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Organisers of the “Don’t Shoot Bats” campaign are taking
our message to the streets by giving new life to the Grey Cross campaign. Wherever
you live, if you have an interest in conservation or animal welfare, you are
invited to take part in the Grey Cross event on the weekend of November 3 &
4.
There
are many conservation problems facing us, so why focus on this issue.
- The governments of Qld and NSW both issue permits to
allow fruit growers to shoot flying foxes* including two species listed
nationally as threatened. It is bad enough that these governments do
little to address key threatening processes such as habitat loss, but to
actively sanction a known threatening process is outrageous.
- Most bats which are shot die a slow, painful death from
their wounds over many hours – sometimes days. A small minority are killed
outright. Dependent young, whose mothers have been shot,
will die of dehydration and starvation also over several days.
- This is not only animal cruelty. This is animal
cruelty sanctioned by the states of Queensland and New South Wales.
- There are fruit-crop protection solutions, which are
far more effective and don’t kill wildlife. We acknowledge the
difficulties faced by farmers, but there is no excuse for animal cruelty.
- Some politicians and sections of the media are
responsible for demonising flying-foxes, so that the general public are
fearful of these animals and less willing to take a stand against the
cruelty inflicted on them. A great deal of this is misinformation
bordering on hysteria. Sadly, the vast majority of this negativity is
based on ignorance.
Documentation
which backs up the statements above is available at www.dontshootbats.com.
It
is a difficult issue, but if you have ever wanted to take a stand for the
underdog, this is the time.
The
event entails making and erecting “Grey Crosses” in public areas to attract
attention –then photographing them and posting the photos, videos and other
media to social media networks. We will issue a media release template a
week before, which you can adapt it to your local needs. To get the message
out there we need to get maximum media coverage – so please get the word out
there to your local news media. For this one weekend our aim is to raise
awareness of what is being done to these unique and special animals, and to say
that neither animal cruelty, nor killing threatened species, is ever
acceptable.
Our
hope is to see local events across the natural range of flying-foxes across
Australia – and beyond. Examples and details on how you can participate in this
one-off event are at thegreycross.org website.
*Queensland
has just re-introduced these permits on September 7 2012. NSW is in the
process of phasing out the permits, but not until July 2014. Even then,
they plan to continue to issue them under certain circumstances.
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