Sporting giant PUMA drops kangaroo leather from its boots

German sports manufacturer PUMA announced on Friday it would stop making soccer boots from kangaroo.

Now the activists are taking aim at Nike and Adidas to do the same.

Australia's kangaroo industry launched a campaign last year to fight back against US animal activists who were trying to outlaw the kangaroo trade.

Activists in the US have joined forces with other groups around the world, including Australia, in an emotive social media campaign claiming kangaroo culling amounts to a wildlife massacre.

What is not promoted is the fact Australia's kangaroo populations have exploded since European settlement and governments legislate for culling to keep numbers manageable.

About two million kangaroos in Australia each year depending in state quotas, from a total population estimated to be 30 million-40 million.

The US is the second biggest buyer of kangaroo products behind Europe and the US trade alone is worth about $80 million annually.

According to the Kangaroo Industry Association of Australia, the industry is worth more than $200 million to the Australian economy and employs more than 3000 people, most who live and work are in remote and rural communities.

Kangaroo leather has traditionally been valued by companies like Puma for its lightness and strength.

In a statement, PUMA said it was phasing out its use of "K-leather" in favour of a new material it calls "K-better".

Puma says K-better is a new, non-animal based material containing at least 20 per cent recycled material.

Boots made from the new product went on sale last week.

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"PUMA is so convinced by the performance characteristics of K-better that it will stop producing football boots with kangaroo leather altogether this year," the company said.

PUMA distributes its products in more than 120 countries.

Australia's kangaroo industry has been trying to counter animal activists on several fronts, trying to have the actual information on culling put before the public.

US politicians in several states are working with activists to have the use of kangaroo products banned.

One US group, the Washington based lobby group Center for a Humane Economy, said the pressure was now on Nike and Adidas to "cleanse their supply chains of the skins of the iconic marsupials".

"Soccer cleats made of kangaroo skins make up an estimated 70 per cent of the demand for commercially slaughtered kangaroos," according to the center's senior attorney Kate Schultz.

"Many soccer cleat manufacturers - including the biggest names, such as Nike, Adidas, and, before now, Puma - have long propped up this lucrative industry that represents the largest commercial slaughter of land-based wild animals in the world."

Kangaroo industry association chief executive Dennis King said the claims of animal activists were clearly fuelled by misinformation which the industry had sought to counter.

The association last year directly briefed key kangaroo meat and leather importing stakeholders and customers in Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands and the US.

The industry said the European Commission had recently dismissed an appeal to ban the import of kangaroo meat, rejecting arguments made by three animal activist groups.

Export data shows Europe is the top destination for kangaroo meat with Belgium accounting for 775 tons, or about a third of the total in 2019.

KIAA president Ray Borda said the industry was confident in its robust standards of excellence in animal welfare, sustainability and food safety.

"We respect the life of the animals harvested under government-controlled conservation plans by utilising all parts of these animals including the meat and skins. No animal is slain just for the skin."

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