the naturalist the terms are boomers and flyers.  We’re talking about kangaroos.  The male is a boomer, the female a flyer.  To the hunter they are simply bucks and does.  Hunters have a simple way of breaking down all male species--whether the giant moose, to the lowly squirrel-- to bucks.  And likewise all females are simply does.  Kangaroo season comes every year in Australia and hunters line up to purchase tags that allow them to harvest as many of the weird creatures as they desire.  Most outback hunters purchase on average 20 kangaroo tags.   And today’s hunters aren’t throwing boomerangs either.  The boomerang was once used by the aboriginal people to take out birds and ‘roos.  The bird would simply take a hit to the neck and the sudden explosion of vertebrae led to instant death.  For the kangaroo the boomerang would hit at the knee and result in a crippling injury.  A blow to the head would then finish them off.  Some ancient boomerangs have been dated back 30,000 years.   

Kangaroos are an interesting species found only in Australia.  And it is easy to find them, they number in the millions.  At last count that number was just over 24 million.  When other kangaroo varieties like the wallaby are thrown into the count, and other smaller macropods, the number skyrockets to 58 million.  Yes, kangaroos are macropods (meaning “large foot”) in addition to being the well-known pouch-bearing marsupial.  The kangaroo’s only real threat is drought and an extended drought can kill large swaths of their habitat and the ‘roos themselves.  The second leading killer is the automobile.  Each year about 11,000 kangaroos meet the wrong end of a vehicle which results in about $4 million in insurance claims.

Kangaroo hunting is not so much about controlling herds, they outnumber humans in Australia.  It is about the usefulness of the animal.  The meat is very heart healthy, lean, and puts a spring in your step (cue the rim shot please) and it has led to a new term that is being heard more and more—“kangatariansim.”  It is the only meat that some people eat.  They do this for a variety of reasons: one the kangaroo is not domesticated so large tracts of land do not need to be commercialized for the meat production.   Second, unlike cattle, kangaroos produce no methane gas to clog up the ozone.  Last, the ‘roos also only eat an organic, natural diet.  Australia has known this for a long time and has been exporting the meat since 1959.  It can be filleted, ground, or made into sausage.  This year the country will sell enough hunting permits to harvest seven million kangaroos with export of the meat and hides to over 55 countries worldwide.

So, as a global television audience settles in for the Santos Tour Down Under, the first UCI World Tour event of the 2013 season, they will undoubtedly enjoy a snack of some sort.  Maybe next time try kangaroo, it may the world’s most perfect meal.  Visit our website for a bike ride with a kangaroo.   The video is at www.stickybottleteam.net.