Kangaroo commercial harvesting in Australia is one of the largest wild animal harvests globally — welfare outcomes depend on adherence to a national code of practice.
Kangaroo commercial harvest welfare hinges on the requirement for a clean head shot — when achieved, death is rapid and the welfare cost is minimal relative to the suffering endured by farmed domestic species. When not achieved, due to poor shot placement, inadequate light, or rushing, kangaroos are wounded and suffer before dying or being dispatched. The scale of the harvest means that even a small percentage of non-compliant shots represents tens of thousands of poorly killed animals. Dependent joey killing at harvest is unavoidable under current practices and represents a welfare cost that is difficult to mitigate.