Competing with livestock for water and grazing, kangaroos can be seen as a pest

CAUGHT in the spotlight, the large kangaroo watches us impassively before returning to its grazing. After checking through his rifle sight, Tom Garrett slides on his ear defenders and advises me to do likewise.

As a vegetarian for the past 10 years, I’m an unlikely candidate for a hunting party. But considering my plans, shouldn’t I take a look for myself at how these animals are slaughtered? You see, I’m thinking of becoming a kangatarian – someone who eats no meat apart from kangaroo.

One reason for the dietary switch is personal. After a long battle with anaemia that is hard to combat with iron tablets, I feel that what my body really needs is the occasional hunk of red meat.

But there are other factors involved. Kangaroos are arguably the most ethically and environmentally sound source of meat on the planet. The animals whose flesh ends up on supermarket shelves live wild before dying a humane death. They have a different digestive system to ruminants like cattle and sheep, so emit negligible methane, making roo meat the number one choice for combating global warming. What’s more, one kangaroo consumes about a third as much plant material as a sheep, and just 13 per cent of the water. This is a significant benefit in a country that suffers periodic droughts, which climate change may worsen.

Kangaroos are culled to keep their numbers down, but with demand for kangaroo meat limited, most animals end up as pet food or are left to rot. What if, instead of treating …