Eat a kangaroo, save the planet

George Wilson, of the Australian Wildlife Services, will go down in history as the scientist who suggested that eating kangaroo meat would help save the planet.

According to the calculations by Wilson, replacing beef burgers with kangaroo meat can significantly reduce emissions of greenhouse gases.

The methane gas produced by the belching and flatulence of sheep and cows is more potent than carbon dioxide in terms of the damage it can cause to the environment.

In fact it’s over 20 times more destructive to the atmosphere than the gas we normally think of as destructive, such as car fumes.

By contrast, kangaroos do not produce this gas because their digestive system is different, therefore, Wilson urges raising kangaroos for consumption.

The cattle and sheep produce 11% of the carbon dioxide output from Australia and for years there have been various proposals submitted to deal with the problem.

The scientist, who believes that the answer might be in kangaroos, says that the flavour of their meat is excellent.

Dr Wilson says the Oz should get rid of the 35 million-plus sheep and around 7 million cows and instead farm up to 75 million Skippys, thus reducing the national greenhouse gas output by 3%.

Australia already produces nearly 30 million ranched kangaroos for their private consumption.