Hi Mark,
--- On Fri, 6/12/09, Mark and Mandy Young <> wrote:
> I agree, this issue needs to be talked with calmer heads.
But then you wrote:
> Shooters are shooters for one reason, to shoot and kill
> wildlife.
This is a huge generalisation and can't possibly be true. A lot of shooters
never shoot anything other than inanimate targets. They also aren't all
loonies that shoot anything which moves. That's a funny joke in South Park but
not true in reality.
> They aren't out to manage wildlife or to manage
> habitats. And letting shooters loose in National
> Parks is a poor way to manage either. If shooter
> want to shoot feral animals, fine, but not
> native animals, and not in National Parks and
> other such reserves.
I don't think anyone is declaring open season on everything just yet. I
haven't heard anything that suggests the protected status of fauna is about to
radically change. As others have said, having any kind of uncontrolled gun use
in areas where there are the general public would be crazy. Can I mention that
not so long ago I drove a couple of hundred kilometres to Bungonia Gorge to
discover that it was closed for feral animal control? I think there are
circumstances where the use of guns to reduce numbers of feral and even native
animals makes sense, but only where it can be strictly controlled. Excessive
numbers of grey kangaroos can threaten other native species just as surely as
goats or pigs.
I don't know if you've seen the sort of damage that feral animals like rabbits,
pigs, goats and horses can do in a national park. I've seen damage from goats
in Sundown NP, Horses and pigs in Barrington Tops, and even wild cattle in
Robinson Gorge NP (since renamed). I wonder whether the large numbers of Grey
Kangaroos in some areas of Namadgi are doing damage. I'd be curious to know
what method of control you'd suggest as an alternative for the control of large
ferals such as goats or pigs.
We need to do more to try to retain what native species we have left. As far
as birds are concerned, the feral predators of most concern are cats and foxes,
but habitat loss and climate change are probably going to have a greater impact.
I'm not a supporter of the gun lobby by any means, but it doesn't make sense to
tar all its members with a brush taken from the likes of the NRA in the US.
Rob
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