# Why aren't kangaroos raised for their meat in the US? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 26, 2011, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-kangaroos-raised-for-their-meat-in-the-us/597621 "2011-09-26T02:47:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Disheavel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@Disheavel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disheavel)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-kangaroos-raised-for-their-meat-in-the-us/597621/61 "2011-09-27T14:37:08Z")
For anyone wanting a science discussion from Australia regarding their scientific views and debate about Kangaroos as sustainable meat, [The Science Show](http://www.abc.net.au/rn/scienceshow/) has a piece on July 23 about it that has the transcript and the audio posted online. ---
**Author:** ![Sevastopol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@Sevastopol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sevastopol)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-kangaroos-raised-for-their-meat-in-the-us/597621/62 "2011-09-27T14:45:50Z")
Transcript: [Kangaroos as Food](http://www.abc.net.au/rn/scienceshow/stories/2011/3275862.htm#transcript) ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-kangaroos-raised-for-their-meat-in-the-us/597621/63 "2011-09-27T15:03:33Z")
I just really don’t think we need to be introducing any species. History is rife with unfortunate results of this type of effort. Plus, there are several native species here that can be used for meat. I don’t know if this exists or not, but it would be nice to be able to purchase hunted, not farmed, venison/elk etc. Maybe certify hunters and processors to do so. ---
**Author:** ![EdwardLost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@EdwardLost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EdwardLost)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-kangaroos-raised-for-their-meat-in-the-us/597621/64 "2011-09-27T21:03:10Z")
Are there ANY non-domesticated or recently-domesticated land animals that are commonly eaten in the developed world? That is, that fill more than a niche market? ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-kangaroos-raised-for-their-meat-in-the-us/597621/65 "2011-09-27T21:23:00Z")
> [@EdwardLost](#): > > Are there ANY non-domesticated or recently-domesticated land animals that are commonly eaten in the developed world? That is, that fill more than a niche market? Well, no. That’s almost the definition of a non-domesticated animal isn’t it? It’s impossible imagine a situation where a non-domesticated animal \*could \*be more than a niche market in the developed world. If we consider non-niche to be, say, 1% or more of total meat consumption, that would require millions of tonnes of the meat to be produced each year. If we allow that we can get even 50kg of meat off each non-domesticated animal, that still requires am annual slaughter of 50 thousand or so animals each year, and thus a wild herd numbering in the hundreds of thousands. While such herds do exist in a few places, the sheer logistics of getting them to market at competitive prices is mind boggling. There’s a good reason why people domesticated animals in the first -place, and this is it. As far as recently domesticated animals, they aren’t going to be competitive precisely because they are recently domesticated. It’s hard to compete commercially with species that have been selectively bred for millennia. Even with the benefits of modern breeding practices and genetic selection, we wouldn’t expect a newly domesticated animal to be commercially competitive for _at least_ 100 years. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-kangaroos-raised-for-their-meat-in-the-us/597621/66 "2011-09-27T21:59:02Z")
My neighbors here in Bug Tussle would probably think the kangaroo came to eat _them._ ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-kangaroos-raised-for-their-meat-in-the-us/597621/67 "2011-09-27T22:18:18Z")
> [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](#): > > Me too. They served it at the Garlic Festival. It was nasty. Not sure I would let the Gilroy chefs, fine as they may be, set the bar for that meat’s taste. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-kangaroos-raised-for-their-meat-in-the-us/597621/68 "2011-09-29T01:50:43Z")
I’d certainly be willing to try it again. To be fair though, most of the food at the garlic festival is pretty tasty. At least in my experience. That’s where I had the alligator and it was very good. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-kangaroos-raised-for-their-meat-in-the-us/597621/69 "2011-09-29T08:05:57Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > It’s quite difficult hard to think of a worse candidate amongst grazing animals. [Gelada](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gelada)?🙂 ---
**Author:** ![runcible\_spoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc29f/32.png) [@runcible\_spoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/runcible_spoon)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-kangaroos-raised-for-their-meat-in-the-us/597621/70 "2011-09-29T23:25:28Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > =Kangaroos simply are not a suitable candidate for farming. It’s quite difficult hard to think of a worse candidate amongst grazing animals. Depending on your definition of ‘grazing’, there’s pandas… ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2014, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-kangaroos-raised-for-their-meat-in-the-us/597621/72 "2014-04-10T23:53:34Z")
Spam made from kangaroo reported. ( **ItchMonkey** ) ---
**Author:** ![buffalo.lover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@buffalo.lover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buffalo.lover)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2016, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-kangaroos-raised-for-their-meat-in-the-us/597621/73 "2016-10-05T17:30:32Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > Actually, just a guess and a lame joke on my part. I really have no idea where pet-food quality 'roo comes from. According to Wikipedia most of the kangaroo meat even for dog food is actually from hunting them. Australia has a lot of hunting tags every year for roo… ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2016, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-kangaroos-raised-for-their-meat-in-the-us/597621/74 "2016-10-05T19:07:57Z")
[The rifles](http://impossibleobjects.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/600x/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/k/a/kangaroo_rifle_impossible_objects.jpg) needed for hunting kangaroos are illegal in the U.S. Turn sideways to use on zombies. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2016, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-kangaroos-raised-for-their-meat-in-the-us/597621/75 "2016-10-05T23:31:39Z")
> [@buffalo.lover](#): > > According to Wikipedia most of the kangaroo meat even for dog food is actually from hunting them. [sigh] I thought we had this nailed down 5 years ago. :smack: There is no farming of kangaroos. **ALL** commercial supply of kangaroo meat is sourced by hunting. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2016, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-kangaroos-raised-for-their-meat-in-the-us/597621/76 "2016-10-05T23:54:16Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > I’ve read that Kangaroo meat is ecologically responsible since their digestion cycle doesn’t produce as much Methane as cattle. IIRC there were some scientists that were trying to transplant Kangaroo DNA in cattle. I’ve got a bad feeling about this… I don’t know which would be worse: hopping cows, or boxing ones. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2016, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-kangaroos-raised-for-their-meat-in-the-us/597621/77 "2016-10-06T02:23:17Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > I’ve got a bad feeling about this… I don’t know which would be worse: hopping cows, or boxing ones. > [@Blake](#): > > They can dig as well as any dog and will happily go under any fence that isn’t buried at least 6 inches with a right angle bend. Oh. Burrowing cows. That’d be worse. ---
**Author:** ![coffeecat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coffeecat/32/3405_2.png) [@coffeecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coffeecat)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2016, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-kangaroos-raised-for-their-meat-in-the-us/597621/78 "2016-10-06T03:37:07Z")
[Bouncing cows](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zbjkks3ApMg) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2016, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-kangaroos-raised-for-their-meat-in-the-us/597621/79 "2016-10-06T06:51:19Z")
> [@coffeecat](#): > > [Bouncing cows](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zbjkks3ApMg) I thought that link was going to be this: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FavUpD\_IjVY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FavUpD_IjVY) ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2016, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-kangaroos-raised-for-their-meat-in-the-us/597621/80 "2016-10-06T09:11:16Z")
We had Ostrich steaks for dinner last week - I bought them in Tesco’s. Very lean and low cholesterol which is ‘good’ but IMHO, it needs a sauce. There has been a history of Ostrich farm scams over here: > [@](#): > > Five businessmen pocketed millions of pounds in an ostrich farm fraud which duped thousands of people out of their savings, Leicester crown court heard yesterday. > The men spent £25,000 to set up the the Ostrich Farming Corporation Ltd - but took almost £22m from investors in less than 18 months. > > More than 2,000 people were persuaded to part with their cash by glossy brochures promising high returns from what was billed as the meat of the future. > [Ostrich farm 'fraud netted dealers £22m' | UK news | The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/mar/22/3) There were others too. Unless something drastic happens to the food production industry (and even BSE wasn’t enough) I doubt that exotic meat will ever stop being exotic. As for letting kangaroos roam free in the USA, I have no doubt that the authorities are always going to be highly concerned about the unforeseen consequences of introducing an animal that breeds fast and has no predators (other than man) with little value in the carcass. Australians are pretty paranoid about this kind of thing; especially since they introduced cane toads. > [@](#): > > In Australia, cane toads have no natural enemies. Their toxin can kill most native animals that normally eat frogs. They therefore pose a risk to both native fauna and pets such as cats and dogs. Cane toads can use a wide variety of habitats and thrive in urban and disturbed areas. They have a voracious appetite and can eat a lot of different foods. They also breed quickly, allowing them to rapidly colonise and dominate an area. > > [http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/pestsweeds/HowFarHaveTheySpreadWhyAreTheyAProblem.htm](http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/pestsweeds/HowFarHaveTheySpreadWhyAreTheyAProblem.htm) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-kangaroos-raised-for-their-meat-in-the-us/597621.md?page=3)