Koala call misses mark
It seems a shame that the call from the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage (BDN, 16/2) for ideas about saving koalas in the shire didn't come earlier.
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Had that been the case, the $10million odd of public funds, spent on claimed habitat restoration and protecting core koala habitat, may have been better spent.
With regard to habitat restoration, the website for the $5.6million 'Foundations for River Recovery and Return of Koalas to the Bega Valley' project, indicates it has been operative since 2011. However, there are no reports on its progress.
Similarly, the $3.9million 'Corridors and core habitat for koalas on the NSW Far South Coast' project, has only one report, which doesn't actually mention the main focus. This being the poorly conceived and ultimately failed idea to translocate koalas from the Strzelecki's to the South East National Park.
It was back in 2006 that the NSW Scientific Committee acknowledged the three main threats to local koalas. These being development, logging and extensive canopy die-back. So it is interesting to note Bega council has identified fire as a major issue.
Of course there is a chance that an unprecedented fire could engulf many of the remaining koalas. On the other hand, extensive canopy die-back has previously had a negative impact on all remaining koala habitat. While we can't be certain about the chance of a fire, future extensive canopy die-back events are a certainty.
Robert Bertram, Bermagui
Big time politics
Congratulations to Mike Kelly.
Not even the Queen, Donald Trump, the Pope or the Bega Show Society would place a full page advertisement ... yes you read correctly ... a full page advertisement in the Bega District News (17th February) just to announce that they would be going to the Bega Show over the weekend.
Mike - you've made the big time! I just hope that you or the Labor Party paid for the ad and not us taxpayers!
As many would know, when it comes to politics, I'm a fence sitter and I would make the same comments about the Liberal/National Party in a similar situation.
Andrew Ogilvie, Springvale
Fish have feelings too
The ground-breaking conviction of a Sydney Fish Market trader for cruelty is being celebrated by compassionate people around the world. All animals deserve protection from cruel treatment and painful death.
Crustaceans were added to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act in 1997 after it was medically proven that they feel pain. The incident recorded on film last week showed the trader holding a struggling lobster down on a chopping board before chopping off his tail with a butcher's knife, which doesn't kill the animal but causes agonising pain, according to the RSPCA. The remainder of the animal was then fed into a band saw.
A fine was imposed on the spot, but the company chose to take the matter to court. The company was then convicted of an act of animal cruelty and handed a $1500 fine at the Downing Centre Court.
While this case may cause the industry to think twice before abusing crustaceans, other sea creatures are still routinely subject to appalling suffering and agonising deaths. No Australian laws regulate the treatment of fish caught or raised for their flesh.
Experts from around the world report that fish are intelligent, sensitive and interesting animals. The respected journal Fish and Fisheries cites more than 500 research papers proving that fish possess long-term memories, complex social structures and learning patterns as well as the ability to use tools and even build things. In some respects, fish's cognitive abilities surpass those of dogs and some primates.
It is time that all animals were given the basic rights to live and die without humans adding pain and terror for the sake of profit.
