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Unique gift souvenir: kangaroo scrotum bottle opener

by Abha Malpani on Mar 12th 2008 at 4:20PM

In 2007, over 3.6 million kangaroos were available for harvest in Australia. What does that mean? There are enough dead kangaroo testicles available to make 'kangaroo scrotum bottle openers' an authentic and valid souvenir from Down Under.

Although kangaroo is a subject of protection under the Australian Government, the animals need to be constantly harvested to control numbers, thanks to its prolific affinity to reproduce.

I lived in Australia for three years where, after eating kangaroo tail, buffalo sausages and crocodile cutlets, I thought I'd seen and done most things authentically Ozzie. Kangaroo scrotum never came into the picture though. Bummer.

Having said that, I'm not sure how I'd feel holding on to kangaroo testicles to open a bottle (what do they stuff them with?), but I would certainly NEVER forget the person who gave it to me. They are available mostly in grey, brown and white, and $25 is not a bad price for something as "special" as this.

Gallery: "Gross" Food

[Via Vagabondish]

Filed under: Arts and Culture, Australia

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

The Dude Mar 13th 2008 5:04PM

I'm thinking of moving to Oz in October. It's such a cool land. But this my friends, is UNCOOL!

www.dudeindebt.com

wazzy Mar 13th 2008 5:15PM

Yo Dude!

It may interest you to know that in the land of Oz we consider Roos a pest. They mess up farm land and compete for resources with farm animals...

shoot the bloody lot - wait! maybe keep a handful in a Zoo, so yanks can come here and go "oooh aint that cute..."

Jeff Mar 13th 2008 5:13PM

I did a little work as a kangaroo shooter and picked up hundreds of the things by their scrotums. They're nature's perfect handle.

While the rock wallaby is protected in Australia, the Big Reds aren't, and they can do hundreds of thousands of dollars in crop damage in a single night.

I wrote about it -- you can see the post here: http://andiamnotlyingforreal.blogspot.com/2006/04/roo-shooter-part-1.html

shawn Mar 13th 2008 5:28PM

if you were a real man, you would box them

Jeff Simmermon Mar 13th 2008 5:15PM

Actually, here's the URL in a friendlier format:

http://tinyurl.com/38p6fu

Kevin Mar 13th 2008 5:39PM

I agree with the above comments about Roo's being pest.

The Scrotum Bottle opener is just part of the wacky Humor in Aust.

havafati Mar 13th 2008 6:00PM

You can also get Kangaroo scrotum coin purses. I've had one for years. Cost about 25 aussie dollars, coin they can hold varies due to differing scrot sizes.

Chris@OZ Mar 13th 2008 8:16PM

Since we've cleared a lot of land for farming the kangaroo population has exploded. This has led to problems such as disease breakout in kangaroo populations, damage to farmland and harsher competition for other plant eating animals.

So, quite a lot of kangaroos are 'culled' (a nice word for killed I guess) and are then turned into animal food, blood and bone and souvenirs.

Sad, but true.

We also eat kangaroo meat (not all of us) but I suspect for this purpose they are farmed not hunted.

Kel Mar 13th 2008 10:19PM

I'm an aussie and never eaten Kangaroo meat before, so can't say it's "typically Aussie". But definately one of our well known cuisines so maybe I should give it a shot.

Maybe I should buy the bottle opener and take it overseas with me, then look innocent when I try to use it and people are disgusted *grin*

Andrew Mar 13th 2008 11:42PM

I only had it at the beginning of this year, chewy but tasty and high in iron.

simple Mar 14th 2008 1:16AM

looks like the sacks are still in there. are these stuffed balls or the reall deal? smells funny to me.

Captian Australia Mar 14th 2008 1:18AM

I live in Australia, this is the first i've heard of these things. Roo meat's bloody tasty though.

charles stokes Mar 14th 2008 3:09PM

Now this takes the cake===I really thought Americans where crazy==Well Aussies have out done them==In the Usa==They are called Mountain Oysters==In the Mountainous states!! They are Breaded & deep fried!!I'm sure they are used other ways!!But as bottle openers--come on ==And their reasons behind killing Kangkaroos==There is no reason but they do it for the hell of it==In the usa==they kill the deer==the bear=They say for food==If you are starving -yes but just for the sake of killing!!==Who are the animals=Us humans!!

Kiz Mar 19th 2008 11:13AM

One of my flatmates has one of these and we were forever trying to work out what it was. Most people thought it was some kind of scrotum, never thought of kangaroo! And never thought it was real! I think its got wood or plastic underneath as its solid.

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