Wombat Protection Society
of Australia Ltd

Bulletin Number 23 - September 08
 

Welcome to Bulletin 23.

In this bulletin:

State of the Wombat

Our annual letter to Premiers' Australia wide asks them to tell us what their State is doing to help wombats, and particularly, what their State is doing io assist help prevent and control mange. All States and Territories managed an initial reply indicating they had received their letter and two months on ACT , Queensland, and Victoria have replied. Full reading and comprehension marks are yet to be awarded to a State that manages to respond to each questlon asked, in full . Victoria came close and ACT, though in denial both about wombats in their territory (you need only look at the number of road kill as you head into ACT via the Monaro Highway) and the impact of mange on them; but that Territory at least does not licence any culling. Queensland, as would be expected given the very few wombats it cares for, is more focused and as these wombats are highly endangered it of course does not allow them to be culled. As mange is not yet known in the Northern Hairy-Nosed Wombats, Queensland had the easiest job of reply.

Grab a T- Shirt

If you haven't got one of the Society's great Tshirts, now is the time to get one. If you already have, now is the time to get anotherl Not only are we selling out last years stock but we will take orders for special sizes or numbers for 2009. We have a collection of children's sizes in stock. These great, Australian made fully embroidered T-shirts wash well, don't shrink and seem to be lasting without fading very well. Kids white T-shirts are $20.00 and Maroon $25.00. Adult white T-shirts are $30.00 and Maroon $35.00 . We can usually send out two T-shirts stuffed in a bag for $5.50 postage, sadly one alone costs the samel

Ethics in Wombat Welfare

There was a great deal of comment recently when members involved in Native Wildlife Rehabilitation read a proposal that native animals unsuited to release have a "right to euthanasia". Some members would be aware that the Society is developing an Ethics committee and Prof. Steve Garlick has offered to chair this committee. The short essay "Ethics In Wombat Welfare" is an introduction to the topic from a committee member and one we are sure will interest many members, whether you rehabilitate native animals or or not. If you are interested in thls area contact the Society so you too can be involved in helping look at existing policy and developing alternatives where policies related to native anlmals Fail them.

STATE OF THE WOMBAT

The State of the Wombat letter was sent to the NSW, ACT, Victorian, South Australian and Tasmanian Premiers.

Replies to date follow.

NSW

QLD

VIC

THE ETHICS OF WOMBAT WELFARE

The Wombat Protection Society of Australia includes in its mission conserving and preserving wombats and advocating for them, both as individuals and as species, and educating people in this endeavour, This mission differs significantly from many conservation paradigms due to its emphasis on individual animals and the recognition that commonality should not preclude protection nor justify suffering and it should not diminish the most fundamental of all rights, the right to live both for an individual and the species. The dominant paradigm in native animal management in Australia today is the antithesis of this stated mission. The paradigm or belief that "There is no conservation value in rehabilitating common animals" can be argued to be the start of the slippery slope that justifies suffering. The unstated foundation of such a paradigm is that unless an animal faces extinction, i t has no value, a commodification of life into an economic rationalist perspective. From this paradigm built on fallacies, equally unreasonable dictums flow , such as one adopted by rehabilitators almost without ouestion: that "unreleasable" native animals have a "right" to "euthanasia" , Apathy in the face of suffering as well as more overt forms of harm; com mercialisation, hunting and culling and habitat destruction may all be argued to arise from the commodification of so called "common" native animals.

The idea that there is no conservation value in rehabilitating "common" native animals can be shown to lead to the very condition that conservation on any level and by any definition is meant to prevent, extinction. Extinction is the end of a slippery slope that begins with either a failure in genetic material or interference with an environment or both. Most extinctions in recentime are due to human interference. Extinction is however ,a Drocess that has been ongoing over millenium and will continue. Clive Marks put this well in his recent essay "Empathy for the Enemy" when he wrote "..,.extinction has become a heresv, Our oresent concerns for biodiversity and planetary ecology, are well placed, but the pursuit of an ideal with such singular focus should cause us to take stock, especially if we are prepared to subsume conceTns for suffering and abandon empathy ln its pursuit". Clive was referring to the ruthless cruelty inflicted on animals declared "vermin" and the inhumane means that have been and are used to kill them, pointlng out that chloropicrin which has a corrosive impact on lung tissue is a "a crude means to a terrible end" and was used as a burrow "Fumigant", killing wombats and rabbits until relatively recently. According to Clive, steel jaw traps can still be used on Dlngos and 1080, once claimed to be "humane" is now realised to cause unreasonable suffering prior to death. 1080 takes many collateral victims, yet i t is s t i l l used widely by National Parks and Wildlie Service and Rural Lands Protection Boards. Focusing on extinction alone not only justifies the prolonged suffering deaths of animals deemed "vermin" but the corruption of the term to include any pest animal/ native or otherwise.

When humans fail to acknowledge suffering in other species or see i t as their mandate to dictate such suffering the incline becomes precipitous. Whatever initiates the extinction slide ,numbers of a species become so pitifully low that individuals are able to be counted. Ironically, at that point every individual counts and conservation means saving every individual and ensuring each breeds and lives to its capacity. At this point "conservation" does a reversal and i t becomes imperative to keep each individual alive. Extremes are sometimes undertaken to ensure that the individual continues to live, whether a wingless swlft parrot s t i l l able to mate or a blind nail tailed wallaby because in a proper enclosure "they'll s t i l l be able to breed." There is now no "right" to "Euthanasia" because these individuals are "unreleasable," The "right to euthanasia" for an "unreleasable" animal applies only to those that have already been devalued by commodification by being considered "common".

These swings and round-abouts call into question the definitions that are used. "Common" and "Conservation" and "Right" are all defined differently in a temporal sense and by different political agendas. There is no standard definition of any of these words so easily coopted by politicians, "experts" and occasionally researchers and educators. So when we hear that "conservation ists" believe or state something, this is meaningless as conservationists are not a collective group holding to defined values and nor does conservation mean the same thing to those who call themselves conservationist. To make the statement that there is no conservation value in rehabilitating common animals defines the type of conservation the speaker believes in. This type of conservation devalues the individual by making its worth, like a commodity, proportional to its availability. Such a rational economic model to animal welfare can be arqued to lead to both sufferino and to extinction.

This type of "conservation" justifies the removal of "excess" "commodities" (common animals) and justifies the hunting of native animals and legal killing of them i f they live on or travel through farms. It creates the indifference that leads to thousands losing habitat through landclearing, woodchiping and hundreds of thousands dying as road k i l l , and the mentality that because these animals aTe common, no efforts need to be made because they aren't going extinct. It creates the conditions where we fail to care appropriately for animals having decided the more there are the less we need to care. It leads to apathy in the face of extreme suffering as is the case with mange in wombats and was the case with the Tasmanian Devil's facial tumouT.x I t oerDetuates the commodification of animals and creates the tendency towards extinction by creating the dlminishing supply which increases an ind ivid ua I's worth.

Government and its policies are informed by the Science i t funds and for which funds are available. Universities now comoete with Dublic for profit companies on the open market leading to a skewing in the type of research grant available and the type of projects which receive funding. "Pure" science, the ideal espoused to use only evidence based criteria falls miserabley to take into accounthe very basis from which science grew. I t was the need to understand the amazing and intricately webbed inter-relationships between all things on this planet and seen from this planet that led to the development of science. And science includes mind sciences like psychology which are becoming clearer that there is more to planetary, human and other species health and well being than that which can be seen under a microscope.

I t is a wonderfully circular argument that has been created by the misuse or political interpretation of science that leads to a right to death. A strange position exists if we can justify the continued degradation of natural habitat by then saying there is no where to release native animals and therefore conclude they are "unreleasable". This is done with joey Eastern Grey Kangaroos in most of the A.C.T. where their commonality and unreleasability leads to most being "euthanised". These are not sick or injured joeys, perfectly healthy ones are euthanised. some groups do the same based on certain sizes and weights for joey wombats or where insufficient carers exist, develop this as a policy. Meanwhile myths abound that these animals can't be reared or are too small and the ability and knowledge to do so is lost to groups who then begin to believe that the status quo is the truth. We know so l i t t l e about native animals yet we claim we can tell a releasable animal from an unreleasable animal. Watch any real free living group of native animals over a period of time and you will note all sorts of injuries and illnesses that they cope with and recover from and accommodate to. Yet humans can't give them space or time to make the transition to wellness and somehow justify this killing with a false science that somehow suggests this is in the animals' interest. We diminish ourselves when we know onlv too well. but for a little elbow grease and a small amount of money native animals could lead happy and healthy lives in cared for communities and small sanctuaries without having to meet some strange criteria for "release". It seems perverse that those who proclaim the death right of so called unreleasable animals accept animals such as wombats dying terrible deaths from preventable infestations such as mange, and would have an healthy unreleasable animal killed yet see no problem i f they deemed the animal releasable settinq it free into an area where a sure death from mange will result.

Wellness and wellbeing for most are not dictated by wealth and possessions, most of us list a very frugal set of absolutely vital ingredients for making us happy. These needs generally include good health, adequate food, a place to live and family and friends. l t is a developed society that can go beyond these basic needs and supply the opportunity to care for the living organism we all cling onto and to appreciate and protect the other sentient beings that share it with us. Inherent in that wellbeing is of course the most basic and fundamental of all rights, the right to live, the commonality we as humans share with all living things. The difference is the overwhelming ability we have as humans to annihilate any other species (and at times our own), and our equal ability to rise above this and truly protect and care for all life.

* The demise of the Tasmanian Devil shows this in action. Less than a decade ago this small, noisy carnivore was considered a pest in Tasmania and afforded little protection, A facial tumour caused by a contagious cancer has seen their population decimated and major efforts are now focusing on isolating some apparently immune individuals to save the species.

T-Shirts

T- Shirts are available in White Children's Sizes - 8,10,12
White Adult - M / L
Maroon Children's Sizes - 2,4,6,8,10,12
Maroon Audlt - S / L / XL

Kids white T-shirts are $20.00 and maroon $25.00.
Adult white T-shirts are $30.00 and maroonn $35.00.

We can usually send out two T-shirts stuffed in a bag for $5.50 postage, sadly one alone costs the same

Call 02 6493 8245 or email info@wombatprotection.org.au to order now for Christmas.

Remember too that Ken's Valley, a great DVD made by the Wynan boys is available for $20.00 and memberships make a great Christmas present, still $5.00 for Children and $10.00 for adults.