Letter - Hunting in parks
Daily Examiner, Page: 8. Tuesday, 7 July 2009
I would like to comment on the article on the environment page (DEX, June 22), headline ‘Shooters Target National Parks in NSW’.
The first paragraph states: “Kangaroos and a host of native birds are in the firing line of a parliamentary bill which aims to allow hunting of these species in national parks.” This statement is completely false, as the bill before parliament proposes no such thing.
Paragraph three continues: “Native species on the list include the eastern grey kangaroo, the western grey kangaroo, the euro and red kangaroos, the black swan, the sulphur-crested cockatoo, the galah, the Australian white ibis, the common bronze wing pigeon, the brown and stubble quail and ten varieties of ducks.” This is another deliberate lie, as there is no proposal to allow hunting of any of these species in national parks and the author of this scurrilous article is fully aware of this fact. The listed species are all protected species in NSW and no-one is allowed to hunt them anywhere without a special licence. Strict conditions are applied to these licences, which are issued by the National Parks and Wildlife Service.
What the bill actually proposes is to allow the hunting of feral animals in national parks. None of these were mentioned in this misleading article. These feral species include foxes, cats, goats and pigs all of which do enormous damage to the environment. Foxes and cats in particular kill countless thousands of small animals and birds each year.
Even the headline of this article is deliberately misleading, and should read: “Shooters target feral animals in national parks.” As for Sharon McGrigor’s statement that animals used to a pristine environment would be stressed by the increased noise levels which could cause pregnant mothers to abort ‘, this is a load of emotive codswallop without a shred of scientific evidence to support it.
Mr Editor, before such articles are printed in The Daily Examiner you should check to see if there is at least a shred of truth in them.
In fact, the only shred of truth in this article is the statement by Don Chesworth of the Sporting Shooters Association of NSW who states: “Our association backs the shooting of feral animals in national parks as it helps the National Parks and Wildlife Service eradication programme.
CM Dwyer, Tyndale.
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