Unfortunately the horrible situation described by Peter and Bev Morgan at
Wyperfeld NP may confront any of us venturing into relatively remote places
searching for birds. Direct confrontation with irresponsible and probably drunk
hooligans is not advised if smashed faces, phones and cameras are not to your
liking.
Having some sort of pre-emptive strategy in place provides considerable peace
of mind to timid souls like myself.
Fortunately I have not yet had to test the following strategy in the face of
real danger but I have on a few occasions used my mobile phone camera to record
evidence of illegal or suspicious activities. If a direct confrontation seems
likely to develop over an observed or imminent illegal activity the images can
be quickly emailed to a distant trusted friend. The actual or potential
offender is perhaps more likely to back off when made aware of the fact that
the phone images have already been sent elsewhere and that the activity is in
fact illegal. However it may be difficult to preserve anonymity and the risk of
future retribution for 'dobbing' may influence decisions.
A more prudent approach may be to concentrate on documenting evidence of
offences as soon as possible after the event so that community pressure can be
applied to all those responsible. Reduced funding for National Parks and talk
of recreational hunting in NPs is a great worry.
===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
http://birding-aus.org
===============================
|
