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| Beatle hops into roo-cull debate | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Mar 12 2008, 01:30 PM (332 Views) | |
| beatlefan2010 | Mar 12 2008, 01:30 PM Post #1 |
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http://www.geocities.com/dushi2410/?200812 Beatle hops into roo-cull debate March 12, 2008 03:00pm FORMER Beatle Paul McCartney has slammed a planned cull of hundreds of kangaroos on a Canberra military base .As demonstrators promised human shields to protect the animals, McCartney appeared on a website set up by the British animal welfare group Viva! to condemn the cull of up to 500 animals using tranquilliser darts and lethal injection. "There is an urgent need for action to protect kangaroos from a barbaric industry which slaughters them for meat and leather," McCartney said in an undated message. "Please do all you can to help Viva! end this shameful massacre." The eastern grey kangaroos are living on a military communications base in Canberra. Authorities say the animals, on death row since May last year, threaten other local species through overgrazing. Wildlife Protection Association spokesman Pat O'Brien said the cull of animals synonymous with Australia could damage tourism and promised human shields to protect them, with barricades and demonstrations to be set up on Thursday. "I'm sure there will be people standing in front of the dart guns," O'Brien said. Viva!, or Vegetarians International Voice for Animals, said it had launched a Europe-wide campaign against the cull and by Wednesday had gathered more than 1300 protest signatures from 36 countries. The petition, which had photographs of kangaroos in rifle crosshairs, included supporters from Spain, England, the United States, Switzerland, France, Canada, South Africa and Germany. In 2004 there was an international outcry over the shooting of 900 kangaroos at a dam supplying water to Canberra. The animals were causing erosion problems through grazing. Environment Minister Peter Garret said he would not intervene. "Programs like this, humanely and properly administered, are sometimes necessary," he said. The cull, Mr Garrett said, would not damage Australia's anti-whaling campaign, which has angered Japan amid international efforts to close a loophole permitting scientific whaling. But Greens Senator Bob Brown said it would bring "further notoriety" for Australia's treatment of wildlife. "(Prime Minister) Kevin Rudd could begin by saving those kangaroos and making sure they are transported to a safe haven ... rather than be given a deadly injection and left as a heap on the ground," he said |
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| FamousGroupie | Mar 14 2008, 03:52 AM Post #2 |
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Obsessive Saddo Fangirl
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As much as I hate to say it, Peter Garrett is right. A controlled cull is a necessary evil. Kangaroos do devastate our grazing grounds and they do threaten the survival of other species. As Australia is in the middle of the worst drought ever experienced, we don't have a 'safe haven' to transport the roos to, at least not one that would support a large mob of them. Even if we did, we'd be faced with the same problem in the safe haven a year later. I don't like it, and I don't support it, but it is necessary for the survival of our unique wildlife. |
| I don't believe in Bondi. I don't believe in rugby league. I believe in Yoko, John Lennon, the Lost Weekend and me. | |
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| JeffLynnesBeard | Mar 14 2008, 12:42 PM Post #3 |
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Administrator & Moderator
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I disagree with the cull on ethical grounds. Nature decides which animals should live and which animals should die, not people. How can people react with digust at concentration camps in which hundreds of human lives were extinguished and yet be willing to condone the massacre of 500 kangaroos? These are beautiful, intelligent creatures. I don't agree that a cull is a necessary evil. |
| ...and in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make. | |
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| Bill | Mar 14 2008, 01:02 PM Post #4 |
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The thing is though, that people can see when nature has decided the animals are going to die before they have. So then it becomes a question of whether you can stand by and watch them starve to death, or offer them a quick, painless end. I'm not well informed enough about the specific merits of this particular situation but I know that these decisions are not taken lightly and are not done unless it's for the greater good of all wildlife in the area. If Paul feels strongly enough, he can always come over and we can talk about it. |
| Put a puppet on it. | |
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| JeffLynnesBeard | Mar 14 2008, 01:09 PM Post #5 |
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Administrator & Moderator
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Regarding your last sentence, it must seem slightly rich that Paul is commenting on an issue regarding Australia's wildlife when you're still waiting for him to come and play the show(s) he owes you. I agree that in some circumstances when animals who are well on their way to dying and that when there is no other possible outcome of their existence, it is kinder to euthanise than to allow them to suffer and die. I don't believe that those 500 Kangaroos are in such a position and that they are culling them to protect other animals' existence but, probably much more likely, the interests of the human population. Australia has a poor record when it comes to the protection of wildlife and, although I acknowledge the wonderful work done by many Aussie conservationists, whenever the politicians get involved, things tend to go horribly wrong for the animals. |
| ...and in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make. | |
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| Mia Culpa | Mar 16 2008, 10:54 AM Post #6 |
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They could ship them here. We don't have any. They'd be great for spotting land mines or as suicide bombers. Pop an IED in a pouch and go. Instead of yelling duck people could start yelling roo. |
| If you read my posts backward there's evidence that Paul is dead. | |
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