Nike accuses of driving kangaroos for football shoes

Nike is criticized because the company uses kangaroos for the production of its leather football shoes.

Animal rights activists in Australia believe that the world's largest shoe manufacturer contributes to letting this species die out.

At the weekend, demonstrators gathered in front of the Nike branches in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to ask the company to switch to vegan alternatives.

According to a press release from the Animal Justice Party NSW (New South Wales, the state in which Sydney is located), Nike is the largest buyer of kangaroo leather.

More than 40,000 kangaroos are killed every month in NSW alone, according to the party.This number does not contain kangaroos that are killed by farmers, in the leisure hunt or as run over animals, as well as young animals whose death is not counted.

According to the nature conservation biologist Daniel Ramp, even surviving young animals suffer.Ramp says that young animals who saw how their gang was hunted, then no more game behavior showed the day.The members of the Animal Justice Party called the information "heartbreaking".

The group joined more than 15 international and national organizations at the weekend that participated in the animal welfare campaign initiated against Nike.

"Anyone who buys or sells kangaroo leather cannot avoid this simple fact: The commercial kangaroo killing industry is industrialized, legalized cruelty to animals," said the top candidate of the Animal Justice Party for the Senate, Darren Brollo, in the protest.

"It is no different from the beating of saddle seals in overseas, which the Australians often loathe so quickly.The massacre on our local animals is a terrible price for a few shoes, ”he added.

In a separate explanation, MP Mark Pearson described the industry as profit -oriented, cruel and environmental destructive.

"Nike has to take responsibility for his contribution to the nightly slain of thousands of kangaroo and to die out the regional extinction of kangaroos in all of Australia," said Pearson.

It has long been known that there are a variety of kangaroos in Australia that only live in a handful of countries.However, a recently carried out parliamentary examination has confirmed that the commercial industry drives the kangaroos into the extermination, the press release of the Animal Justice Party says.

A liberal MP who attended the investigation had a "conscience crisis", it says, and turned to the media with his concerns.

Person continued in his explanation: "There are countless vegetable alternatives to animal skin leather, and Nike has the chance to play a pioneering role in developing the world's best vegan football shoes that are better for the planet and all animals."