Tourism Australia's new mascot targeted by animal rights activists
Tourism Australia has seen all kinds of ambassadors campaigning to bring travellers to Aussie shores.
Names such as Paul Hogan, Lara Bingle and Kylie Minogue have all been the face of Australian tourism, but the latest ambassador aimed at boosting travellers Down Under is the ever-charming, yet computer-generated, Ruby Roo.
Ruby Roo is part of Tourism Australia's push to attract people back to Aussie shores as the nation continues to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.
While the CGI mascot has received a mostly positive welcome online, animal rights activist are not happy, calling out the government's "hypocrisy" over their choice in animal to represent Australia.
"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," NSW Animal Justice Party MP Mark Pearson said.
Speaking to 2GB's Ben Fordham, Pearson said "if the tourism industry is going to have the icon as our signature to the world, then talk about what are we actually doing to kangaroos".
"We can't keep saying, 'Oh my god, we're overrun with kangaroos' because they've been here for millions of years - they're trying to survive," he said.
"We don't know how many kangaroos are out there but this is our native, protected animal, we need to be absolutely certain of how many kangaroos are out there (before we kill them).
"This animal is loved around the world."
The Australian government estimated there are between 40 and 50 million kangaroos across the country, almost double the nation's population of people.
Due to their grazing habits, they've been considered a detrimental pest by some farmers and culling, though controversial, does occur across the country, with certain legal circumstances permitting the shooting of the animal.
But Pearson insisted we need to "work with these animals" and not against them.
"We need to work with these animals, it's not a competition between a cow and a sheep and a kangaroo," he said.
"We're talking about killing kangaroos now and we've been killing kangaroos for 250 years.
"If the agriculture industry is saying we've still got a problem then the methodology which is just killing and maiming animals is not working."
Animals Australia Director of Development Louise Bonomi echoed Pearson's sentiment.
"Tourism Australia using a kangaroo as its 'face' of tourism is the equivalent of Japan adopting a whale as its tourism icon or Canada marketing itself using harp seal images," she said.
Image credits: Tourism Australia