Compassionate Conservation THINK.CHANGE.DO Is recreational hunting defensible? PART 2 Emeritus Professor Marc Bekoff & Dr Daniel Ramp
Outline of evenings presentations • What is compassionate conservation and why do we need it (PART 1) • Talk One • Daniel Ramp • “Why and how do we conserve nature” • Talk Two • Marc Bekoff • “The case for compassionate conservation” • A cost-benefit analysis of recreational hunting (PART 2) • Talk Three • Daniel Ramp • “Shooting our mouths off about conservation” • Talk Four • Marc Bekoff • “Would you do this to your dog?” 2
Shooting our mouths off about conservation THINK.CHANGE.DO Dr Daniel Ramp Senior Lecturer School of the Environment 3
THINKK – the think tank for kangaroos • Established in 2009 to create discourse on kangaroo ecology and management in Australia • Provide a focal point for academics and the community in which to share knowledge and ideas • Publish reports and peer-reviewed articles • Four key research reports: • Four peer-reviewed articles with five more currently in progress • Three Articles in The Conversation: • It’s raining kangaroos: the ups and downs of kangaroo management • Food fight – Aboriginal elders take on the kangaroo industry • Australia's commercial kangaroo industry: hopping to nowhere? 4
THINK Wildlife • Focus on compassionate conservation practice at UTS • Working across the faculties of Science, Law, Business, and the Institute for Sustainable Futures • Working with government and non-government organisations • Research, teaching, community outreach 5
Society for Conservation Biology • Symposium on Compassionate Conservation at the 26 th International Congress for Conservation Biology in July 2013 6
A framework for compassionate conservation • Is there a clear conservation objective? • Is it necessary to intervene? • What intervention options are there? • What is the minimum number of animals that will be affected to achieve the desired outcome? • What impacts will the intervention cause? • Is there anything that can be done to minimise harm or enhance welfare? • Will minimising harm or enhancing welfare be likely to improve conservation outcomes and can these be measured? • Will the intervention have wider negative or positive implications? • Will the outcomes be lasting or will the intervention need to be repeated? • Is the intervention sustainable? • What are the implications of success? 7
Let’s look at introduced species • Introduced species management has adopted three vital control principles • Necessity Sharp T, Saunders G. 2007. Model code of practice for the humane control of wild dogs. NSW • Effectiveness Department of Primary Industries. • Humaneness • Governments take managing of introduced species very seriously and activities are usually scientifically-based, strategic, and employed in a manner to achieve measurable targets • Eradication (and hence killing) is a major part of management practices • “ C onservation hunting” argument is that the public can assist with meeting targets 8
Where is recreational hunting allowed in NSW? • In 400 State forests and Crown land areas (2 million Ha of public land) • Hunters must be a member of the Game Council NSW Approved Hunting Organisation (AHO), hold an R- Licence and Firearms license • No licence is required to hunt on private land • R-licence categories allows hunting with: • Firearms • Bows • Dogs • Blackpowder 9
How much land do we protect in NSW? 10
Current hunting areas in NSW Not including private land 11
Trial hunting areas in National Parks 79 National Parks and reserves, covering close to 3 million hectares or 40% of all NSW parks and reserves 12
Potential hunting areas in National Parks 13
No hunting areas in National Parks Only 48 have been expressly excluded from hunting 14
Can hunting reduce impacts on biodiversity? • 28 dedicated Conservation Hunting Groups in NSW (facilitated by the Game Council NSW) “ who contribute to the management of game and feral animal populations on private land and some public lands in NSW ” • The Sporting Shooters Association claims in the Australian Shooters Journal (vol. 11 issue 1):* 1. There is “an abundance” of scientific evidence that recreational hunting is effective for feral animal control and highly beneficial for conservation 2. Recreational hunters offer a “free” or “low cost” service that governments should use to control feral animals on public lands 3. The motivations of hunters are aligned to conservation, and provide the most effective basis for conservation * Invasive Species Council 2009 “Is hunting conservation?” 15
Let’s look at pigs in NSW • Game and Feral Animal Control Act 2002 • Animals that can be targeted • Category 1 • Wild deer, California quail, pheasant, partridge, peafowl, turkey, some ducks • Category 2 • Foxes, rabbits, feral goat, feral pig, cat and wild dog (other than a dingo) 16
What do we know about where pigs are? Occurrence Abundance Distribution West, P. (2008). Assessing Invasive Animals in Australia 2008. National Land & Water Resources Audit and Invasive Animals CRC, Canberra. 17
How good is our information? West, P. (2008). Assessing Invasive Animals in Australia 2008. National Land & Water Resources Audit and Invasive Animals CRC, Canberra. 18
Distribution and abundance in NSW West, P. (2008). Assessing Invasive Animals in Australia 2008. National Land & Water Resources Audit and Invasive Animals CRC, Canberra. 19
Why are pigs a problem? 20
Impacts on agriculture • Pigs can impact through* • Predation of newborn lambs • Reduction in crop yields • Damage to fences and water sources • Competition for feed * PestSmart Toolkit for Feral Pigs 21
Impacts on biodiversity • Pigs can impact through* • Turnover of soil • Fouling water sources • Trampling vegetation • Spreading weeds • Predating upon fauna • Has implications for 18 nationally listed threatened species • However, impacts are incompletely researched and mostly anecdotal * Threat abatement plan for predation, habitat degradation, competition and disease transmission by feral pigs. DEH 2005. 22
What actions do governments take? • Threat abatement plans (DEH 2005) • Poisons • Pigs are susceptible to toxins such as sodium monofluoroacetate (1080) and the human food preservative sodium nitrite • Trapping and shooting • Fencing and habitat manipulation • Bio-control techniques • Dogs and harvesting * Threat abatement plan for predation, habitat degradation, competition and disease transmission by feral pigs. DEH 2005. 23
How large an area do you have to target? • Cowled et al. (2006) showed that an extensive, repeated aerial shooting program across a 4,000 km 2 MU, produced no demographic or genetic changes J Wildlife Manage (2006) 70:1690-1697 • Cowled et al. (2008) showed that MUs needed to be much larger to achieve natural resource and conservation protection • Extending across entire sub-populations • Establish buffers against immigration Conserv Genet (2008) 9:211 – 224 24
Current management strategies • Five main objectives of the national TAP for pigs* 1. Prevent range expansion and reduction in areas important for biodiversity 2. Integrate management plans into NRM planning 3. Increase awareness 4. Quantify impacts on biodiversity 5. Improve effectiveness, efficiency and humaneness of control methods • Clear that only systematic, collaborative and extensive programs of control have any effect on pig numbers * Threat abatement plan for predation, habitat degradation, competition 25 and disease transmission by feral pigs. DEH 2005.
How do you reduce pig numbers? • Problematically, reducing pig density is not a simple task * * Invasive Species Council 2012 “Recreational hunting NSW claims v facts” 26
Can hunting reduce pig numbers? • Detailed analysis by the Invasive Species Council* * Invasive Species Council 2012 “Recreational hunting NSW claims v facts” 27
Is recreational hunting a free service? • Detailed analysis by the Invasive Species Council* * Invasive Species Council 2012 “Recreational hunting NSW claims v facts” 28
Do the few that are killed improve conservation efforts? • Likely that hunting has negative conservation outcomes • One animal killed does not save prey individuals unless it coincides with a population reduction • Natural mortality is very high but removal of large individuals results in competitive release, reducing local mortality rates • Hunters can contribute to spread into new areas, through chasing or deliberate release • No authority or regulatory body supports the premise that recreational hunting reduces introduced species numbers or benefits the environment 29
Poor welfare outcomes 30
Bringing compassion to conservation practice • We currently do not meet world standards in protected area allocation • Convention on Biological Diversity 2011-2020 – Target 11: at least 17% • A way forwards with compassion: • Adopt the precautionary principle to animal wellbeing • Include ethics in decision making • Move from exploitative-based sustainability to equity-based sustainability • Encouraging wildlife research that addresses welfare • Compassion is not an undesirable state 31
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