WHEN a Lidl store opened in my town I was pleased as it meant it saved me a half-hour drive to do my shopping.

But last week I noticed in their freezer they were stocking kangaroo meat. I was horrified and sought the manager to voice my concern. Of course it is head office which decides products of that nature, but before I emailed to complain I read as much about the kangaroo trade as possible online.

Female kangaroo babies are the size of a thumb nail when born and live in the mother’s pouch for quite a while. She will usually have another baby at foot, so when the adult is shot dead with one or more bullet, the baby is pulled out of the pouch and is either discarded or hit over the head. The hunter aims for the head which is quite small.

The organisation which is campaigning to ban this trade and has petitions set up is ViVa.

Tesco, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s have discontinued selling kangaroo, thank goodness; Lidl and Iceland are still stocking it.

I do hope eventually they too will bow to public pressure and have a conscience too. Until then, I will shop elsewhere.

Marjorie Embling, Crook

EDITOR'S NOTE:

The following response was received from Iceland Foods: “We note the concerns of your reader Ms Embling, and are pleased to inform her that Iceland removed all lines containing kangaroo meat from sale earlier this year.”