Michael-
This has worked in NQ, where sacrificial crops of peanuts have been used as
a successful alternative to "culling" Black Cockatoos. The aspect of this
which is of importance from the conservationist's viewpoint, is that the
problem was treated as a community problem, rather than just a problem of
agriculturalists. A typical reaction (and I have been guilty of it myself)
when one hears of wildlife being killed, is to say "bugger the farmers,
they'll just have to stop, and wear the damage to their crops".
Unfortunately that approach doesn't help- the good guys bad guys view serves
only to paint agriculturalists into a corner and their efforts are then
wasted on justifying themselves and calling "greenies" names. It doesn't
help conservationists either. When nothing happens, we become even more
strident in our demands, and we may also end up calling names. It is not a
panacea, but the best attempts at solutions will be cooperative
partnerships, with all interested or involved parties taking some
responsibility for whatever may need to be done. In the case of the
sacrificial crops, I believe the community groups interested in conservation
agreed to lease the land on which the sacrificial crop was planted. The
whole thing had to be arranged through discussion and negotiation. A
departure from the usual name-calling. A community approach is appropriate,
because these problems are community problems. The farmer may grow the
crop, but the farmer is contracted by the consumer to do so. In that sense,
if wildlife as adversely affected by cropping, one could argue that the
consumer is morally responsible, and is really only getting the farmer to do
the dirty work. I'm sure the answer to the flying fox problem must lie
somewhere in cooperative community effort. It won't be easy though.
Scott O'Keeffe
-----Original Message-----
From:
Behalf Of
Sent: 21 March 2001 18:43
To:
Subject: Flying Foxes
Using sacrificial crops is quite common in the British Isles as
a way of lessening the "impact" of birds, especially geese, on
farmers.
A bit more mammalian information:
The Melbourne Royal Botanic Gardens present their case on
http://www.rbgmelb.org.au/batcrisis/ This is less contentious
than their earlier "fact sheet" but does claim that the flying
foxes are not indigenous.
- - - -
The Humane Society International has news on:
http://www.hsi.org.au/latest_news.html
HSI is considering legal action in Victoria. HSI's Nicola Beynon
told me it would help if people write to Senator Robert Hill and
ask that he list the Grey Headed Flying-fox urgently on the
Federal Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation
Act and stops the Botanic Gardens culling as a 'Matter of
National Environmental Significance'.
One of their press releases welcomes court action initiated last
December by a conservationist in Queensland against the
electrocution of Spectacled Flying-foxes (c75,000? left). Does
anyone know what happened ?
Michael Norris
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