One Stupid Action
It has been virtually impossible to miss the recent story of the American tourist, Sam Jones, who last week posted a video on social media of her capturing a wild wombat joey, taking it away from its mother.
Frustratingly, this single action has also sparked criticism about the integrity of legal shooting programs and prompted parliamentary debate about shooting permits.
In response to the outrage that Ms Jones experienced, she posted a statement to her 96,000 Instagram followers in an attempt to justify her actions.
In her statement Ms Jones criticises longstanding, evidence-based management programs and shooting permits currently available to control wildlife, asserting that these actions are often inhumane.
Even though these programs exist for a reason and are designed to protect the environment and support animal welfare outcomes, these sentiments have been echoed in online articles by Crikey and the Guardian.
Victorian Animal Justice Party MP, Georgie Purcell, penned the piece for the Guardian Attacking a young tourist over her treatment of a wombat is hypocritical and misses the point. The article criticises government programs designed to control wildlife, including where they are suffering due to over-abundant populations.
“We should not have to endure lectures from our leaders on how to respect wildlife when their own policies continue to exploit and harm these animals with such obvious disregard.”
She also brought a motion, that includes legal shooting programs, for debate before the Victorian Parliament.
So, what can we learn from this single moment of online infamy? That in the day and age of prolific online usage and chronic outrage that one single action can lead to unwarranted policy change.
While this one individual was not one of our members, or even Australian, it still creates a red herring for politicians to erroneously follow and seek legislation change.
As a core part of the Sporting Shooters’ Association of Australia (SSAA) mandate and purpose, we will continue to monitor such issues and advocate for rational, evidence-based policy.
In the meantime, it’s a useful reminder to all of us to be mindful of what we post online, and take the time to review the SSAA Code of Conduct and Social Media Policy available here: About Us – Sporting Shooters’ Association of Australia (SSAA).