SOME supermarkets and restaurants in this area are now stocking kangaroo meat. As a local representative of the charity Viva, I am shocked that more five million animals are being shot every year.

Because female kangaroo meat is considered more tender, they now constitute the bulk of the kill. As a general rule, each slaughtered female carries a baby in her pouch. The baby joeys are wrenched from their dying mother's pouch and are stamped on, decapitated or hit against a tree. The same fate awaits the infant joeys.

It's an irony that the meat isn't even sold in Australia for human consumption, so Britain and some other European countries are effectively the cause of the killing. Interestingly, Germany refuses to sell it on health grounds.

If anyone else is as sickened as me, Viva! can provide you with an action pack on how to bring an end to this miserable and cruel trade. They are at 12 Queen Square, Brighton BN1 3FD - 01273 777688.

J ISHERWOOD (Mrs), Avondale Road, Darwen.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.