Dear editor:
Am I a villain? Things, dear reader, are not as they seem.
Over holding a wombat, thousands threaten my life.
Let me be clear; these same people ought to understand the reality of Australia today. For the readers that are so angered by my mistaken attempt to help and that I am a hunter—do not be blind to your country.
Let’s start with wombats—
The Australian government allows and permits the slaughter of wombats. Thousands each year are shot, poisoned to suffer, and trapped legally. Landowners rip up wombat burrows with heavy machinery, poison them with fumigation, and shoot them whenever they can. Quietly, of course, so as not to face the wrath that has come upon me.
Why, might you ask, do they kill them? Well, to feed you. The landowner is trying to survive, to raise you the lamb for your dinner table, the grapes for your wine, and the produce for your salads. Wombats get in the way of this, through putting their holes and tunnels across the land, creating hazard for livestock, and turning up the ground to eat roots. The wombat knows no better, as it too, is merely trying to survive.
Your government further spends tens of millions of taxpayer dollars annually to fly around in helicopters and shoot beautiful horses, deer, and pigs out its windows. A swift death is often not afforded to these animals. The Australian Government Department of Agriculture’s research showed a percentage of animals end up painfully wounded and stated ‘Animal-welfare outcomes could be improved with a national-level standard operating procedure requiring helicopters to fly back over shot animals and repeatedly shoot animals in the head or thorax.’ Sound kind to you?
Survival for these animals can become near impossible, and their lives, a constant state a fear. Their carcasses are then left on your public lands to rot. Your Snowy River and Kosciuszko National Park brumbys are being slaughtered by the thousands on your dime—speak to your Prime Minister Anthony Albanese about that. Loving the National Parks and Wildlife Service of Australia while being angered at me for killing feral deer for food, is hypocrisy at its finest.
How about the beloved Kangaroo, the National animal on your coat of arms? In the last 20 years, approximately 90 million kangaroos and wallabies have been legally slaughtered for commercial purposes and that number is not slowing down. Millions are legally killed each year. Are they not deserved of government protection as native species? If you don’t believe me, take a look around the next time you go to Woolworth’s where you will see kangaroo flesh sold as both pet and human food.
You see, as sad as it is, most of humanity selfishly cares far more about ourselves than we do the natural world. In many articles it was suggested that I go see a wombat in a zoo instead. Let’s be clear, breeding and keeping wild animals in captivity to be imprisoned in a zoo for our gawking pleasure is a sin far more egregious than holding one for a moment in effort to help.
While the prime minister wishes harm on me for picking up a wombat, I implore you to take a good, hard, look at what is currently being done in Australia surrounding the real issues it faces, the lack of power for tens of thousands of Aussies, and the treatment of its native wildlife. Then, decide for yourself, if I, a person who certainly makes mistakes, am really your villain.
Yearly statistics on quotas and kills
https://invasives.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/L001-Final-release-revision.pdf
Animals Australiahttps://animalsaustralia.orgUnderstanding the issues: kangaroo shooting
Sincerely
Samantha Strable
