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Hi Lawrie,
Of course it should come as no surprise that I
agree with you (mostly).
It is a statement of the overly obvious that
European-based changes are the most important pressures. You could have added
collision with cars to the threats. However when those immense impacts, that
bring populations of these fauna to dangerously low levels, are considered, it
does not help that the few birds that do survive are at great danger from people
(of any race) being encouraged to take two or so birds each year, especially if
there are many people doing so. I am not dumb enough to imagine (or imply) that
only aboriginal people hunt Bustards. I would also call it less than
semi-traditional. (My being pedantic related to that I assume the
intention of the original remark was that people be encouraged to target only
two birds when presumably formerly they took more - because there were
more.) Also having observed Bustards from a car, I imagine that hunting them
from a car, with firearms would have to be dead easy. Given all the other
recently-imposed pressures, sustained intense predation by people (of any race)
could easily become the major immediate factor in the birds' decline and
encouraging this is the aspect I was critical of).
Philip
-----Original Message-----
From:
Lawrie Conole <>
To:
Philip A. Veerman <>; Matthew
Herring <>;
birding aus <>
Date:
Sunday, 11 March 2001 16:01
Subject: Re: [BIRDING-AUS]
Australian Bustard Decline (Kimberley)
Philip Veerman
wrote:
>I suppose it could be pedantic but Matthew Herring wrote,
in relation to
the Australian Bustard decline in the Kimberley, about an
>aboriginal
fellow:
>"but now only takes a few a year and
encourages others to do the same."
>Surely it depends how many
people he encourages to do this. I would not
like it if someone
encouraged me to do this! There very >likely are more
people there
than long ago. Also rifles and cars makes the hunting easier
than walking
and spears.
Philip
Don't you think it's a bit rich casting
aspersions on Aboriginal people
wishing to follow semi-traditional
practices? The reasons why bustards
might be in short supply are
surely not due to the efforts of Aboriginal
hunting practices, even if
they have gone beyond what might be called
subsistence hunting. The
real problems for bustards (and other animals) are
the endangering
processes unleashed by European land (mis)management, feral
animals,
climate change, etc..... Why are people so averse to
traditional
wildlife harvesting in Australia? The main species
harvested (Short-tailed
Shearwaters, kangaroos, Emus, etc.) are not
declining as a consequence of
traditional harvesting, and I can't think
of any other species that have
been brought to the status of 'endangered'
by Aboriginal people in Australia
since 1788. Maybe we should be
applying pressure to the state and federal
conservation bureaucracies to
better manage fauna and flora so that, amongst
other things, fauna
populations should be able to be sustainably harvested
by indigenous
Australians.
Lawrie
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L
A W R I E C O N O L E
2/37 Myrnong Crescent, Ascot Vale,
Victoria 3032 AUSTRALIA.
Phone AH (03) 9370 3928; BH (03) 9510 5750;
Mobile (0419) 588 993.
E-mail: <>
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