National Code of Practice for the Shooting of Kangaroos and Wallabies for Commercial Purposes
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National Code of Practice for the Shooting of Kangaroos and Wallabies for Commercial Purposes Submission by the Australian Wildlife Protection Council 9 December 2019 INTRODUCTION “The National Code of Practice for the Humane Shooting of Kangaroos and Wallabies for Commercial Purposes outlines an achievable minimum standard of humane conduct with regard to the shooting of kangaroos and wallabies. The code was endorsed by the Natural Resource Management Ministerial Council (NRMMC) on 7 November 2008. The NRMMC consists of the Australian state, territory and New Zealand government ministers responsible for primary industries, natural resources, environment and water policy. The National Code of Practice for the Humane Shooting of Kangaroos and Wallabies for Commercial Purposes is currently being reviewed through a project led by AgriFutures Australia. The review is being informed through a reference group of representatives from the Australian Veterinary Association, the RSPCA, industry and relevant government agencies”. The Australian Wildlife Protection Council (AWPC), established in 1969 by Arthur Queripel, is a voice for Australia’s wildlife and for all Australian species. The AWPC states that: • Humane is not a word that can be associated with the practice of commercialising the killing of Kangaroos, either in the micro detail of individual cruelty, nor in the macro scale of mass killings of families of dependent animals and the destruction of the structure of the mob by removing adults and large animals; • The reprehensible assertion that early stage pouch young do not feel pain is both highly questionable and unlikely, a scientific challenge would require some considerable research, and this needs to occur; and • The code has been and will continue to be impossible to enforce or check for compliance in any practical or safe way (this is freely admitted by state authorities). The AWPC believes that the National Code of Practice for the Shooting of Kangaroos and Wallabies for Commercial Purposes is a government endorsed document designed to conceal from international and domestic observers the fact of immense harm being caused to Australian wildlife by a cruel and unsustainable industry. There is no practical way the code can be supervised or enforced. A key issue remains the use of the word humane to describe the intensely cruel killing, with all its ‘tricks of the trade’. 1 AgriFutures Australia will need to begin using a new term to describe how animals are treated during ‘harvest’. ‘Humane’ it is not, unless the industry and regulators are of the opinion that death by distance shooting is humane, and (against the international tide of opinion which was firm when it considered the clubbing of seal pups) that beating small animals to death, is humane. Nor is it humane to not consider what happens to at-foot joeys when their mother is killed. The RSPCA state that: “The RSPCA would like to see the way in which Kangaroos are managed in Australia significantly improved – but for the purpose of this public consultation process, we are particularly concerned about the cruelty associated with non-commercial and recreational Kangaroo shooting. Currently non-commercial shooters don’t have to pass a competency test, and don’t have to undertake mandatory training. There is also no oversight and little incentive to comply with animal welfare standards. We see this as the greatest immediate risk to the humane treatment of Kangaroos”. BACKGROUND “Worldwide, large mammals are under threat due to habitat loss and fragmentation, overharvest, and human-wildlife conflict. Because resources for conservation are limited, accurate population estimates are needed to determine trends in mammal populations and to guide interventions for maximum benefits. For declining species, inaccuracy or bias in population estimates is not just an academic issue but can actually hinder conservation by causing misallocation of scarce resources. In time series of population estimates, poor survey data can introduce spurious trends or obscure real ones. Thus, determining the accuracy of survey methods for mammals is critical”. Testing the Accuracy of Aerial Surveys for Large Mammals, PMC, October 2016, Alfred L. Roca, Editor (Africa study) Australia leads the world in mammal extinctions, and a new wave of endangerment of Australian species is occurring because of climate change (for which, the impacts on wildlife are obvious). Endangerment by government conduct, which has become increasingly aggressive in allowing the killing of wildlife, and cultural attitudes, many of which have been created by marketing and various other campaigns to denigrate Australian species, specifically Kangaroos. 2 It should be noted that the “value’ of Kangaroos is that they are a keystone species in maintaining ecosystem despite a series of claims to the contrary which are generally nonsense and constructs to justify the killing. The recent announcement of the merger of the Commonwealth Government’s Agriculture and Environment Departments further disenfranchises Australian species and moves yet further away from a balanced approach to caring for the outcomes for Australia’s wildlife. The impacts of this, given current and extreme conduct in relation to numerous Australian species, are likely to be devastating for Australia’s wildlife. Macropod species will be in the front line of these impacts. Similar changes of responsibilities have occurred at state level affecting individual species such as birdlife and Macropod species. These changes make it difficult to identify responsibility and accountability within government departments and diffuse responsibility for standards of governance. Extinctions include a number of Macropod species and broader family, many other are endangered or critically endangered. There are numerous regional extinctions. These processes of endangerment and extinctions have occurred through similar processes to those occurring today. These processes include patterns of land use including deforestation and land clearing, hunting and commercial exploitation since settlement that has funnelled down to the mass killings of the large Macropod species for commerce and farmer convenience to the present day. Six species of Macropods are ‘commercially harvested’ four on the mainland and two in Tasmania. The mainland species are the Red Kangaroo (Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia, and Western Australia), the Eastern Grey Kangaroo (Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria), the Western Grey Kangaroo (New South Wales, South Australia, and Western Australia) and the Common Wallaroo (Euro) (Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia). In Tasmania the Bennett's Wallaby and the Tasmanian Pademelon are ‘harvested’. As in many exploitative industries unsustainable ‘harvesting’ has led to the prey switching to new species which is now occurring along with the expansion of operational areas, where the industry is now shooting Kangaroos, South Australia and Victoria are among recent examples. Where we are today and given current circumstances, the pressures on Australian wildlife are more extreme than they have ever been. The factors described here must be taken into consideration while State and Commonwealth Governments continue to support and promote this unseemly industry. We will discuss numbers and quotas within the main body of the document. Here is the current status for this group of animals including associated species to the east of the Wallace Line. 3 Extinct • Broad-faced Potoroo Potorous platyops • Central Hare-wallaby Lagorchestes asomatus • Crescent Nailtail Wallaby Onychogalea lunata • Desert Rat-kangaroo Caloprymnus campestris • Eastern Hare-wallaby Lagorchestes leporides • Nullarbor Dwarf Bettong Bettongia pusilla • Toolache Wallaby Macropus greyi Critically endangered • Black Dorcopsis Dorcopsis atrata • Dingiso Dendrolagus mbaiso • Gilbert’s Potoroo Potorous gilberti • Golden-mantled Tree Kangaroo Dendrolagus pulcherrimus • Tenkile Dendrolagus scottae • Woylie Bettongia penicillata Endangered • Banded Hare-wallaby Lagostrophus fasciatus • Bridled Nailtail Wallaby Onychogalea fraenata • Calaby’s Pademelon Thylogale calabyi • Goodfellow’s Tree Kangaroo Dendrolagus goodfellowi • Huon Tree Kangaroo Dendrolagus matschiei • Long-footed Potoroo Potorous longipes • Mountain Pademelon Thylogale lanatus • Narbalek Petrogale concinna • Northern Bettong Bettongia tropica • Proserpine Rock-wallaby Petrogale persephone Threatened and vulnerable • Bennett’s Tree Kangaroo Dendrolagus bennettianus • Black-footed Rock-wallaby Petrogale lateralis • Black Wallaroo Macropus bernardus • Bridled Nailtail Wallaby Onychogalea fraenata • Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby Petrogale penicillata • Burrowing Bettong Bettongia lesueur • Cape York Rock-wallaby Petrogale coenensis • Doria’s Tree Kangaroo Dendrolagus dorianus • Dusky Pademelon Thylogale brunii • Grey Dorcopsis Dorcopsis luctuosa • Grizzled Tree Kangaroo Dendrolagus inustus • Lumholtz’s Tree Kangaroo Dendrolagus lumholtzi • Monjon Petrogale burbidgei 4 • New Guinea Pademelon Thylogale browni • Parma Wallaby Macropus parma (believed to be extinct until rediscovered Kawau Island NZ in 1965, populations also discovered NSW 1967) • Quokka Setonix brachyurus • Rufous Hare-wallaby Lagorchestes hirsutus • Sharman’s Rock-wallaby Petrogale sharmani • Seri’s Tree Kangaroo Dendrolagus stellarum • Small Dorcopsis Dorcopsulus vanheurni • Tasmanian Bettong Bettongia gaimardi • Vogelkop Tree Kangaroo Dendrolagus ursinus • Yellow-footed