When David Beckham arrived in the United States this summer to play for the Los Angeles Galaxy, he was the subject of a media frenzy. One detail that did not escape reporters was that the international soccer superstar chose to have his cleats -- Adidas Predators -- crafted from synthetic materials rather than the company's traditional kangaroo leather.
In progressive, animal-friendly California, Beckham's gesture resonated. Since 1970, the state has prohibited the sale of kangaroo-skin products, a bold precedent. But now Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will be at the center of the debate as he decides whether to sign or veto a bill that would roll back the kangaroo protection law.
Soft, pliable kangaroo leather is used not only to make soccer shoes but handbags, golf gloves, baseball mitts and other leather items. The 'roo-skin sporting goods and accessories are often labeled "K leather" or "RKT" (rubberized kangaroo technology) to obfuscate their origin as the pelts of the iconic Australian marsupial.
About 7 million kangaroos are brutally killed each year in Australia for pet food and leather, and 3 million of their hides are exported to supply the global commercial trade.
The killing itself is callous and inhumane. Many kangaroos are spotlighted from trucks and shot at night in the outback, where there is scant scrutiny or regulation. When female kangaroos with joeys are killed, the youngsters are pulled from their mothers' pouches and stomped on, clubbed, decapitated or left for the scavengers.
Although some kangaroo species are plentiful, others are threatened with extinction. The commercial hunting of kangaroos often leads to the killing of the rare "look-alike" cousins -- heightened by the nighttime slaughter and the financial incentive to "harvest" as many of the animals as possible.
In 1970, then-Gov. Ronald Reagan signed the law to stem the tide of kangaroo imports in California -- and to add the state's voice to the protection of an imperiled species abroad.
There are plenty of examples of governments implementing domestic policies that protect animals outside their own borders -- even when the animals are not threatened or endangered. For example, the United States doesn't allow the sale of pelts from dogs or cats from China or seals from Canada, even though they are plentiful and are killed by the millions to supply the fur trade.
