Do You Care Enough

[Irene]

As a post script to Maureen's post about the brumbies, this is a poem I wrote after seeing photos in the aftermath of a brumby culling up in the Kimberley a few years back - hundreds of horses were shot and injured - they certainly were not all killed cleanly with a shot to the head.
Aerial culling should be banned - there are less cruel methods if animals have to be culled.

Do You Care Enough?
© Irene Conner 24/08/08

Have you ever looked with horror at a photo in your hand
of sights that some had hoped would go unseen?
Have you felt the sickness in your heart that one determined man
was feeling as he walked around the scene?

Have you breathed the air of death and smelt the stench of rotting flesh;
recorded acts that cannot be denied?
Have you heard it said that helicopter culling is humane?
Look deeper, and you’ll know that they have lied.

They will tell you that a well-aimed shot in either head or chest
is used to drop each horse dead in it’s tracks.
But you’ll never hear of shots that miss; of horses left to die
with painful wounds in bodies, necks or backs.

You will never hear of orphaned foals whose mothers lie there dead,
now left to starve and slowly die alone,
and you’ll never see the holes dug out as horses try to rise;
how long must scenes like this be left unknown?

Can you picture the reality, and feel a sense of shame
that animals are treated in this way?
Does a spark lie dormant in you that is ready to ignite;
that makes you want to question what they say?

They can justify the slaughter with their talk of feral stock,
and degradation wreaked upon the land.
But is cruelty the answer? Can’t we find a better way?
And do you care enough to take a stand?

[r.magnay]

'morning Irene,
Whlie I sympathize with you...and the brumbies, there is no political mileage to be gained by adressing it, whose pocket can the government hit to make a point there? It's like the cruelty I see daily done to dogs by our own locals, not to mention the cruelty to native animals in the name of 'bush tucker'. It easy to cripple an industry worth billions of dollars to Australia with the stroke of a pen to appease a few RSPCA officials because someone takes a couple of minutes of footage in another country, alleging the cruelty to Australian animals, which by the way simply means the cattle are sourced somewhere else so our industry is ruined but the cattle are still being slaughtered! But to address the sensitive issues right here on our own doorstep....too hard, we might upset some minority group and can't have that can we?............maybe I'm just a cynical old bastard......yep, that's it.

[Maureen K Clifford]

No Ross and Marty it is not all right - and while people think that nothing can be done - nothing will be done. Animals Australia already have a petition going and they need signatures before 24th March so that they can make this cruel killing of turles an election issue. They will send this e-mail to: The QLD Premier and the leader of the opposition; the Minister and Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries; and the Minister and Shadow Minister for the Environment.

If you are interested in helping here is the link
http://www.animalsaustralia.org/take_ac ... D-election

The crime is when the people of Australia do nothing. The crime is when you see any animal of any species being ill treated and you walk away. The crime is in not caring enough to care.

Your poem is heartbreakingly true Irene........Perhaps you might consider offering it to one of the Brumby rescue organizations if you haven't already done so as I am sure they would be very happy to use it.

Cheers

Maureen

[Irene]

Ross, I agree with you. It is too hard to address the issues for many people. And Marty, I didn't see that footage as I don't watch tv, but no, it is not alright, whatever the animal and whatever the ccircumstances.
I believe in the old saying 'You can tell a lot about man by the way he treats his animals!'

Thank you Maureen - I'm not sure that I have sent this poem to anyone bar the Outback Heritage Horse Association in WA. this group was formed as a direct result of an episode in the north of the state (not the kimberley cull!) where by the Dept Environment and Conservation bought a station and decided to 'return it to nature'. They cut off supply to the waterholes, and, as they dried up, animals (horses, cattle, kangaroos, camels, etc) were found stuck in the drying mud, and dying of thirst. A vet in Margaret River mounted a rescue operation to save as many horses as she could, as they were a heritage breed, and the resulting publicity forged an agreement between the group and the department for consultation before such things were to occur again. That didn't help the other animals though.
I am more than happy for any such group to use a poem of mine that may help highlight their issues.

catchya
IRene

[Heather]

Your poem says it all Irene - very well written and straight to the heart. I've always believed that you can tell a lot about any person by the way they treat animals. I lost respect in an instant for a neighbour by the way he treated my dog. Dogs know people - I always trust their instinct.

Heather

[manfredvijars]

<Start Rant>

As an ex shooter myself, I have little feeling towards any of the introduced ferals. From bunnies to bambi and including brumbies. Not forgetting cats, wild dogs, goats, donkeys, camels and my favorite hate - PIGS

It was a mate of mine who who shot out the 'brumbies' on Moreton Island (from helicopter). As an ex cocky and former military marksman, I know him to be a good shot and a professional shooter. Even without our interference, Nature is a real Bitch. The condition of the feral horses was such that with their teeth wearing down stomachs full of sand they were slowly starving to death. I believe that the 'desert donkeys and brumbies suffer similarly. They don't belong here.

Our romantic notions of brumbies in the 'high' Country is just that, romantic notions. They don't belong here.

Wild pigs are carving up our beautiful 'wild' country. From the tip of Cape York all the way across our Country to Cape Leewin in WA and back up through the Kimberley and on to the Coburg Peninsula. Wild pigs are destroying the landscape and displacing native species. They don't belong here.

If folks have a problem with shooting these ferals, then 'they' have a problem. Don't sit back and complain about the process - come up with a better way and FIX IT!!

<End Rant>



BTW I have a cat and a dog and I've even been known to cuddle a kitten ...

[Maureen K Clifford]

and who decides what belong where Mannie??? 5 million years ago when the earth was Gondwana land weren't all continents connected and men and animals able to freely roam across it.....I know that is terribly simplistic but nonetheless true - and quite feasibly at that time our high country wasn't so high and we probably had fish of some description swimming over it. Now admittedly they might find it difficult living there today but I defend their right to do so.

[manfredvijars]

... and quite feasibly at that time our high country wasn't so high and we probably had fish of some description swimming over it. Now admittedly they might find it difficult living there today but I defend their right to do so.

Now that's an interesting notion Mausie, giving 'rights' to things that don't exist ....
... then bring on the cane toads and let prickly pear cover the land (I'm sure we can give them 'rights' too)...

[r.magnay]

...G'day Manfred, while I have never been a proffessional shooter, I have been involved in the culling of many 'roo's and emus in my time, I have also been known to take out plenty of rabbits. foxes and any other feral or vermin threatening our livelyhood! No, 'roo's and emus aren't feral...or are they? The country I grew up in was all natural mallee scrub before white man arrived there, he cleared the country, planted crops and supplied watering points, 'roos, emus, eagles, crows and most other animals and birds native to the area bred up and increased their numbers to well beyond what the country could sustain in it's 'natural' state. We did always try and make the kills as humane as possible and never purposely inflicted undue pain or stress to the animals if we could aviod it. We are all animals of this earth, nature has decided a pecking order and we are fortunate enough to be pretty high on it....personally I like that idea!
I am certainly not against the culling of feral or any animals if it needs to happen, I do believe that it must be as humane as possible though, and I do not put a lot of credence in some of the one sided reports that get thown up to us by the media either....if that is a rant then so be it!

[Irene]

Start of rant

Manfred, interesting opinion, but I have to say I don't agree with your sentiments.
While I would love to think that we would not have to cull any of the feral animals or our brumbies, I am realistic to know that sometimes it has to happen. And I accept that.
However, the means of doing so are vitally important. It doesn't matter whether they are feral or domesticated - they are still live animals, and as such, have a right to be culled in the most humane way - quickly and without a lingering, painful death.
With all due respect to your mate who shot out the brumbies - I don't believe that anyone, no matter how good a marksman, can realistically shoot an animal humanely while in a moving helicopter and while the animal is moving. When they did the Kosciosko culling via helicopter, they also vowed that they used trained marskmen to shoot, and that they were killed humanely. The evidence of men who went in there in the aftermath proved differently. Not only did they cull in the middle of the breeding season - shooting mares that were heavily in foal, and in fact, one in the middle of foaling - but there were animals shot everywhere but in the head or chest, and then left to die.

Yes, feral animals are destroying some of our country! But first off, it was man who introduced them, and secondly, it was man who then let them breed to the numbers they are now without sensible control. It is now up to man to control the situation in the most appropriate and humane way - not with cruelty!!

My romantic notions of brumbies in the high country are not just 'romantic notions' that don't belong here - they are based on a reality that has been there for many, many years. Yes, those notions may have to accept that the numbers need to be lessened, but that doesn't mean that they don't belong here.

The people who have a problem, I believe, are those who believe that any animal can be shot in any manner just because it is 'feral'!!
I stand by my earlier comment that 'you can tell a lot about man by the way he treats his animals' - domesticated or feral!
I am not against responsible culling, I am against indiscriminate, cruel culling!!

End of rant!

Catchya
Irene