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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A state lawmaker is introducing last-minute legislation to allow California merchants to continue selling products made from kangaroo leather, such as soccer cleats.
Sales of products made from kangaroo parts will be banned as of Jan. 1 unless the state Legislature intervenes.
The Sacramento Bee reports (http://bit.ly/1JK9Uh5 ) that Assemblyman Mike Gipson, a Carson Democrat, has rewritten legislation to introduce in the final two weeks that would extend sales indefinitely.
Gipson rewrote AB1188, a bill dealing with gambling, to address the importation of products made from kangaroo. He says kangaroo harvests are part of ecological conservation methods by the Australian government.
The newspaper reports that Australia's Department of Agriculture allocated $143,000 last year to a California association that in turn hired a Sacramento lobbying firm to promote extending kangaroo sales.
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