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Hi Birders,
Laurie Knight drew our attention to the problems of
winegrowers shooting birds, mainly Lorikeets and Rosellas, in the Adelaide
Hills. A similar problem of wildife destruction has been brought to my attention
in the NSW Hunter Valley where new wineries have been established in areas of
and or adjacent to woodland and natural forest, and nets are used to protect the
grapes. I understand that many birds like Noisy Friarbirds, Eastern Rosellas,
Cuckoo-shrikes, Whipbirds, Grey Shrike-thrushes, and other birds that might
forage in vineyards close to forest are being caught in the nets and die. If
anyone has more information on this I would be interested to hear about and if
any representations have been made to authorities on this matter, and what were
the outcomes.
Wearing another hat, I am the Birds Australia
representative on the NSW Game Bird Review Committee. I am still finding my way
though the issues at present having just taken over from the previous
representative. It is my concern that in order to protect rice crops in NSW,
licensed shooters are allowed to shoot ducks and swans in a magnitude along
similar lines as is claimed in the press release for the numbers of rosellas and
lorikeets shot in South Australia. The issues are complex and some farmers
sufferer considerable personal hardhsip because of bird damage, and I can
appreciate their concerns. However Governments and communities should be aware
of bird conservationists' concerns and should be working towards acceptable
resolutions to the problems. I would be interested in hearing from people who
have any views on these issues. Please contact me direct.
At the next meeting of the Bird Interest Group of
NSW (BIGnet) 24-25 March 2001 at Newcastle, I intend to report back to the
meeting about these two NSW examples of possibly unnecessary wildife
destruction.
Alan Morris
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