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MANCHESTER, NH – Chanting “Kangaroos Are Not Shoes — Don’t Be a Dick’s,” the New Hampshire Animal Rights League stormed Dick’s Sporting Goods at the Mall of New Hampshire on Feb. 3 calling on the store to stop selling shoes made from kangaroo skins.
Dick’s Sporting Goods is the country’s largest distributor of kangaroo-based soccer cleats made by Germany-based Adidas, Japanese-based Mizuno, and other companies.
Australia’s commercial kangaroo industry kills almost two million wild kangaroos each year. Commercial shooters are permitted to kill mother kangaroos even when the joeys are still in their pouch. Joeys are left to die, bludgeoned to death, or decapitated.
“Most people have no idea that the soccer cleats they are buying were made from kangaroos killed in the wild during night-time shooting sprees,” says Joan O’Brien, president of the League.
The kangaroo massacre represents the world’s largest slaughter of land-based wildlife on the planet.
The protest was in support of the Kangaroos Are Not Shoes campaign by the Center for a Humane Economy. Since the launch of the campaign, Puma, Nike, and New Balance have all announced commitments to halt the sale of kangaroo-based shoes.
New Hampshire Animal Rights League is one of the oldest animal rights groups in the country. Founded in 1977, it was one of the first groups, if not the first, to proudly use the term animal rights in its name. Funded solely by donations, bequeaths, grants, and membership dues the staff is made up entirely of unpaid volunteers.