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Tragic hunters' killer caravan

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 00:50:33 +1800

THE tragic deaths of three deer hunters as they slept in an old caravan at a remote camping spot has been blamed on inadequate ventilation and a leaking gas-powered fridge.

Police believe the men, bush-camping in Tasmania's Central Highlands, were killed by carbon monoxide poisoning.

A Launceston man in his 50s, his 21-year-old son, who lived in Hobart, and a 30-year-old friend from Launceston, were found dead in their caravan at Miena, near Little Pine Lagoon, on Saturday morning.

Their bodies were discovered by the men's hunting companions, a man and his nine-year-old son, who had spent the night in a tent nearby.

The devastated pair drove for an hour to the Marlborough Highway to reach mobile phone reception so they could report the deaths to emergency services, police said.

Great Lake Hotel owner Kaylee Hattinger said the man and his son appeared severely traumatised.

"It must have been horrible for both of them, especially the young boy he was devastated," Ms Hattinger said.

"It's something you can imagine would be hard to deal with and your heart just goes out to all of them and their families it's an absolute tragedy, just so horrible, and they are in all our thoughts."

Ms Hattinger said news of the incident had spread quickly around the town of 200 people.

Tasmania Police Inspector Lee Renshaw said the tragedy was greater because it appeared preventable, as there were instructions on the fridge warning against its use in confined spaces.

"Those types of caravans appear to be airtight when their windows are closed and doors are closed," Insp Renshaw said.

"We think that at this point in time the cause of death is carbon monoxide poisoning, but of course all those things need to be proven later on by means of autopsies and toxicology reports."

SSAA Tasmanian Deerstalkers president Terry Hill said news of the deaths had shocked the Tasmanian hunting community.

"When you hear about tragic accidents like these you can't help but think of the families and the whole deer-hunting community sends their deepest sympathies," he said.

He said the deaths should serve as a warning to all hunters and people using recreational vehicles to be aware of the dangers of gas and carbon monoxide poisoning.

A coronial investigation will begin this morning. An inquest will be held.

Deputy Premier Bryan Green, a keen deer hunter, expressed his sadness at the deaths.

http://www.themercury.com.au/article/ ... most-popular-stories.html

Shooters and Fishers Party to take on WA

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 10:34:26 +1800

The Shooters and Fishers Party will take on Western Australia’s entrenched anti-shooting politics by re-establishing a branch in the State and contesting the next election.

Both major parties in Western Australia are now threatening to introduce unnecessary and ineffective legislation to restrict the number of firearms a licensed shooter in WA can own. This comes on the back of years of ongoing problems with the State’s (WA) expensive, flawed and poorly managed licensing system.
After coming within 100 votes of winning a seat in the 1996 election, the SFP will be in an excellent position to win seats when the next WA election is held in 12 months.

The Party aims to have several candidates on the ticket for the March 2013 election.

Its greatest challenge is enlisting shooters to join. To become registered in the State, the SFP needs 500 members in WA, all of them eligible voters.
“With the help of 82,000 licensed shooters in WA, and an active fishing and off-road community, the SFP stands a very good chance,” Robert Borsak MLC, who represents the Party in NSW, said.

“It’s important to see the SFP being revitalised in WA, which is a leading State when it comes to restrictions and destruction of firearm owners’ rights.
“The SFP’s Federal branch will invest money in the creation of the WA branch and its campaign,” Mr Borsak said.
The drive is being spearheaded by Rick Mazza, who will stand as one of the Party’s candidates.

“WA has always been hostile towards firearms. I don’t like the way it’s heading and we’ve got to do something to get represented,” he said.
“We also face a situation where fishers are being burdened with higher fees and possession limits that can unfairly trap them if they happen to have 7kg of fillets in the freezer when they catch another fish.

“Four-wheel drivers continue to face track closures, and the Greens want to impose further limits on outdoor activities.”
Western Australians can join the Party through the SFP website, www.shootersandfishers.org.au.

Contacts:
Rick Mazza, 0427 168 178, caulonia@bigpond.com
Robert Borsak, (02) 9230-3059, Robert.Borsak@parliament.nsw.gov.au

The duck hunting debate

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 10:15:26 +1800

THIS Friday most of Victoria's 26,000 duck hunters will head to the state's wetlands to prepare for the opening of this year's duck season.
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Over the next 12 weeks they will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on food, fuel, accommodation and other supplies in regional towns, many still struggling to recover from drought and recent floods.

Many will head for the state's network of wetland game reserves, wetlands that are the envy of other states.

The reserves exist today solely as the result of the efforts of duck hunters in the late '50s when, at their request, the Bolte government introduced a game-licence fee.

The proceeds were to be used to purchase and protect the state's wetlands and wildlife.

There can be no better example of a "triple bottom line" result with the state's hunters, regional economies and wetlands sharing in the social, economic and environmental benefits of the duck season.

And yet the duck season, like so many of the state's outdoor recreations, continues to struggle against lack of investment and promotion, conflicting state and federal government policies and urban ideologues who hold to an "arcadian" view that the environment is best managed by "locking and leaving".

Access to hunting and fishing is often limited by the state's administration where no one department holds primary responsibility for these activities and conflicting policies and administration conspire to frustrate enthusiasts.

Duck hunters can look back on a legacy that will never be matched by protesters who have left no such benefit and who continue to confuse animal rights with conservation.

Fisheries and game management falls under Primary Industry; the state's Wildlife Act is administered by Sustainability and the Environment; and access to hunting and wetlands is frequently under the jurisdiction of Parks Victoria. The state, despite the barriers, already derives significant benefit from these activities.

The annual direct expenditure of duck hunters is estimated by the minister to be $40 million. The indirect expenditure will be tens of millions more. Fishing, boating and off-road enthusiasts contribute an estimated $6.3 billion more.

Our piecemeal approach to these recreations, our lack of current economic data, poor promotion of these recreational opportunities and our failure to manage them in a co-ordinated manner are increasingly evident.

Since then-premier John Cain redirected the proceeds of game licences to consolidated revenue in the 1980s, no further wetlands have been bought or preserved by the state.

The loss of this program has been a loss to the environment.

However, duck hunters can look back on a legacy that will never be matched by protesters who have left no such benefit and who continue to confuse animal rights with conservation.

Bill Patterson is chairman of Field and Game Australia

Laurie Levy: The Case Against

THIS is the first year that the Department of Primary Industries, under a National Party Minister for Agriculture, will be in charge of the Victorian duck-shooting season.

In a dangerous move for Australia's native waterbirds, the Baillieu Government has transferred control of recreational duck shooting from Sustainability and Environment to Game Victoria, a new game management unit in the DPI.

Wildlife compliance officers from the DSE who are also duck shooters have moved across to Game Victoria. In what we believe is a serious conflict of interest, many of these officers are not only duck shooters, but office bearers for the shooting organisations Field and Game Australia and the Sporting Shooters Association.

This is the equivalent of the Government hiring arsonists and pyromaniacs to run the CFA.

While rescuers have been charged by the DPI for blowing whistles, no one has been charged for an incident at last year's opening in which one rescuer was shot in the face and lucky not to have lost her sight. This was the first time a rescuer had been shot in the 25-year history of the campaign.

This year all of our rescuers will be wearing protective eyewear. We have managed to obtain ballistic military safety goggles, the same that are used by Australian soldiers in overseas war zones.

Out of duck-shooting seasons, police will come down on anyone who harms native ducks, even by throwing stones. Yet in duck season, shooters are exempt from prosecution for acts of extreme cruelty.

The last official survey, a 2007 Morgan Poll, found three in four Victorians want duck shooting banned. Instead of pandering to a tiny minority, it's time for the Government to ban duck shooting and introduce nature-based tourism.

The RSPCA has its hands tied. It cannot prosecute because duck shooting is legalised, government-sanctioned cruelty.

The RSPCA opposes duck shooting, even referring to the opening of the season as "Victoria's Day of Shame", and for many years the Victorian Government's own Animal Welfare Advisory Committee has recommended a ban.

There is growing public awareness and concern about cruelty, whether it be cattle sent to Indonesia for slaughter or cruelty inflicted on waterbirds.

According to DSE statistics, last year's opening at Lake Buloke, near Donald, only attracted 400 duck shooters. Twenty years ago Lake Buloke would see more than 10,000 shooters on opening weekend.

The numbers of licensed duck shooters in Victoria has fallen from 95,000 in 1986 to about 20,000.

The last official survey, a 2007 Morgan Poll, found three in four Victorians want duck shooting banned. Instead of pandering to a tiny minority, it's time for the Government to ban duck shooting and introduce nature-based tourism.

This would create country jobs and attract thousands of tourists to Phillip Island with its penguins and Warrnambool with its southern right whales.

Laurie Levy is Coalition Against Duck Shooting campaign manager

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/opinion/d ... ry-e6frfhqf-1226298589605

SA authority says dob in illegal hunters

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 10:11:24 +1800

Illegal hunters are causing native animals to suffer cruel deaths and should be dobbed in, South Australian authorities say.

The remains of animals that have been unlawfully shot have been found in a number of different parks, SA's Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) says.

DENR South East district ranger Simon Oster says eastern grey kangaroos were found with severe injuries that would have caused significant suffering before the animals died.

'Illegal hunters are also putting park visitors and neighbours at serious risk when illegally shooting within parks,' Mr Oster said in a statement on Wednesday.

He urged anyone who sees illegal hunting or suspicious behaviour in parks to go to police.

Under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972 no-one can hunt or have any firearm or device for hunting in a park or reserve without permission, Mr Oster said.

He warned that illegal taking or possession of protected animals can attract a fine of up to $100,000 or two years' imprisonment, whether on private land or in a national park.

The Animal Welfare Act 1985 has penalties of up to $50,000 or four years' imprisonment for killing any animal in a cruel manner.

http://www.skynews.com.au/eco/article.aspx?id=728904&vId=

Farmer warns walkers of wild pigs

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 11:33:18 +1800

A MAPLETON man who shot and killed a wild pig on his hinterland property says he is worried there are more out there and people could be in danger.

Adam McCosker believes the feral animal came from the nearby Mapleton Forest Reserve which is popular with bushwalkers.

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The boar, which Mr McCosker estimated to be 18 months old, had been terrorising his property for two weeks before he killed it legally and humanely on Christmas Day.

The 37-year-old Mr McCosker grew up around Mapleton National Park and said he had never seen a wild pig there before.

"He was a complete nutter. I wasn't letting the kids go outside for those two weeks on the off chance he was out there," Mr McCosker said.

"I wouldn't want to meet him out in the bush."

The pig attacked one of Mr McCosker's domestic boars after tearing down a fence.

"He got in with my boar and cut him up even though he was bigger. He had no tusks to defend himself."

Mr McCosker said there were potentially more wild pigs out there and feared for the safety of bushwalkers if they came across one.

The park has several popular walks, a bike trail and camping areas.

"If someone scares a pig, they will go straight through them," he said. "You could imagine what an inch-and-a-half of tusk would do charging at you like that."

Feral pigs are recognised by Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management as one of Australia's most destructive environmental and agricultural pests.

The department's website says they are found in many national parks but does not mention the Mapleton Forest.

In many parts of the country, pigs carry diseases such as Murray Valley encephalitis and Ross River fever.

DERM said wild pigs were dangerous and people should stay well back if they encountered one.

Have Fun Mountain Bike Tours owner John Searston, who has a permit to run tours through the park, said he had not seen a wild pig there in five years.

"I've never even seen pig droppings," he said.

"I've seen foxes, giant goannas, snakes, kangaroos, wallabies but never a pig.

"They could hear a bike or motorcycle coming a mile away."

Feral pig facts

The feral pig has coarse hair and a solid build.
A male pig can weigh up to 175kg, a female 110kg
If the pig is a colour apart from black, it is most likely a cross-breed with domestic stock.
The feral pig has smaller and narrower hindquarters than domestic breeds.
Feral pigs are known to eat young lambs, removing up to 40% of livestock in some areas. This costs the sheep industry millions of dollars a year.
Feral pigs breed throughout the year in favourable conditions, peaking between May and October.

http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/ ... wild-pigs-catch-mapleton/

Duck hunt 'no solution' for NSW rice farmers

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 10:52:42 +1800

New South Wales authorities have dismissed the value of a duck hunting season to remedy the Riverina region's problems with the waterbirds.

The 2010 floods have brought perfect breeding conditions and ducks have swooped on rice paddies in the Murray Valley to decimate farmers' crops.

The Victorian Government has announced a full duck shooting season this year.

But agronomist John Fowler, from the state's Department of Primary Industries, says it would not help in NSW.

The department says game bird populations have reached their highest numbers since the 1980s.

Mr Fowler says some farmers have re-planted three times, before abandoning their crop.

"It would be helpful but in the end I think the numbers are too large to make any serious impact," Mr Fowler said.

"I had one grower ring me at one time and say his estimate was that he had 8,000 ducks on his crops. There's just no way you could shoot or scare that number.

Riverina rice farmers are blaming ducks for decimating their summer crops, but Mr Fowler says black tailed or native water hens are also a problem.

"They graze at it quite young and, in fact, they don't leave anything behind," he said.

"They sort of graze through in a line, in front of them is rice and behind them is bare water."

The final damage bill across the Murray Valley is yet to be calculated.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-01-06 ... rmers/3761488?section=nsw

Prosecute illegal Green Island turtle hunters, says elder

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 10:53:14 +1800

TOURISM operators and traditional owners have called for an end to the slaughter of endangered marine life at Green Island, following a recent spate of turtle killings by hunters.

Tourism operators and tourists have reported at least 14 turtle killings in the past month.

It is feared the suspected overkill will wipe out the area’s turtle population within months.

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It comes amid calls by Guru-Gulu Gungandji Aboriginal elder Robert Sands to prosecute "so-called" traditional hunters and condemning the practice at the island.

He said the traditional land owners were working towards establishing strict permits for those wishing to hunt in the area.

Pictures have emerged of motorised boats hunting within the green zone around Green Island on Monday.

The boats are seen hunting in plain sight of tourists, within the surf life saving flags, just 3-4m to from shore.

Other pictures taken in July, show boats hunting among visitors aboard glass-bottom tour boats around the island.

Big Cat Green Island Reef Cruises tourism operator Steve Davies feared the overkill would wipe out the island’s next generation of turtles within months.

"It’s their nesting season at the moment so the ones being killed are likely carrying eggs," he said.

He said tourists were astonished by the hunting.

But the traditional elders said traditional hunting should not occur at the island as it was only ever used as a ceremonial site.

State Environment Minister Vicky Darling said Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service was working with the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority to investigate the hunting reports.

She said traditional owners had the right to hunt turtles under Commonwealth legislation.

"While that right exists I know that most traditional owners conduct this hunting discreetly so it is not confronting to tourists or other members of the community," she said.

http://www.cairns.com.au/article/2011/12/08/195265_local-news.html

ACT Govt hunting rabbits with dogs

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 10:47:12 +1800

Trained detection dogs will be used to flush out rabbits and hares in the Mulligans Flat Woodland Sanctuary so the pests can then be shot or gassed.

The ACT Government is aiming to make the sanctuary free of feral animals. It has already removed all foxes and cats through poisoning.

Territory and Municipal Services says about 80 per cent of the rabbit and hare population has been removed from the sanctuary through shooting, poisoning or gassing. But small pockets remain.

Mulligans Flat Board of Management chairman Professor Tony Peacock said the remaining rabbits and hares had to be removed ahead of the proposed release of the Eastern Bettong to the sanctuary next autumn.

The rabbits’ grazing resulted in the loss of vegetation and their burrows caused erosion.

But Professor Peacock acknowledged it was still difficult to remove the animals.

‘‘No one enjoys killing animals but in this case you can have the rabbits and hares or you can have the bettongs,’’ he said.

Bettongs, a small rat-like native marsupial, were once common in the Canberra region but had been extinct on the Australian mainland for about 80 years, now confined to Tasmania.

Professor Peacock said bettongs were being bred at Tidbinbilla for release into Mulligans Flat while others would be brought in from Tasmania.

The bettongs foraged in the vegetation and encouraged the growth of fungi which they ate. Rabbits and hares competed for that same vegetation.

The Sydney-based dogs and their handler will be in Canberra next week when the sanctuary will be closed to the public from Monday to Friday to allow the removal of the rabbits and hares.

Professor Peacock said the dogs would flush out the rabbits, which would be either shot or captured and gassed. They would not be killed by the dogs.

“The trained detection dogs have been used very successfully on Macquarie Island which has a large penguin population. The dogs are able to detect rabbits and hares without causing harm to native wildlife. The dogs are used to locate warrens and flush out hares as well as any above ground rabbits,’’ he said.

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/ ... ts-with-dogs/2386318.aspx

Bay farmers may face pig problems

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 00:05:15 +1800

THERE is evidence that farmers in the Hervey Bay district may be facing a wild pig invasion after a land owner trapped 17 pigs in a single day over the weekend.

Mr Warren Drury's sister, Bev Cornwell, said her brother - who had a property on the Dundowran-Burrum Heads Rd, saw evidence of wild pigs digging on his property and decided to act.

"About a fortnight ago, he caught a boar in the trap but had also seen other pigs around so he knew there were more living on his property," Mrs Cornwell said.

"Over several weeks he enticed the pigs back with grain left in the unset trap.

"Last Sunday, when he went to check, he had trapped two adults and 17 piglets, a big haul.

"He had originally thought that the two adults were sows but it turned out that one was another boar so there must be at least another sow up there some-where.

"These animals are pests, in the same category as foxes, wild dogs, ferrel cats and rabbits and cause enormous damage to the environment and our native wildlife."

The Boar Facts

Wild boars live in groups called sounders that contain about 20 animals.
Sows will give birth to a litter of 4-6 piglets.
Boars are the only hoofed animals known to dig burrows,
The hair of the boar was often used for toothbrushes until the invention of synthetic materials in the 1930s.

http://www.frasercoastchronicle.com.a ... -pig-problems-hervey-bay/

Conservation shouldn’t be a popularity contest

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 01:26:12 +1800

Even Australia’s most iconic, charismatic species are in danger of extinction. Species such as the cassowary, Tasmanian devil and koala all enjoy significant community support and relatively generous funding and yet find themselves at risk.

And if our most popular species are in danger of extinction, what will become of our unpopular species?

For species that are feared, disliked or even hated, conservation presents further challenges. Negative community attitudes show up as opposition to conservation efforts and to legislated protection. Unpopular species may even be deliberately harassed, harmed or killed, or have their habitat destroyed.

This is the case for flying foxes, particularly in rural NSW and Queensland, where tolerance for the animals has been traditionally low.

Flying foxes are disliked because they occasionally feed on fruit crops when native food supplies are short. They can also be noisy neighbours when roosting near residential areas.

They are feared because they can harbour lyssavirus and Hendra virus, even though the risk to humans is extremely low.

Communities' fear and hatred has been fanned in past decades by the media and conservative politicians, both in and out of parliament.

When referring to flying foxes, politicians and media commentators have used inflammatory language such as “killer bats”, “horrible stinking vermin”, and “disease-ridden pests”.

Commentators claim that flying fox populations are “exploding” or “in plague proportions”. Residents living next to bat colonies have been said to live in “bat hell”; to be “terrorised”, “under siege” or in a state of “war”.

Rarely do commentators focus on, or even mention, the crucial ecological role (pollination and seed dispersal) played by these animals, their uniqueness as flying mammals, their intriguing adaptation to hanging upside down, their complex social interactions, their intelligence and their pretty faces.

The recent outbreaks of Hendra virus in Queensland and NSW have deepened the human-animal conflict even further. The outbreaks have encouraged more vilification of the animals and more calls for them to be culled.

Governments have been slow – and in the case of Queensland, still unwilling – to list flying foxes as threatened species. This is despite evidence that two species declined by approximately 30% in ten years and that they suffer from habitat destruction and other threats from humans.

This reluctance may be due to the political implications of protecting deeply unpopular species in electorates with a lot of rural constituents.

A species' conservation status (common, vulnerable or endangered) affects funding for data collection and conservation strategies. It also sets the level of penalties applicable for illegally harming or killing the species.

As such, it is essential that such status be accurate and based on scientific evidence, not on a species’ popularity or on political considerations.

Even after being listed as threatened species, the spectacled and grey headed flying foxes could still be legally shot by orchardists. Their camps can still be harassed and relocated.

Shooting threatened species and deliberate destruction of their habitat is a rather unusual way to deal with threatened species. It would be unthinkable if it was any other species.

Laws for the protection of flying foxes have often been weakly enforced, or not at all. As a result, large amounts of illegal electrocution, shooting and harassment of camps have been allowed to go on unpunished.

Permit and license conditions have been weakly monitored, and when breached, governments have rarely been willing to prosecute. The few legal cases that have attempted to enforce the law for the protection of flying foxes have mostly been initiated by private citizens, not government conservation agencies.

So what can be done to protect unpopular species such as flying foxes? The answer lies with a multi-prong approach.

There must be zero tolerance for the illegal killing or harassing of flying foxes. Turning a blind eye simply fosters further illegal activities.

Strategic and proactive education programs should start telling positive stories about much-maligned species such as bats. People are more likely to protect animals they know and like.

In my experience as a wildlife carer, most people who claim to hate bats have never seen one close and know little about them.

Governments must base decisions about threatened species management on scientific evidence, not political imperatives.

The most difficult goal to achieve is fostering an understanding that humans and wildlife share the same planet, whether we like it or not.

Human-wildlife conflicts occur all over the world, from tigers killing people in remote villages, elephants trampling crops, wolves killing lambs, pigeons defecating over monuments and seals feeding on aquacultured fish. Culling animals in these circumstances cannot be a sustainable solution.

Unless these four elements are in place, it is likely that flying foxes will come under increasingly heavy attack each time a Hendra outbreak occurs. This could turn into uncontrollable killings with grave welfare and conservation outcomes.

There is hope though. If crocodiles can be viewed as an iconic, marketable species and a tourist attraction in northern Australia, despite the clear danger they pose, the same should surely be possible for flying foxes.

http://theconversation.edu.au/conserv ... a-popularity-contest-3529