Iceland drops sale of I'm A Celeb kangaroo meat after activists' anti-cruelty campaign
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Iceland has pulled kangaroo meat from its shelves after a campaign by animal activists.
The supermarket started selling the Australian fare four years ago on the back of the success of reality show I’m A Celebrity .
But group Viva has campaigned against the sale of kangaroo meat, claiming the way they are killed is cruel.
It pressured Tesco , Sainsburys and Morrisons to drop the product and now Iceland – which sponsored ITV’s jungle hit until 2014 – has ditched its bushtucker-branded £10 Exotic Meat Feast packs.
(Image: Aldershot News and Mail)
Viva founder Juliet Gellatley said: “We are delighted. What was being promoted as a little bit of fun hid the brutal reality that the kangaroo trade drives the largest massacre of land-based wild animals in the world today.”
The Exotic Meat Feast packs, which contained kangaroo, crocodile and ostrich burgers, and bore the I’m A Celebrity logo, were marketed as “low-fat exotic meat”.
And in a Facebook post, Iceland had said: “Kangaroo is the ultimate ‘free-range’ meat. Kangaroos range over extensive pastoral areas, grazing on natural foliage.”
(Image: Getty)
But Juliet added: “They failed to mention the kangaroo meat industry is one of the most brutal and violent. Millions are shot every year.
“The animals are supposedly shot in the head but many are mis-shot and die a slow, agonising death. Baby kangaroos are pulled from their dying mother’s pouch to be clubbed to death.”
Iceland said: “Iceland removed all lines containing kangaroo meat from sale last year in response to feedback from our customers.”
Viva claims the kangaroo population could be at risk. According to Australian government figures, there was a drop of 12.5 million in the areas where they are hunted between 2001 and 2015.