Footage of teen bashing kangaroo joey to death sparks outrage

Disgusting footage of a young man bashing a kangaroo joey to death has been filmed and shared on Snapchat and Facebook, sparking outrage from animal activists.

The eastern grey kangaroo can be seen attempting to crawl to get away. Its leg appears to have already been snapped at the hip before the teenager hauled it from the ute tray.

Laughter can be heard in the background of the footage as the young man pretends to be a boxer, and punches and stomps the joey.

A woman was seen filming and encouraging him, before the footage shows her stomping on the joey’s head herself.

The joey can be seen bleeding from the head and nose as it lies on the ground.

Animal Justice Party MP Mark Pearson, who has campaigned for the protection of kangaroos for over a decade, described the footage as “revolting.”

“This revolting behavior is symptomatic of a culture propagated by the Federal, State and Local Governments, who treat kangaroos and native wildlife as pests and generously dole out permits to shoot and kill them,” he said in a statement.

“The Australian Government does not have respect for our wildlife, and this top-down disrespect gives rise to a culture in which a young man will bash a joey to death for the purpose of a Snapchat video – while his friends laugh.

“Kangaroos have become one of the most persecuted animals in the country. We take them for granted. The Government oversees a commercial kangaroo industry that shoots them in their thousands for pet food and leather, while also doling out permits to kill for farmers and property owners, local Councils are culling, even golf courses are culling, and there is recreational shooting in rural areas.

“This is all while their desperate dead bodies line our roads after they’ve managed to survive catastrophic climate change bushfires, floods and droughts.”

Pearson said the government’s “trigger happy” approach to kangaroos was somewhat to blame for the horrific video.

“How can we expect a culture of respect for native animals when at every level of Government kangaroos are treated as disposable?

“Kangaroos are not okay and it’s time to stop taking them for granted. This change needs to come from the top down, because it’s the Australian Government’s trigger-happy approach to kangaroos that we are now seeing reflected in wider culture, with incidents of animal cruelty inflicted by young people increasingly coming into the light.”

The Animal Justice Party has written formal complaints to the RSPCA and NSW Police demanding the crime be thoroughly investigated.

NSW Police has been contacted by news.com.au.