slim6y
Almost Legendary
I did happen to start this thread and hijack another which is wrong. So let that all be a lesson yto you all.
It did start when Cris put me in his/her idiot book for having an opinion that Aussie like to cull things... Especially their own native wildlife.
I have lived here for on a year now and LOVE the country. But the attitude of some Aussies to their wildlife is atrocious borderline genocide in some cases.
In NZ we have a problem with an introduced pest.. Funny enough it's an Aussie... Possums! There are something like 80 million possums in NZ eating and deforesting our wonderful land. I am not exactly sure how they were introduced. But they are heavily hunted for sport in NZ and I don't say it's right. So before you start saying to me, look at your own (ex) country let's get this thread right.. I am talking about Australian natural wildlife!
Now I read in many areas how kangaroo populations have exploded. But what many of this editorials fail to tell you is how come these roo populations exploded. Here is the low down...
Farming our land sustainabley meant irrigation and fertilisation of the land. The land grew quickly. Along with the high growth of food for cattle, sheep and humans came an increased number of invertabrates and vertabrates now thriving in these new conditions.
In particular macrovertabrates such as roos.
These roos became so over populated and were contiunally increasing their poplation size that it was no longer sustainable to have roos and humans living side by side. One had to go. Was it going to be humans??? Nope... The choice by many governments was to cull the critters. Even the RSPCA had a say on how to do it humanely.
Relocation was never an option. Logistically impossible.
But this doesn't count for all roo species. Infact many roo species are on a heavy decline due to loss of usable habitats, deforestation, food sources destroyed, land use changes etc.
So my point is - should we actually cull our national species??? No where else in the world do these animals exist....
Next on the list.. bats... the glorious fruit bats...
We remove their homes plant up forests of exotic fruit species and then complain that the bats are over populating... do we cull them to?
Crocodiles start coming into cities becuase much of their land is used for farming and they are frowned upon when cattle get eaten... Do we shoot them?
Imagine if carpet pythons got to plague proportions... Do we kill them to satisfy our wants (not needs)?
I don't know what this thread is going to attract... but I am saying that culling is never a good option and there is always better options. Unfortunately humans are to stubbourn to move themselves.
So if you want to add your two cents worth don't target me... target the ideas... That way no one feels like they have been bitten... I am keen to hear the views of actuall wild life friendly aussies.. and most of you should fit into that category...
Thanks anyhow... I shoudl re-read this rant to see if it makes sense.. but blah... not gonna happen...
Will add more if the debate heats up...
It did start when Cris put me in his/her idiot book for having an opinion that Aussie like to cull things... Especially their own native wildlife.
I have lived here for on a year now and LOVE the country. But the attitude of some Aussies to their wildlife is atrocious borderline genocide in some cases.
In NZ we have a problem with an introduced pest.. Funny enough it's an Aussie... Possums! There are something like 80 million possums in NZ eating and deforesting our wonderful land. I am not exactly sure how they were introduced. But they are heavily hunted for sport in NZ and I don't say it's right. So before you start saying to me, look at your own (ex) country let's get this thread right.. I am talking about Australian natural wildlife!
Now I read in many areas how kangaroo populations have exploded. But what many of this editorials fail to tell you is how come these roo populations exploded. Here is the low down...
Farming our land sustainabley meant irrigation and fertilisation of the land. The land grew quickly. Along with the high growth of food for cattle, sheep and humans came an increased number of invertabrates and vertabrates now thriving in these new conditions.
In particular macrovertabrates such as roos.
These roos became so over populated and were contiunally increasing their poplation size that it was no longer sustainable to have roos and humans living side by side. One had to go. Was it going to be humans??? Nope... The choice by many governments was to cull the critters. Even the RSPCA had a say on how to do it humanely.
Relocation was never an option. Logistically impossible.
But this doesn't count for all roo species. Infact many roo species are on a heavy decline due to loss of usable habitats, deforestation, food sources destroyed, land use changes etc.
So my point is - should we actually cull our national species??? No where else in the world do these animals exist....
Next on the list.. bats... the glorious fruit bats...
We remove their homes plant up forests of exotic fruit species and then complain that the bats are over populating... do we cull them to?
Crocodiles start coming into cities becuase much of their land is used for farming and they are frowned upon when cattle get eaten... Do we shoot them?
Imagine if carpet pythons got to plague proportions... Do we kill them to satisfy our wants (not needs)?
I don't know what this thread is going to attract... but I am saying that culling is never a good option and there is always better options. Unfortunately humans are to stubbourn to move themselves.
So if you want to add your two cents worth don't target me... target the ideas... That way no one feels like they have been bitten... I am keen to hear the views of actuall wild life friendly aussies.. and most of you should fit into that category...
Thanks anyhow... I shoudl re-read this rant to see if it makes sense.. but blah... not gonna happen...
Will add more if the debate heats up...