I AM utterly disgusted and appalled by China Gibson, referring to his rave “Coots still coming” in Moulamein Notes (The Guardian, February 23).
It is most unfortunate this man lives in NSW as in Victoria the Eurasian coot is a protected species.
He would be arrested in Victoria if caught killing the horrific numbers he so proudly boasts about. His callous disregard stating: “There are some farmers about to walk away from rice because of these mongrel coots” demonstrates he has no concern nor care about these birds.
Furthermore he states: “They just keep coming like the Terminator. They cannot be reasoned with.” Is this person a joke? These are birds. Birds eat all manner of things, plus they help in keeping the mosquito population down as well as ingesting other types of insects – such as locusts – that may cause further damage to China Gibson’s precious rice crops.
This man appears to have a real personal vendetta against these birds. This is Nature and, if he can’t accept this, I suggest he stops producing rice.
He states: “They cannot be scared away.” I say this is absolute rot. Has he tried using sounds of birds of prey that only animals and birds can hear but humans cannot? Has he attempted to make silhouettes of birds of prey and place these around his precious rice paddies? Has he used scare guns at all?
I suggest that this man do a Google search online rather than boasting: “I had a mate that came out to watch when we got the big guns in on the coots.” What exactly is he implying by this? Heaven help any other birds or animals that land in his rice paddocks.
I have had a gutful of the completely callous disregard we have towards animals in Australia. Not only the recreational shooting of ducks and quail in Victoria, but the (mostly) unsupervised cruelty towards animals in NSW, consisting of Eurasian coot, western grey kangaroos and others.
What does it take to educate people on the importance of living with these animals and birds in harmony, rather than at war, which this man appears to be?
He concludes by stating: “Everyone is definitely over them.” As a bird, animal and nature lover l categorically and completely disagree with his sentiment.
I buy my rice from China and have done so for years. I would prefer to buy Australian produced rice to support Australian farmers but this individual has put a permanent stop to this with his disgraceful article.
Kate Bossence,
Kerang
