Field & Game Australia is emailing all members to vote to beat the Royal Society for Protection & Care of Animals- RSPCA -petition opposing the NSW Shooters Party's bill allowing shooting in national parks.
Field and Game has put up its own petition to beat the RSPCA petition.
This is what the Field and Game petition says:
"VOTE NOW!
The NSW Shooters party has a Bill before the NSW parliament that proposes a number of common sense amendments to the Game and Feral Animal Control Act.
Australian Hunting Net has been running a "counter punch" petition against the RSPCA petition to oppose the Bill.
A big effort is required by hunters to see if we can "top" the RSPCA petition.
To register your support for the Shooters Party Bill, sign the online petition Click here...
(Field & Game email to all members Australia wide)
To read more about the Shooters Party Bill, go to these articles.
Here is what the RSPCA Petition says
Click here to sign the petition to protect native animals!
"Hunters in New South Wales could soon be allowed to go into national parks and kill native animals including black swans, sulphur crested cockatoos and kangaroos if the NSW Labor party supports a Bill currently before parliament.
RSPCA NSW has condemned the Shooters Party Bill saying it's a blatant attempt to disguise recreational hunting as conservation.
"There is no possible conservation benefit to be derived from letting untrained shooters loose in our national parks," said the RSPCA's Chief Scientist, Dr Bidda Jones.
"If this Bill is passed not only will duck hunting be revived in New South Wales but a host of new animals will be added to the hit list including iconic Australian birds like swans and cockatoos.
"Most concerning is the Shooters Party's proposition to amend the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act so to allow 'canned hunting' on private game reserves, where animals are captured and then released just to be shot by hunters shortly after. The potential for cruelty is enormous."
The Bill contains no measures to protect the welfare of animals shot by recreational hunters and flies in the face of the progress made in recent years to improve humaneness in wildlife and pest animal management.
CEO of RSPCA NSW, Steve Coleman, said the management of pest animals must be strategic if it's going to be effective and any strategy must be justified and humane.
"Far from improving pest animal control, this Bill would actually encourage the introduction of new pest animals into New South Wales, animals that aren't even a problem in this state, just in order to hunt them down and shoot them," Mr Coleman said.
"These ideas take us back to the dark ages and any attempt to suggest that these activities are about conservation or pest animal control is simply laughable.
"There is widespread concern about this Bill in New South Wales. The changes go against the very principles and practices that the NSW Government has been supporting in terms of promoting best practice in pest animal management.
Supporting this bill will set back the advances made in Animal Welfare by decades.
Petition:
We the undersigned support the RSPCA's call for the Premier of NSW The Hon Nathan Rees MP and Environment Minister, Carmel Tebbutt to reject the proposed Shooters Party Bill in its entirety.
Supporting this Bill in any way, shape or form, will be bad for animal welfare, bad for conservation and bad for New South Wales."
Click here to sign the petition to protect native animals!
Comments
Jeff Borg (not verified)
Wed, 2009-08-12 12:45
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Shooters Party Bill - RSPCA have got it WRONG.
I am dissapointed by the efforts of a once credible organisation such as the RSPCA to allow itself to be concerned with the activist element which manufactures this kind of hype.
Thankfully, the petition against the Shooters Party Bill hasn't been as successful as the petition on the same site that counteracts it.
I find it intriguing that the RSPCA's preamble to the petition makes reference to "best practice pest animal management" . What do they consider 'best practice?" Perhaps they are referring to the current best practice methods employed by the government (NPWS) such as aerial shooting , trapping , and poisoning - all of which inflict undue stress and cruelty on their target species and in the case of poisoning ,also affects other species.
Perhaps "Best Practice" is meant in an economic context which endorses the cost of the above methods - $900 of tax payer's money per feral goat eradicated Must impress them!
The Shooters Party Bill Seeks to not only Contribute to pest animal eradication through the use of Conservation Hunters while generating a revenue (now there's a concept) but by use of a trained hunter (yes , I said Trained), with an accurate sporting rifle and a conscience about the animal he hunts, employ the most humane methods available. (But of course a "professional" using an automatic weapon from a moving helicopter to blast away at a moving target is still "best practice.")
It seems the RSPCA choose to ignore the proven track record of conservation hunting worldwide. There is yet to be a native species anywhere that hasn't benefited significantly from conservation programs utilising hunting as a management tool. The most documented cases of this include the White Rhino and scores of North American and European species now managed by hunting organisations.
It's Time Australia learned from the successful wildlife management models around the world and endorsed the Shooters Party Bill.
Jeff Borg
Bob (not verified)
Wed, 2009-08-12 16:49
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"Best practice" killing and "conservation hunting"?
Anonymous (not verified)
Fri, 2009-08-28 20:10
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Humans a root cause, but what are the solutions?
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