The Outcomes
What happens to a joey after its mother is shot for dog food?
When a kangaroo mother is shot, if a joey is found in the mother’s pouch, and they are killed or left to die.
The code of practice for “macropod management” in all states refers to “dispatching joeys with blunt force trauma”. In reality this involves the shooter pulling the joey out of the frequently still living mother and swinging its head against the back of the slaughter vehicle or stamping on its head.
The other frequently used option is to let the joey go or just leave it where it is, to starve to death.
Sometimes the joeys are rescued by wildlife carers, who will hand-raise them until they are old enough to be released back into the wild, somewhere where these not quite human shooters are not working.
It’s important to note that the best outcome for a joey is for it to be left with its mother and not have to go through the stress of being orphaned, which is why so much effort goes into stopping the biggest land based slaughter of wildlife on Earth.