Bill introduced in Oregon to ban the sale of kangaroo parts : NPR

A Gray Kangaroo eats grass near Canberra, Australia, March 15, 2008. A bill was introduced in the Oregon legislature to ban the sale of kangaroo parts to sports apparel makers that use kangaroo skin to make their products.

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Mark Graham/AP

A Gray Kangaroo eats grass near Canberra, Australia, March 15, 2008. A bill was introduced in the Oregon legislature to ban the sale of kangaroo parts to sports apparel makers that use kangaroo skin to make their products.

Mark Graham/AP

A bill to ban the sale of kangaroo parts has been introduced in the Oregon legislature, targeting sports apparel manufacturers that use kangaroo skin to make their products.

Soccer cleats are one of the only kangaroo leather products routinely sold in Oregon. Oregon Public Broadcasting reportedThe move will affect Oregon-based Nike, the state’s largest employer.

Democrat Oregon Senator Floyd Prozanski, who introduced the bill, said: “It’s not surprising that millions of Australian native wildlife are being killed for the high-end soccer cleats worn by a subset of elite soccer players. It’s not conscientious.” It was issued Monday by animal rights groups. “We understand that this law may have economic implications for some Oregon shoe manufacturers, but on balance, Oregon should take the humanitarian side of this issue. There are other materials that can be used to make these high end cleats.”

In a news release, the Center for a Human Economy, Animal Wellness Action and Animal Wellness Foundation welcomed the move.

“The time has come for these shoe manufacturers to evolve their business models to eliminate extreme animal cruelty in their product offerings,” said Rene Tatro, director of the Center for a Human Economy.

Nike did not respond to OPB’s request for comment, but the company told ESPN The company said last month that it will use kangaroo leather for “a small portion” of its soccer shoes and that it “whether farmed, domesticated or wild managed, uses animal skins from processors with sound husbandry and humane treatment.” We are working with leather suppliers who source

Oregon’s bill makes it a crime to purchase, receive, sell, or commercially barter “any product that contains parts of a dead kangaroo.”

Introduced by Connecticut legislators similar bill this session. A ban on kangaroo products has been proposed by the U.S. House of Representatives in 2021, but has not been approved.

The ban on “k-leather” is not without precedent. California enacted a ban on kangaroo-based products in the 1970s.

Commercial hunting of kangaroos in Australia is legal. Citing information from Australia’s Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water, the OPB reported that in 2021 more than 1.3 million kangaroos will be killed for commercial purposes in the country. The agency said the number was less than a third of the “sustainable quota.”

The United States designated several species of kangaroos as ‘endangered’ from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s, but kangaroos are considered ‘recovered’.

https://www.npr.org/2023/01/24/1150940387/oregon-lawmaker-introduces-a-bill-that-would-ban-the-sale-of-kangaroo-parts Bill introduced in Oregon to ban the sale of kangaroo parts : NPR

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