OPINION
Mary Hackshaw
The rank hypocrisy of the Green Left has been on full display in the last week. The Melbourne Cup drew the usual rabble of protesters outside the Flemington venue, claiming that horse racing is cruel and that it kills. Following protests at recent Melbourne Cup parades of jockeys and horses in downtown Melbourne, this year’s parade was cancelled.
To be fair, recent deaths of horses during the Melbourne spring carnival have almost exclusively involved European horses, unused to the firmer track conditions than they typically encounter in their countries of origin. Racing Victoria has addressed this issue, carrying out rigorous vetting of horses before the Cup. Because of this, the last few Cups have been incident-free.
The same week that the Melbourne Cup was being contested, the NSW Government commenced a large-scale aerial cull of brumbies in the Kosciuszko National Park, on the grounds that the iconic species was causing environmental damage to the delicate ecosystem of the park. There has been absolute silence from the media and Green politicians on this issue. It appears not to matter to Labor, green politicians and the left media that the shooting of horses from helicopters involves unspeakable cruelty and is utterly unnecessary.
The NSW Government approved the cull on the rationale that there are an estimated 18,000-plus “feral” horses in the park. Brumby advocates argue that the numbers are grossly exaggerated and are based on samples taken in small areas assumed to apply across the entire park. Yet the horses only occupy some 15% of the park.
Also ignored are the wild pigs, deer and dogs roaming the park. They apparently are exempt from culls and do not cause damage. Really?
The Green left also appears quite comfortable with large areas of sensitive native forest being cleared to make way for massive wind farms. No matter that koala habitats are being seriously damaged and the animals themselves are being maimed and killed. That is all OK in the name of “saving the planet”. However when wild horses muddy water holes and streams that is justification enough for their eradication. Their bodies are left to rot where they fall and are allowed to pollute rivers and water holes.
NSW has the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1979 which provides:
5 Cruelty to animals
(1) A person shall not commit an act of cruelty upon an animal.
(2) A person in charge of an animal shall not authorise the commission of an act of cruelty upon the animal.
(3) A person in charge of an animal shall not fail at any time—
(a) to exercise reasonable care, control or supervision of an animal to prevent the commission of an act of cruelty upon the animal,
(b) where pain is being inflicted upon the animal, to take such reasonable steps as are necessary to alleviate the pain, or
(c) where it is necessary for the animal to be provided with veterinary treatment, whether or not over a period of time, to provide it with that treatment.
There are well-established protocols for the humane shooting of horses. That protocol requires the bullet to be fired so that it enters the skull at the point where two lines running from the base of each ear to the opposite eye intersect. Despite this widely available information, the NSW government is seemingly happy to permit the shooting of horses from helicopters hovering above herds of horses which will no doubt be agitated and very mobile. How anyone believes the shooting could be carried out humanely is mind-boggling.
Fortunately, a well-organised group of volunteers is out and about in the park disrupting the cull, riding amongst the brumbies on horseback. Word from those on the ground is that the first day of operations resulted in no shooting being carried out.
What we are seeing is a set of double standards being played out by the Green left, who are increasingly being called out. We were lectured to about climate change threatening our habitat and endangered species, many of which would not survive an increase in temperatures of a degree or two. To cut down on emissions we had to urgently upend our energy systems and move to “renewable” electricity. This “renewable” energy is devastating landscapes and threatening endangered species, with forest and marine ecosystems suffering massive damage. Populations such as the koala and endangered eagles are paying with their lives, all in the name of saving the planet.
Productive farmland is being given over to the new religion of renewable energy. No thought is being given to the massive disposal problem in the next decade or two when wind turbines and solar panels reach the end of their lifespan. The Green left is awash with double standards and seems not to care about the destruction of the landscape in the name of renewable energy, or the inhumane culling of horses to save waterways in the Kosciuszko National Park. Yet it will protest the running of a horse race where the horses involved would have to be some of the best cared for animals in the world. It seems that some horses are more equal than others.