Organisers point out that a slice of cow or pig on a plate is called by the more palatable euphemisms of beef or pork, and want to find a similarly savoury name for cute kangaroos.

Kangaroo meat sales have grown 50-fold in the past decade to create a 200 million dollar a year industry, with Europe a major export market for the low-fat red meat and Russians lapping it up in sausages.

But Australians have been reluctant to eat an animal so closely linked to the national identity, and most kangaroo meat consumed locally is in the form of pet food.

The competition to find a new name for the meat has the support of the Kangaroo Industry Association of Australia.

"We don't eat cow or pig -- the industry for a long time has been saying why do we eat kangaroo?" said chief executive John Kelly.

The organisers said there were more than 300 words for kangaroo and its meat in Aboriginal dialects and suggested entrants give one of those words a "sexy twist".

Hundreds of names have already been put forward, including "Skippy" (the name of a favourite TV kangaroo character), "Yummy" and "Kanga" -- none of which stand a chance of success, the Australian newspaper reported.

The industry's national quota for culling kangaroos in 2005 is 3.9 million animals, a number described by some wildlife activists as a cruel slaughter but defended by the industry as necessary to keep down booming kangaroo populations.

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