It is great that this event has been taken up and prosecuted. So at least
things have improved. As recently as the 1970s many eagles were shot and the
remains would be tied up on fences along roads. In some grotesque display of
bravado maybe or even more dumb, a weird idea that eagles would see these as
a warning and vacate the area. Even under long and heavy such persecution
the species remained in reasonably strong numbers overall. What would also
be interesting to know is whether this mass killing of eagles had any
positive benefit whatever on lamb survival. I expect it had little if any
benefit. But the question is worth investigating. I assume that the poisoned
lambs were already dead...... To be honest I am surprised that one person
presumably in a limited are could be so destructive of a species like this
that presumably lives at a low population density.
Philip
-----Original Message-----
From: Birding-Aus On Behalf Of
Ross Macfarlane (TPG)
Sent: Tuesday, 25 September, 2018 3:24 PM
To: 'michael hunter';
Subject: wedgetail jail and fine
There has actually been a fair bit of publicity about it, e.g. on the ABC,
Weekly Times and local papers, and various opinion pieces as well it:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-07/wedge-tailed-eagles-suspected-poisoned
-in-east-gippsland/9845124
https://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/news/victoria/news-story/40c7b8d80f32ebc79
deaef0b6db1a0f0?nk=f33c876b60bcf8a5b645918eda0f4c3d-1537852780
https://theconversation.com/mass-slaughter-of-wedge-tailed-eagles-could-have
-australia-wide-consequences-98011
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jun/07/more-than-100-wedge-tail
ed-eagles-found-dead-on-victorian-farm
etc.
-----Original Message-----
From: Birding-Aus <> On Behalf Of michael
hunter
Sent: Tuesday, 25 September 2018 1:39 PM
To:
Subject: wedgetail jail and fine
The Sale magistrate is to be very highly commended for jailing Murray James
Silvester for slaughtering Wedge-tailed Eagles. It is unlikely that
Silvester will kill native birds again.
As a criminal could he now be deported?
How much publicity did the magistrates decision attract ? Apart from
Birding-aus I neither saw nor heard anything about it in the National media
or elsewhere. From the Conservation view the jailing decision ought to be
broadcast far and wide. Much more so than the prolonged outcry over culling
six sharks in the Whitsundays. Wedgies are a much more visible and iconic
native than Tiger Sharks.
Like genital mutilation and other unsavoury practices a small number of
immigrants bring to Australia, shooting or otherwise killing our native
fauna warrants zero tolerance, in Public Opinion and the Courts. Not that
Australian born fauna killers are guiltless. Publicising the penalties would
help a lot to minimise the killing.
Very Sincerely
Michael
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