Hi all
Sorry to have to disagree with Peter on this topic. Occasionally this
thread is raised and previously I have resisted comment however there is
another perspective to this discussion.
It has been my experience that people with untoward intentions toward
our wildlife often have more information about their targets than we
concerned people do. Unless an occurrence is a one off where absolute
secrecy can be assured, the outcome from selective secrecy is more
likely to be negative to the good intention of protection because
secrecy provides a protected environment for poaching to flourish.
Contrary to the regularly held belief that secrecy helps protect our
rarer birds, the best deterrent to poachers is public knowledge of
locations. The knowledge generates interest from responsible people who
have concern and interest about the welfare of the subject. An
effective deterrent is provided from random visits by people with
legitimate interest combined with follow up from authorities if a
suspicious person is observed and reported.
An example is Grey Falcon breeding near Strzelecki Xing. For many
years selective secrecy failed to help protect the birds. Sighting
locations for Grey Falcon in the Far North of SA were kept quiet and
every year most known nesting attempts failed. Reports from Cooper
Basin oil workers and pastoralists about persons with roof top ladders
were occasionally rumoured but frustratingly never anything much was
reported that could be followed up. Often unidentified vehicle tracks
could be found leading from the nest tree and it seemed that poachers
alway knew the location of Grey Falcon nests before anyone else. In
this case it was clear that intended secrecy was working against the
welfare of the birds so a decision was made to reveal general locations
where Grey Falcon could likely be observed and almost immediately we
(SANPWS Far North) began to receive a useful flow of monitored
information. And for years after that, these Grey Falcons bred
successfully.
There are exceptions but generally, selective secrecy puts our rarest
wildlife of interest at risk. Importantly however, if suspicious
individuals are observed a thorough description with all relevant ID
details should be reported to NPWS ASAP.
For what it is worth
Regards
Ian May
St Helens, Tasmania
Peter Waanders wrote:
Could people who might want to assist John please refrain from posting
specific locations for Scarlet-chested Parrot on birding-aus but rather send
it to him directly. According to inside information from SA NP&W there
appears to be a real risk of poaching. Whether this is justified or not,
it's probably better to be safe than sorry.
cheers
Peter Waanders
Southern Birding Services
PO Box 420
Waikerie, 5330 South Australia
mob.: 0409 763172
sat.: 0424 212889
SA Birding: http://www.sabirding.com
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