Stop Tasmanian Animal Cruelty has received distressing reports of a government plan to slaughter between 200 and 300 Agile Wallabies very soon on the East Coast near Bicheno.
‘We are at a complete loss to understand how a plan to massacre these innocent animals could have been approved by the Animal Welfare Advisory Committee, if indeed it was referred to it’, said Suzanne Cass. ‘It is all the more shocking given that several wildlife parks, led by Zoodoo, have agreed to re-home these beautiful creatures, and sterilize them if necessary.
Trevor Cuttriss, from Zoodoo, is equally horrified.
‘We have approached the Minister for the Environment, Brian Wightman, to try and put a stop to the senseless and brutal slaughter of these unique animals’, said MrCuttriss ‘but unfortunately we have been able to get nowhere with him other than a curious statement that they are to be ‘culled’ because they are not native animals. It is not as if they pose the slightest threat to any Tasmanian wildlife, our biosecurity, or to the health of any other species. Moreover, they have lived on the East Coast for many years and are therefore virtually indigenous’.
Ms Cass has also made several calls to Mr Wightman’s office and received no response.
‘Typically, you get a response from Mr Wightman
MrCuttriss and Ms Cass are appealing for community support to save these the animals from what will effectively be a bloodbath, with joeys traditionally bashed to death as their mothers are shot.
‘Such culls are always brutal, and this one is made even worse by the fact that it is completely unnecessary, since there are a number of alternatives offered by wildlife parks’, continued Ms Cass. These are a particularly beautiful species of wallaby, and it is a terrible act of destruction by an uncaring Minister for the Environment and the government.
Operators of wildlife parks in Tasmania, led by Mr Cuttriss, have challenged Mr Wightman to put a stop to the senseless and cruel cull, or to make public the dates, times and locations, and have joined forces with animal advocates who may be present to monitor the conduct of the shooters. Animal advocates have threatened to disrupt the activity in an attempt to save the animals.
*Pic: of an Agile Wallaby
