Melbourne
ATTEMPTS to control wild pigs, rabbits and water buffalo in Australia are
depriving Aborigine hunters of an important source of food and driving them to
kill rare native animals instead, says an Australian government report released
this week. The report from the Bureau of Resource Sciences says that the switch
to native prey is one of the unforeseen consequences of programmes that were
designed to protect native animals.
The report broaches some sensitive questions about whether there should be
controls on Aborigines hunting native species and whether their hunting
practices are sustainable.
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Feral animals are regarded as one of the country鈥檚 greatest environmental
problems. They are blamed for damaging agricultural land, wrecking the habitat
of native species and, in some cases, eating native animals. Feral cats and
foxes are shot and poisoned. Water buffalo and wild pigs are shot from
helicopters. And lethal viruses have been unleashed more than once to try to
control the rabbits.
鈥淭here is some evidence of shifts to exploit native fauna after the
reduction
of introduced species,鈥� the report says. In the Northern Territory, for
instance, where the number of water buffalo has been reduced dramatically since
the 1980s, Aborigines are hunting more freshwater and saltwater crocodiles. The
report also suggests that if there were more pigs and cattle to hunt,
Aborigines
would kill fewer green turtles and dugongs.
鈥淎ttempts by nature conservation agencies to impose or encourage a reduction
in numbers of introduced animals may be counterproductive . . . if they lead to
Aboriginal people switching their hunting pressure to native species,鈥� says the
bureau.
Unlike conservationists, Aborigines do not see feral animals as unmitigated
pests that should be eradicated. Tracker Tilmouth, director of the Central Land
Council, an Aboriginal organisation in central Australia, told a recent
conference on pest management: 鈥淔or Aboriginal people from central Australia,
feral animals are a resource. They have replaced many of the extinct native
species as important components of the diet, and they are rarely seen as
辫别蝉迟蝉.鈥�
The report also questions some traditional Aborigine hunting practices, such
as killing female dugongs rather than males. But suggesting that they switch to
males is 鈥減reposterous鈥� and 鈥渋mpractical鈥�, says Helene Marsh, a biologist from
James Cook University who has been studying dugong populations for 20 years.
Hunting females is part of a long cultural tradition, she says. 鈥淒ugong hunters
prefer females because they are fatter and regarded as better to eat.鈥�
Aerial surveys indicate that dugong numbers are in serious decline in some
area and that harvesting dugongs might not be sustainable for much longer.
Along
some sections of the Queensland coast, the number of dugongs has halved between
1986 and 1994, although Aboriginal hunting may not be the main cause.
Shark nets
and the clearance of seagrass beds by trawlers and coastal developers are the
main problems, says Marsh.