No food without cruelty to wildlife
IN response to the recent letters published in your paper opposing duck shooting, I would like to comment, and quote from a letter published in the Australian Shooter magazine by organic farmer Ken Harris from Tasmania, to put some balance into the debate.
As Mr Harris wrote in a recent letter to the magazine, you cannot grow food without being cruel to wildlife.
He stated, “As a retired organic producer, teacher of organic gardening and practising organic gardener, I can state categorically you cannot produce fruit and vegetables without killing huge amounts of pests.
“My killing season starts in early spring, spraying fruit trees to kill dormant eggs of black aphid, two-spotted mite, woolly aphid and more and citrus trees to kill scale insects.
“Then it’s caterpillars on brassicas, cabbages, cauliflowers etc, which are sprayed with Dipel.
“The butterfly or moth lays her eggs on the leaves to hatch into caterpillars which ingest the bacteria on the leaves, killing their digestive system.
“It can take two or three days for the caterpillar to die.
“Slugs or snails are killed organically, codling moth by using a pheromone trap to attract males which can remain stuck in the trap for several days, alive and kicking.
“All these methods are recommended organic practices.
“You cannot grow food without being cruel to wildlife.
“The spiel put about by vegans that you must produce food without killing anything is vain and based on ignorance.
“The only thing you can eat without killing pests is wild, harvested food.”
Hunting is as old and traditional as mankind, and does not have to be justified.
Ducks are shot on licence in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania for food.
Due to the drought, numbers are down locally because ducks and other waterbirds fly long distance to better conditions.
The only reason to restrict hunting is for conservation reasons.
I have shot teal on a rain pond on the edge of the Simpson desert.
They move a lot, and are not threatened as a very small percentage are shot by hunters.
The real threat to wildlife is habitat loss.
I welcome any discussion with people who recognise this, and who would like to do something about it.
Geoff McDonald,
Murrabit
More soap needed
Fortunately the Corona virus has not reached this area of Kerang and Barham yet but all advice provided says we absolutely must adhere to strict rules of hygiene.
The major step towards this is the most vigorous washing of hands at all times.
However, apparently this is not of very great consequence to the Barham RSL Club.
One would imagine that the majority of club members are over 75, the most susceptible age group for this possibly fatal epidemic now sweeping the world and becoming prevalent in Australia, but the club’s management appears to be indifferent to this threat.
This member has time and again found it impossible to wash her hands properly due to the liquid soap holders in the club’s facilities which, with great difficulty, provide a mere drop to cleanse with and are difficult to manipulate – any liquid extracted is hardly sufficient to obliterate any bacteria whatsoever from an airborne threat or on poker machine keys in particular.
A serious matter such as this should not be met with the response, “I can’t see anything changing” from the CEO, Michael Alexander, who simply thanked me for my input.
Washing of hands particularly in public places is of the utmost importance in the present climate and should not be dismissed in such cavalier fashion by the management.
That leaves those of us who care to provide our own soaps or hygienic wipes on our next outing to the RSL, where we spend literally hundreds of dollars on gambling and food, a contribution one would have thought supported the provision of adequate cleansers in the toilets.
One can only trust that bar and catering staff have adequate supplies.
Name and address withheld,
Kerang
