Species Use Database

Eastern grey kangaroo
Macropus giganteus

Used for Food and feed, Decorative and aesthetic and Damage mitigation (to reduce impacts on rural people, landscapes and activities) in New South Wales

A. Species

Scientific name: Macropus giganteus

Common name(s): Eastern grey kangaroo

Global IUCN Red List Threat Status: Least Concern


B. Location of use

Geographic location(s):

  • New South Wales

Country/Region:


C. Scale of assessment

Scale of assessment: National Level

Name/Details of location: New South Wales


D. Timescale of use

Start Year: 1975

End Year: 2015


E. Information about the use

How is the wild species sourced?: Wild species sourced from its natural habitat

Type of use: Extractive

Practice of use: Hunting and/or Trapping of live terrestrial and aerial animals

Lethal or non-lethal: Lethal

Does this use involve take/extraction of: The whole entire organism

Purpose(s) of end use: Food and feed, Decorative and aesthetic and Damage mitigation (to reduce impacts on rural people, landscapes and activities)

Motivation of use: Largescale commercial exploitation for trade and Population/Area Management

Is this use legal or illegal?: Legal under national law


F. Information about the Users

Which stakeholder(s) does the record primarily focus on?: Non-local Internal, National / local government and National / local private sector


G. Information about the sustainability of use

Is there evidence that the use is having an impact on the target species?: Wild species sourced from its natural habitat

Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from an ecological perspective been recorded?: Yes, considered sustainable

Details of assessment carried out: Based on the evidence assessed, which shows that the harvested species is widespread and not declining

Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: Cited from the paper: "The short answer to the most pressing questions of sustainability is that the kangaroo populations of NSW are large, running into millions per species, that commercial harvesting is sustainable and that the kangaroo populations are not declining because of the commercial harvest."

Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from an economic perspective been recorded?: No, sustainability not determined

Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from a social perspective been recorded?: No, sustainability not determined

Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from a human health perspective been recorded?: No, sustainability not determined

Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from an animal health/welfare perspective been recorded?: No, sustainability not determined


Recommendations provided in the record to maintain or enhance the sustainability of the use of the target species

"there is the necessity for scientists to participate in media debates, answer questions raised in parliament and in legal forums, and to communicate with fellow ecologists on the scientific research and the detailed results." "the numbers of each of the four species of kangaroos that are commercially taken need to be at the centre of any intelligent management structure."


Record source

Information about the record source: scientific_pub

Date of publication/issue/production: 2018-01-01T00:00:00+0000

Source Reference(s):

Lunney, D., Purcell, B., McLeod, S., Grigg, G., Pople, T. and Wolter, S., 2018. Four decades of research and monitoring the populations of kangaroos in New South Wales: one of the best long-term datasets in Australia. Australian Zoologist, 39(4), pp.784-800. https://doi.org/10.7882/AZ.2018.040

Date of record entry: 2023-04-17


Records from the same source material: