[Mishmash] FYI: Fwd: ACT/ Protest Australia's Mass Kangaroo Kill

[David Brown]

I read recently that deer are the most dangerous things on US roads.

Cheers

David

-----Original Message-----
From: mishmash-bounces at mishmash.net [mailto:mishmash-bounces at mishmash.net]
On Behalf Of Richard Barth
Sent: Thursday, 14 February 2008 8:09 AM
To: Mishmash
Subject: Re: [Mishmash] FYI: Fwd: ACT/ Protest Australia's Mass Kangaroo
Kill

At 05:30 PM 2/12/2008,  David wrote:
>Hi Susan.
>
>Killing kangaroos is very emotive.  My daughter is horrified that people
eat
>the national symbol. I am a little more pragmatic.
>
>Around here the eastern grey kangaroo is very common.  I see them from my
>front yard from time to time.  I see dead ones on the road every time I go
>riding.  They can be a pest.  There is a lot of debate about how to reduce
>the numbers.  Some favour shooting, others sterilisation.  Of course many
>would prefer they were left alone.  The problem is over population and even
>the RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) is
>concerned that over population will cause them die slow painful deaths and
>is in favour of humane population measures.

We have the same sort of problem where I live, except it's deer, not 'roos.
When we moved here 30+ years ago, the problem didn't exist.  My first
exposure
to it came some years ago when i was driving down a neighborhood street and
saw
(I thought) a couple of those lawn ornaments some people have -- deer
statues.
Then a "lawn ornament" lifted its head and looked at me.   Since then it has
become worse each year.  They're all over, and not just in my neighborhood.
I've had a half dozen at a time on my front lawn.  They've made a nice meal
of
some of the flowers and other plants we once had on our front lawn, and
created havoc in a local arboretum until the fence was raised beyond twelve
feet.  (Did you know deer can jump a fence that high?  The arboretum people
didn't either, but they found out.)  They finally brought in some
sharpshooters
with night-vision goggles and silencers to keep from frightening the
neighbors,
who live only yards away from the place.

I must admit there have been some appealing moments, such as the time a
spotted
fawn who must have been only a month or two old wound up on somebody 
else's lawn.
Normally we don't see them that young; I assume their elders keep 
them buried in
the parkland nearby but this one evidently escaped from kindergarten.  He
stood
there looking at us as the car approached, then panicked and turned 
to run.  But
at his age, he didn't know how, so he bounced, hopped and skipped to the
other
side of a tree on the lawn.  He then stuck his head around the side 
of the tree,
staring in wide-eyed wonder to see if we had left yet.

Thinning the herd is raising the same questions here as it is in your 
area.  The
animal-rights people want to do nothing, or at most use birth control.  The
vigilantes want to bring in more guns, which can't be recommended in a
heavily
populated residential area.   The arguments continue, as do the deer.

If you Aussies figure out how to handle your critters, please let us know.

Dick



Richard Barth *** W3HWN(at)ARRL.NET *** Silver Spring, MD 


_______________________________________________
Mishmash mailing list
Mishmash at mishmash.net
http://mishmash.net/mailman/listinfo/mishmash_mishmash.net