Animal Justice Party call out tourism ad over Ruby the kangaroo mascot

A politician elected on an animal justice platform has ridiculed Tourism Australia’s new mascot, Ruby the ‘roo, claiming it would be shot and hung from the back of a ute in real life. 

Animal Justice Party MP Mark Pearson said the push to attract tourists with the fresh new face did not tell the whole truth about how kangaroos are treated in Australia.

The claim came amid calls to stamp out ‘out of control’ culling of the animal.  

‘If Tourism Australia’s Brand Ambassador Ruby Roo was real, she would have been shot as part of a government ‘Kangaroo Management Plan’ and hung up by her leg on the back of a ute,’ Mr Pearson said in a statement.  

He said the culling of 20 million kangaroos each year despite the animal being recognised as an Aussie symbol across the world, is over the top.  

‘If the tourism industry is going to have our icon that is on our coat of arms for Australia, then talk about what we are actually doing to kangaroos,’ Mr Pearson told on Thursday. 

‘Many people are saying they are not seeing the kangaroos we used to see.’ 

He said he had travelled throughout the Northern Territory and to South Australia and had only seen one kangaroo, dead on the side of the road. 

The animal advocate added the kangaroo is enduring the largest commercial killing of any land-dwelling mammal in the world.

‘We have to get together and work out how to live with these animals, not kill them,’ he said. 

Fordham shot back with statistics that 45million of the marsupials were counted in 2016, with those numbers most likely increasing to 50 million. 

But Mr Pearson said a NSW inquiry into the welfare and wellbeing of kangaroos found the marsupial numbers are unknown. 

‘The counting mechanisms and methodology is seriously in question,’ he said.   

‘We can’t keep saying we are overrun by kangaroos, they have been here for millions of years, they are trying to survive.’

Fordham added the NSW Farmers Association claimed kangaroos are competing with livestock for cover and that there are too many ‘roos on the landscape. 

The computer-generated kangaroo in the ad was unveiled this week to follow in the footsteps of celebrities Paul Hogan, Chris Hemsworth and Laura Bingle — former faces of Aussie tourism.  

Ruby the ‘roo, who is voiced by Rose Byrne, will be paraded on electronic billboards across the world to promote Tourism Australia’s latest campaign, ‘Come and Say G’Day’.