IS THIS TRUE?

[Loving my Oldies]

I can hardly type these words.  The horror, if it is true, is unbearable.  

 

I have seen reports from many and varied media outlets that the Victorian Government authorised the shooting from helicopters of Koalas in the Budj Bim National Park, citing they were in danger of starving because of recent bush fires.  The reports say approx 750 Koalas have been killed.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited yesterday at 09:26 AM by Loving my Oldies

[tdierikx]

Sadly... yes it's true.

 

T.

[persephone]

yes, true. 
From The Guardian 
 

Deakin University associate prof Desley Whisson, a wildlife ecologist who specialises in koala management, thinks it was a “merciful, compassionate response” in the circumstances, and one made despite the repercussions.

“It’s political suicide,” she says. “It would have just been easier for them to walk away and not do anything.”

“This is quite a drastic response,” she says.” But if you’ve got helicopters flying over an area and you see hundreds of koalas that are burnt, or covered in fire retardant, or otherwise showing signs of distress, I think you would want to make a decision to put them out of their misery.”

 

Palma says while the organisation would not like to see aerial killing of wildlife become the norm, euthanasia should be carried out using the approach that causes the least stress to the animal, as humanely as possible, and always be scrutinised.

---

Is aerial culling accurate?

Todd says koalas were euthanised only after being individually assessed first, often at less than 30 metres, supported by use of binoculars and other optical aids.

 

He says an initial aerial trial – supported by a ground-based veterinary assessment – demonstrated that aerial shooting was both accurate and humane. According to Todd, a wildlife vet’s assessment during the trial showed that “all koalas assessed and euthanised by the aerial team during the trial were in very poor health and would have continued to suffer in a deteriorating state of welfare if they had remained alive”.

[sandgrubber]

Death by starvation may be worse.

How many animals we loose to unceasing growth

[_PL_]

To my understanding, they would not have starved to death if allowed access to the plantation nearby.

It's poor management and for goodness sake ... the carry-on over that nitwit who picked up a wombat for tiktok .... but we're shooting our koalas instead of better environmental planning. 

[Loving my Oldies]

4 hours ago, _PL_ said:

To my understanding, they would not have starved to death if allowed access to the plantation nearby.

It's poor management and for goodness sake ... the carry-on over that nitwit who picked up a wombat for tiktok .... but we're shooting our koalas instead of better environmental planning. 

I couldn't agree with you more.  Poor management is being kind to them.  All they needed to do was to get the rescue groups involved and who knows how many could have been saved.  Rescue groups are hugely experienced and would know how to triage and humanely euthanise those who did not stand a chance.  

 

I really and truly sickens me how people talk about a "humane approach" when what they really mean is that it's too hard, let's just shoot them all.  

 

Although it is a long time ago, this reminds me of an incident when I was volunteering at Sydney Dogs and Cats Home.  There was an outbreak of cat flu and the manager of the Home couldn't be bothered to try to manage the situation and said to have all the cats killed.  The lady who was in charge of the cats came into the office where I was, obviously in huge distress, and gasped out to me, "They are killing my cats."  Luckily before the wholesale slaughter of the cats could take place, the owner of the veterinary hospital to which the Home was attached took charge and put in isolation practices and dealt with the outbreak.  

 

Some people are not suited to manage difficult situations and it would seem that people in Victoria are certainly in that category.   

 

As for that ridiculous person who was so pilloried on social media, well I agree what she did was totally stupid, but why isn't this horrible horrible event all over social media?

 

How anyone could contract for a job that involved sitting in a helicopter and shooting little animals is beyond my comprehension.  And assessed at 30 metres!!!  FFS!!!!   I would be hard pressed to tell a Koala from a Pademelon at 30 metres let alone whether it was in extremis or not.  

Edited 5 hours ago by Loving my Oldies