+33 680 38 14 46
Queensland fruit growers lash out at flying fox killing ban
Australia
Thursday 29 May 2008
Fruit growers says the Queensland Government's decision to stop issuing permits allowing orchardists to shoot flying foxes will mean consumers will pay more for their produce.
They say culling flying foxes is the only way to protect orchards from destruction, but the Government says shooting the animals is inhumane and animal advocates want New South Wales to follow Queensland's lead. The shooting ban came as a surprise to Queensland fruit growers. "We are absolutely gobsmacked at a decision that has been made with such obvious ignorance," Jan Davis said. Ms Davis is the chief executive of Growcom, which represents Queenslands 2,500 vegetable growers and she is fuming. "There seems to be no understanding of the damage this decision will cause to the fruit industry in Queensland and of the flow-on implications that can have not only to Queensland, but to the rest of the country," she said. Those flow-on implications she says may include a much bigger bill at the supermarket. "In some of our growing regions, we estimate we could lose 60-100 per cent of our fruit crops," she said. "In a climate where we're talking about world food shortages, losing significant domestic fruit production in Australia is going to cause significant impact on our consumers. "We'll either not be able to access some crops if the damage is as bad as it could be, or at least we'll be seeing significant price increases, as supply contracts and prices go up."
Two of the four species of flying foxes in Australian are listed as threatened species, but the New South Wales and Queensland Governments have each allowed farmers to kill about 2,000 of the animals a year to keep them away from crops. Queensland Minister for Sustainability Andrew McNamara says he will not issue any more permits beyond September.
He says the culling is inhumane, because the animals feel pain when they are shot and not all of them die immediately.
They say culling flying foxes is the only way to protect orchards from destruction, but the Government says shooting the animals is inhumane and animal advocates want New South Wales to follow Queensland's lead. The shooting ban came as a surprise to Queensland fruit growers. "We are absolutely gobsmacked at a decision that has been made with such obvious ignorance," Jan Davis said. Ms Davis is the chief executive of Growcom, which represents Queenslands 2,500 vegetable growers and she is fuming. "There seems to be no understanding of the damage this decision will cause to the fruit industry in Queensland and of the flow-on implications that can have not only to Queensland, but to the rest of the country," she said. Those flow-on implications she says may include a much bigger bill at the supermarket. "In some of our growing regions, we estimate we could lose 60-100 per cent of our fruit crops," she said. "In a climate where we're talking about world food shortages, losing significant domestic fruit production in Australia is going to cause significant impact on our consumers. "We'll either not be able to access some crops if the damage is as bad as it could be, or at least we'll be seeing significant price increases, as supply contracts and prices go up."
Two of the four species of flying foxes in Australian are listed as threatened species, but the New South Wales and Queensland Governments have each allowed farmers to kill about 2,000 of the animals a year to keep them away from crops. Queensland Minister for Sustainability Andrew McNamara says he will not issue any more permits beyond September.
He says the culling is inhumane, because the animals feel pain when they are shot and not all of them die immediately.
