Boycott Adidas, Save Kangaroos. Bill SB880

Posted by admin on September 6th, 2007 at 10:29pm

The small corner of the planet we call Australia is the unique home of many of the world’s most wonderful and astonishing species of animals. Truly, the more than 60 species of kangaroos found only in Australia are one of our planet’s remarkable treasures. Every day, these intelligent creatures are being forced closer and closer to the brink of extinction, and now, the Adidas company is lobbying to give kangaroos the final push that will shove them violently off the map of the world.

Quick Facts About Bill SB880 and the Extermination of Kangaroos

• Since 1970, legislation has made it illegal to import kangaroo products, including meat and leather, into California.
• Bill SB880 will overturn the laws protecting kangaroos and allow kangaroo products to be bought and sold in California.
• The bill has passed in the Senate with a vote of 27-8. The bill received 44 yes votes in the Assembly.
• The only hope now for the protection of kangaroos lies in Governor Schwarzenegger vetoing Bill SB880.
• The Adidas Corporation is the world’s main hunter of wild kangaroos, using their skins in the manufacture of soccer shoes and baseball gloves.
• Millions of kangaroos are killed each year.
• Kangaroo populations have been decimated in this decade. Their numbers have been reduced by 1/2 since 2001.
• California represents one of the world’s wealthiest and largest purchasers of soccer products.
• Legalizing the importation of kangaroo products into California will prove devastating to Australia’s kangaroos.

What is happening to the kangaroos?
Australia is currently experiencing one of the worst periods of drought in their history. The countryside has also been repeatedly swept by wildfire. Both of these disasters are certainly contributing to the extreme decline in kangaroo populations. As if this were not enough, Adidas, Reebok, Nike, and a host of other shoe manufacturers employ teams of hunters to slaughter kangaroos by the millions every year.

The hunters travel into the countryside at night, blind the kangaroos with spotlights, and then shoot them. Many stagger away into the dark to bleed to death. Mother kangaroos carrying joeys are shot, their babies are taken from their pouches, and clubbed to death over the head. Orphaned kangaroos no longer living in the pouch are left to die of starvation. This assault on the kangaroo families of Australia is being called one of the world’s largest wildlife massacres in history. If we do not wish for the extinction of the kangaroo, now is the time to act.

Who is killing the kangaroos?
Australia’s government is woefully at fault for permitting kangaroo hunting by some of the world’s largest shoe corporations. Since European colonization of Australia, over 3/4 of Australia’s rainforests have been destroyed, and the fabulous wild animals of Australia have been left with very few places to live. Australia’s government and people need to be internationally pressured to develop respect for their native wildlife, and shoe manufacturers need to know that we will not pay for them to drive kangaroos to extinction. Please boycott the following companies:

• Adidas
• Umbro
• Kappa
• Lotto
• Diadora
• Mizuno
• Reebok
• Nike
• Kelme
• Valsport
• Andrea’s
• Canterbury
• Admiral
• Patrick Goldline
• Carnac

What else can you do to save the kangaroos?
The main avenue of hope left to us, as of September 2007, is that Governor Schwarzenegger will veto Bill SB880. Please email the Governor your polite, sincere request that he veto Bill SB880 and keep California kangaroo product-free.

You can also put pressure on Adidas to stop the slaughter of kangaroos. With so many fine synthetic alternatives available to us today, there is no need to kill for fashion, sports, or pleasure. Here is the appropriate contact information for the Adidas Corporation:

Contact Adidas
Phone: 800/448-1796
E:Mail: Consumer.Relations@adidasus.com

Write to:
Ross McMullin
CEO/President, Adidas
5055 North Greeley Avenue
Portland, OR 97217

Adidas America, Director of Public Relations
nicole.vollebregt@adidasus.com

Contact Reebok, Nike, and the other companies listed above to tell them that you will not be buying their products as long as they are slaughtering kangaroos.

If you encounter restaurants or stores selling kangaroo meat, do not patronize these places of business, and write a letter to the owner explaining how offensive you find these products, and that you will not be giving them your business until kangaroo meat is removed from their offerings.

Philosophically Speaking
Mankind has long claimed for itself the right to use animals for food, labor, clothing, and entertainment. No one has ever given man this right. He has simply taken it. The animals cannot stop him, and even now, when a non-violent lifestyle has been made so easy by the alternative choices available to all inhabitants of western civilization, many men and women continue to choose domination and violence against the gentle and majestic wild creatures with whom we share our wonderful planet. Your choices can be your vote to stop the cycle of violence. Your dollar is very powerful. Taking your dollar out of Adidas’ pockets is the very best way you can protect the kangaroo families of Australia.

For further reading on this subject, please visit:
www.savethekangaroo.com/international/usa/whatucando.shtml

Boycott Adidas

Under Animal Friends