NitroX
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| (.700 member) |
| 23/01/06 04:15 AM |
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Re: Interesting Senate (Aus) report on hunting in
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Some interesting points from the Senate report:
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The number of hunters appears to be increasing
In reply to:
The Safari Club also believes that it is important to make the distinction between recreational hunters and commercial hunting operations, on the one hand, and professional and amateur culling operations on the other.
An important distinction is sporting hunting vs commercial hunting and shooting. Which is often confused by the un-informed.
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There is already a significant industry based on game hunting of feral species including goats, pigs and buffalo.
Jobs and economic activity.
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The hunting of kangaroos for personal use is permitted in Queensland (for Macropus rufus and M. giganteus)
Keep hearing that, but no one knows how!
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in Victoria they cannot and some 30,000 kangaroo carcases are buried annually
In SA there would be hundreds of thousands if not more left to rot in the field due to the carcases not being legally removable from the property they were shot on.
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would like to be able to offer safari hunting for large crocodiles and believe that this would be sustainable and economic. To do this, however, would require changes to the Northern Territory regulations relating to the taking of crocodiles. At the moment Aboriginal people can take a certain number of crocodiles for subsistence use, but they cannot be hunted for profit.
This is of course only one Aboriginal community. There are numerous other Aboriginal communities and station owners who would like to benefit from a limited sporting hunting of the numerous crocodile populations.
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The South Australian Government acknowledges that animal liberation groups oppose duck hunting but the (SA) Government is 'adamant' that at the present level of activity, duck hunting is ecologically sustainable. The government submission notes that duck hunting groups have put efforts into wetlands conservation to help preserve their sport.
Good to hear that duck hunting in SA is recognised as being sustainable and the positive contributions of hunters in real physical conservation programmes.
Now wouldn't it be nice for the "greenie" anti-duck hunting organisations to be examined as to what actually and PHYSICALLY they are doing to CONSERVE ducks or any other wildlife for that matter, other than meaningless PROTESTS. Especially as they receive about a HUNDRED THOUSADN DOLLARS of tax payers money for conservation purposes.
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The Northern Land Council noted that trophy shooting of native wildlife was illegal in Australia but argued that this needed 'urgent review' because hunting activities may have a lower environmental impact than other types of commercial utilisation.
Good to hear the Aboriginal communities want to see native wildlife species opened up to safari sporting utilisation.
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Because most long-term recreational hunters have a vested interest in being able to continue hunting, they have an interest in preserving the habitat in which the target species live. While most hunters view game parks as simply a means to an end, the outcome is sustainable use of wildlife and indirectly conservation of habitat. As described by Dr Max King, Scientific Adviser of the Safari Club (Australia South Pacific):
As a hunter, I find it surprising that we are discussing the value of sustainable utilisation to conservation as it were some new theory trotted out for conservationists to gape at. In reality, there is nothing new about sustainably using wildlife: it simply means sensible population management and this has been going on for the last thousand years in Europe.
Hunting was long the preserve of the aristocracy in Europe and generations of royalty and landed gentry established and maintained hunting estates for their own pleasure. In these areas, wildlife was managed, mainly to allow hunting to continue but through the preservation of habitat whole ecosystems were maintained. Despite hundreds of years of hunting, not one European game species has become extinct.
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In more recent years, influential people who have also been dedicated hunters have been responsible for the setting aside of important wildlife refuges.
American president Theodore Roosevelt established a series of national parks throughout the United States, and Victorian premier Sir Henry Bolte, a keen waterfowl hunter, established a network of 35 wildlife and hunting reserves.
In Britain, well known conservationist, Dr David Bellamy, has 'accepted presidency of the Gamekeepers Society of Great Britain, because he recognises that hunting is preserving habitat'