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Post by Die Fledermaus on Apr 30, 2004 20:02:51 GMT -4
As if the news wasn't bad enough, I now see this. . . >> Call to shoot 20,000 Australian koalas.SYDNEY, Australia (Reuters) -- A koala population explosion on an Australian island has prompted calls for 20,000 of the furry, native marsupials to be shot to stop them destroying their island habitat and end a koala famine. Some 30,000 koalas on Kangaroo Island, off the coast of the state of South Australia, are stripping the island of its native gum trees, destroying the ecosystem and causing a koala famine, say environmentalists and national parks officials. "We are talking thousands of starving koalas," said Sandra Kanck from the Australian Democrats, Australia's third major political party. "While they may be cute and cuddly we need to get beyond emotion to reality...my suggestion is professional shooters do it quickly and cleanly," Kanck told Reuters on Friday of the proposed cull. The South Australian state government has rejected calls for a cull, preferring sterilization and relocation. The Australian Koala Foundation also opposes a cull of the koalas, which on the Australian mainland are struggling to survive as urban development destroys their habitat. Kangaroo Island tourist operators say a koala cull would severely damage the island's tourist industry. "The koalas are so hungry they are eating pine needles," said Kanck. "What will tourists think of a habitat of denuded trees with desperate, starving koalas roaming the damaged landscape?" << Link
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Post by jeannie on May 1, 2004 12:02:15 GMT -4
How sad!
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Post by Hamsters82 on May 1, 2004 14:31:59 GMT -4
Why do people think its okay to come in & destroy an animal's habitat? B/c its not then you have problems like these & dumb people who decide to kill them & that's the best way. There are other ways of treating the Koalas & the enviornment!! There was this article I get from IDA (In Defense of Animals) saying that wolves are being killed b/c there are too many of them. C'mon people get a life & get a grip on things!!! Don't people understand that we are the only animal capable of saving others?? Idiots. People are just ignorant idiots...sorry about that. I even got mad at Oprah yesterday for saying something on the Great White Shark. Ooo...people get to me sometimes when they say cruel things on animals. People should learn more & not jump to conclusions or stupid decisions about animals. I mean don't people want to see some of them in about 20yrs cause most probably won't make it! Freaking jerks...sorry again.
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Post by Die Fledermaus on May 1, 2004 16:36:01 GMT -4
What they didn't explain is how the balance of nature on the island got so out of whack in the first place. And why they permitted it to get this bad.
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