Roadkill unacceptable
As much as some people despise Australia’s fauna, particularly wombats due to fencing issues, and macropods as they are viewed as competitors for pasture, many people do appreciate and value their presence. And as much as some accidents are unavoidable, the number of dead wombats along the highway between Pambula and Bega is unacceptable.
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We excuse trucks for their size, speed and inability to avoid hitting an animal, therefore accepting that this is the price “we” pay for transported goods.
We humans don’t pay unless you are the one rescuing or caring for an orphan, which may bring joy but also unconditional commitment in raising and releasing, in the hope a good long life is guaranteed.
How then do we lessen the road kill/injury rate for our already pressured wildlife, including reptiles and echidnas?
Besides being ever vigilant motorists; how about reducing speeds in certain hotspots, or deceasing traffic at certain hours in the night or creating corridors/tunnels allowing smaller creatures to move through.
Nothing is impossible.
One would think due to the number of dead wombats on the roads that they are indeed common, but there is no denying that due to residential housing, habitat loss, fencing material/design, sarcoptic mange, roadkill and shootings, wombats are facing an uncertain and wretched future, as with our wildlife in general.
We must as responsible adults, consider our future generations interests, for in reality it is their world we are borrowing.
Donalea Eaton, Eden
In defence of hunters
I’ve just finished reading a naïve and misinformed letter by Susan Cruttenden criticising the Narooma HuntFest and the efforts of Australian conservation hunters.
To state that we live surrounded by unspoiled and pristine forest could not be further from the truth.
CSIRO figures estimate that there are no less than 25 million wild pigs alone on the eastern seaboard from Cape York Peninsula to the Melbourne GPO. These, alongside the millions of foxes, feral cats, wild dogs, wild goats and deer, do not constitute anything like an “unspoiled South Coast”, the absolute opposite in fact.
These exotic species not only ravage and destroy our native animals, but forests and farmland as well, spreading diseases such as mange and toxoplasmosis, which has a devastating effect on many small marsupials.
Conservation hunters play a crucial and decisive role in the environment and are in actual fact the front line of humane feral animal eradication and control, the alternative being the heinous and indiscriminate, non-species-specific poisoning of these introduced species.
It seems ironic that somebody like Ms Cruttenden can support the indiscriminate and inhumane poisoning of feral and native animals and yet in the same breath criticise those that spend their own time, money and resources fighting the feral threat as humanely as possibly by dispatching these unwanted exotic animals as quickly and cleanly as possible with a well-placed bullet.
Shame Ms Cruttenden, how dare you besmirch the name of the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia that number in excess of 160,000 members and all of them just everyday law-abiding conservationists doing what they can for the environment.
The SSAA has been applauded by not only the government but true conservation groups for its ongoing and successful efforts with hands-on conservation.
It has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars into conservation and native animal welfare, as well as its volunteers spending thousands of man-hours with hands-on conservation efforts.
Get smart Ms Cruttenden, come and join us conservation hunters and learn to become a true conservationist and help us and our fragile environment.