Academic debate has been stifled following concerted efforts by extreme animal activist groups to stop a leading researcher from presenting an unseen paper to his peers, with hate speech and fear prevailing over science and facts.
University of Southern Queensland wildlife ecologist Benjamin Allen was set to present his paper, titled ‘Creating dingo meat products for Southeast Asia: potential market opportunities and cultural dimensions’, at an international conference today, but has been forced to abandon his plans following threats and targeted attacks.
The threats include a petition calling for the university “to immediately sack the man behind this obscene plan” while insinuating that the unpublished paper and presentation will advocate for Australia to “cash in on the barbaric dog meat trade in China”. The targeted campaign has also seen threats directed at other university staff and Dr Allen himself, including defamatory posts on social media and a spam email campaign.
The Sporting Shooters’ Association of Australia (SSAA National) are proud major supporters of the Conservation through Sustainable Use of Wildlife Conference, with President Geoff Jones outraged that academic debate has been interfered with due to a misleading campaign.
“The emotion-charged campaign has seen public debate sunk to new lows including personal attacks and threats towards a well-respected researcher. The result is that science and freedom of ideas has been suppressed, and that is never a good thing,” he said.
The conference concludes today and has attracted a vast array of speakers presenting a range of diverse ideas, including the RSPCA’s Chief Scientist Bidda Jones, Fish and Game New Zealand’s Bryce Johnson and Teresa Dent from the United Kingdom’s Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust.