It is my opinion that allowing recreational hunters into National parks is in
the best interests of our native fauna. I personally know a large number of
people that are keen to help eradicate some of the feral beasties that are
damaging our wild places. For example, someone mentioned the Warrumbungles - a
friend of mine used to shoot for NP and in one 4 day helicopter shoot they rid
the park of 1500 feral goats. Can you imagine the damage that number of goats
would do in a single day to the fragile flora of that NP? Yet most of us
casual birders who walk the trails there would never see on because we don't
see most of the truly wild spots. We are limited by time and accessibility to
the NP trails.
I've seen the pictures and videos of foxes digging up mallee fowl mounds - who
wouldn't want to see the foxes eradicated? Why would we take the alarmist
stance of suggesting hunters might actually target mallee fowl? All the
hunters I know love the bush and the Australian animals in it.
Another guy I know shot a feral cat on an outback billabong. In its stomach
were 30 netted dragons, 2 earless dragons (endangered) a native mouse and bird.
He counted 35 other feral cats at the one waterhole.
It's easy to sit in the city and conjure up all kinds of extreme examples of
people that have done the wrong thing. The truth is, out there, ferals are out
of control... over 40 000 000 pigs in Australia (some say over 100 million).
Why can't we all work together? I worry for bowra station - where many of us
have been and loved - now run by us conservationists - have we got the budget
to control the already crazy number of cats in places like that where the
threated redthroat and halls babbler roam?
My 2 cents...
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