Yes, you read right KANGAROO SCROTA. Indeed there is a demand for this type of keychains in the land Down Under. I have to thank Mr Kevin Cloonan who emailed the link for this interesting story.
Want to know more than read on.
DANIEL BATEMAN | March 12th, 2013
QUEENSLAND'S wild wet season has caused a problem for a Townsville taxidermist who has been forced to look further afield for kangaroo scrota to make his popular souvenirs.
John Kreuger has been earning a small fortune making and selling bottle openers made from waste meat from macropods.
Mr Kreuger, who introduced famous stuffed cane toad souvenirs to the world in the 1980s, started making the tanned and stuffed testicle products about two years ago.
Using offal from a kangaroo meat processing plant in Brisbane, the 71-year-old has been able to pump out about 500 hollowed scrota an hour at his Herveys Range workshop, using a special "de-nutter" machine.
The unique bottle-openers have been selling like hotcakes through distributors in souvenir stores in Australia's major metropolitan cities, for about $25 each.
However, he said extreme weather across the country, including Queensland's floods, had delivered a swift kick to his business's nether regions, forcing him to source meat from interstate.
"The kangaroos are pretty smart animals," he said.
"They know days in advance when it's going to rain, so they head back to the desert country.
"Of course, when the fires happened at the same, the traditional hunting areas were empty of kangaroos.
"It's been a tough year for the graziers and the roo shooters, processors and exporters."
The kangaroo meat industry is only just bouncing back after a four-year export ban to Russia was lifted.
The suspensions reportedly wiped out more than half of the $120 million industry.
Mr Kreuger said the Russian ban, combined with a shortage of roo shooters, had also left his offal options limited, particularly when faced with the rising cost of transporting kangaroo meat from processing plants in Adelaide and New South Wales to Townsville.
"It's not quite panic stations yet," he said.
"I've got something like 40,000 scrota stockpiled in freezers in Townsville.
"I've got enough work to keep me going for another 12 months."
In the meantime, Mr Kreuger, who has been stuffing animals locally for about 30 years, has been filling so many orders for the souvenirs, he has been able to take somewhat of a backseat role in the balls business.
"I'm doing this more or less because I love doing this," he said. "It employs two people, and one person part-time.
"I do a little bit less now because I'm more into the administration."
Source: http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/article/2013/03/12/377194_news.html
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