Australian native Galahs

derived from indigenous Yuwaalaraay word ‘gilaa‘ 

(Eolophus roseicapilla)

Just because Galahs are currently abundant, gives no-one the right to steal them and imprison them from the wild

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Wildlife does not exist so that it may be petted!

Wildlife exists for its own right, as members of fragile yet disappearing ecosystems, defying the hand of humans.  Many humans are not content to observe and respect wildlife in their native habitat.  Such folk are anthropocentric, wanting to own wildlife as property and label them as ‘pets‘.

The mindset is as backward as colonial Europeans once owned Black slaves.  Such anthropocentric thinking folk would not have a clue about the concept of ‘ecology‘ where humans are part of the environment, but instead control and dominate it.  Such folk may even naively only comprehend the term to be that recently hijacked by Information Technologists – in the realm of commerce.

The Atlantic Slave Trade once was Legal

…doesn’t mean it was right, just culturally acceptable

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While 21st Century society mostly has morally matured:

• to abolish the Slave Trade
• to respect the rights of Children
• to respect the rights of Women
• to respect the rights of Indigenous peoples

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.. still the Wildlife Slave Trade persists in 21st Century society, as if somehow it is morally distinguishable from the Human Slave Trade.

No law has yet legitimised this distinction.  Instead, society relies upon prevailing socio-cultural norms to allow the immoral trade in wildlife to persist.

This is unacceptable.

Humans breed wildlife and keep wildlife as pets for their own gratification, not for the benefit of wildlife per se.  Pet shops are permitted by the Australian Government to keep and sell wildlife as pets such as native birds, native reptiles, native marsupials and native Dingoes.  Animals are excluded from the Crimes Act.  But this is no different to excluding Australian Aborigines from criminal law during early colonial Australia up until 1838 (Myall Creek Massacre).  It is no different to the use of child labour during the Industrial Revolution, nor any different to the patriarchal prejudice assigning women less rights somehow than men.

It is ‘moral exclusion‘, like when soldiers before battle are conditioned to dehumanise the enemy in order to psychologically distance themselves from selected humans to permit massacring other humans with impunity.   Such ‘dehumanization‘ can make violating generally accepted norms of behavior regarding one’s fellow man seem reasonable, or even necessary (Maiese, 2003) – like the Australian Airforce helping the United States bomb the Vietnamese back into the Stone Age.

“Tell the Vietnamese they’ve got to draw in their horns or we’re going to bomb them back into the Stone Age.”

~ US General Curtis LeMay, May 1964

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Australians witness this moral exclusion mindset being translated into Australia’s ongoing kangaroo slaughter on an industrial scale.

But sentience is sentience, a life is a life.   Breeding and trading in domesticated animals is treating animals as property, like clothes and a car.  Ancient Romans treated slaves as property and their ancient laws upheld their immorality.

Australia is not the ancient Roman Empire.  Respect for the equal rights of humans is enshrined in Australian cultural values and laws.  Yet our moral relativism judges excluding wildlife from our cultural values and laws.  Why?  How is this legitimate, appropriate and right?  It isn’t.

Wildlife come under threat from humans from over a dozen exploitative excuses – deforestation, bushfire, poaching, etc.   Wildlife smugglers and wildlife traders (‘pimps‘) make a profit from the theft, breeding and trading in wildlife.  It is exploitation and is morally wrong, yet the laws do not uphold morality in the case of wildlife.  When laws fail to uphold moral cultural values, civilised society is undermined.   The Roman Empire may have thought of itself as a civilised society in ancient times, despite its institutionalised slavery; but in the 21st Century, Australian civilised society warrants a higher standard.

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Dural Pet Superstore Burns Down

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Then when a pet shop burns down killing all animals inside including wildlife, one can only imagine the suffering as the animals are burned to death, locked up inside, abandonned.

This morning at around 2am, the Dural Pet Superstore in outer north-western Sydney caught fire in an industrial complex, the Dural Business Centre at 915 Old Northern Road Dural, as a result of an adjoining commercial premises igniting. Police say the fire broke out at a tyre factory although the cause was not immediately clear.

Animals being burned to death in the Dural pet shop fire

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It was the fire alarm of the pet store that alerted the fire bridage to attend, but it was too hot and too late for the amimals in the pet shop.

Pet native reptiles for sale on the Dural Pet Superstore website

like our native Water Dragons and Bearded Dragon Lizards (above)

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Inspector Ben Shepherd from the NSW Rural Fire Service said some parts of the complex, including the Dural Pet Superstore, had been destroyed.
Hundreds of animals from the store are assumed dead.  The store sold rabbits, guinea pigs, chickens and budgies.

“We stock a wide range of finches, as well as young and adult budgies… we also sell quails, cockatiels, canaries, peach face lovebirds and more.”  

                                                                                             ~ Dural Pet Superstore website

Native Galahs being offered for sale on the Dural Pet Superstore website

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The store housed birds, chickens, fish and the renowned rainbow lorikeet ‘Pierre’ – who had been with the store for 11 years.

Rainbow Lorikeet for sale at the Dural Pet Superstore

(Trichoglossus haematodus)

Native parrot of Australia and the south west pacific region

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The Tyrepower Store, next to the Dural Pet Superstore

Picture by Natalie Roberts

Would a creche or nursing home with unattended sleeping occupants be permitted at this location?

Typical official answer:  No, animals do not have the same value as humans, so it doesn’t matter.

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo for sale on the Dural Pet Superstore website

[Cacatua galerita]

Just because Cockatoos are currently abundant, gives no-one the right to steal them and imprison them from the wild

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[Sources:  ‘All animals dead as fire guts Sydney pet shop’, April 24, 2012, AAP, http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/all-animals-dead-as-fire-guts-sydney-pet-shop-20120424-1xifv.html, ^http://www.hillsnews.com.au/news/local/news/general/fire-investigation-for-dural-factory-blaze/2531860.aspx]

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New South Wales Rural Fire Service spokesman Ben Shepherd said seven businesses were damaged during the fire, which included a tyre store, a mechanic and a pet store.

“There was considerable loss to the pet store and there were pets inside”,’ he said.

“The owners were visibly shaken and the business is well known for keeping fish, birds and puppies.”

Investigations into the origin of the fire will take place when the fire cools and the integrity of the building is established.  Mr Shepherd said it was too early to tell if the fire was suspicious.  [Ed:  How qualified is the RFS in large urban fire fighting; is this not the task of the professional urban-trained Fire Brigade?]

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[Source:  ‘animals-perish-in-dural-blaze, Hornsby Advocate, 20120424, ^http://hornsby-advocate.whereilive.com.au/news/story/animals-perish-in-dural-blaze/]

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Time to ban the sale of animals (especially wildlife) from pet shops

 

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Pet shops should only be for the sale of pet food and accessories.

However, since the Australian pet shop market for live animals represents the lure of big money, ‘backstreet breeders‘ and ‘puppy farmers‘ are indiscriminately producing enormous quantities of puppies and kittens and selling them to pet shops.

The Australian Government needs to outlaw puppy farms and backyard breeders to put them out of business. Unfortunately they do trade through many Pet Shops, so Pet Shops have become a big part of the problem. We certainly recognise that Pet Shops are not the only cause of the problem. But however you look at it, there are too many animals bred and not enough homes for them all. That’s why so many are euthanased every year.  Anything we can do to stop excessive breeding and impulse selling will reduce the numbers killed. Animals should not be bred for profit only to end up being killed when the money has been made.

‘More puppies inside’…pet shop in Missouri, USA

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Pet shops encourage the impulse purchase of animals by ill-informed people who later discard their pet when they realise that pet ownership is not as easy or cheap as they thought. These are the animals that end up in the pounds and many thousands are euthanased each year.

Even though statistics are difficult to obtain and are poorly kept, we estimate that 130,000 dogs and 60,000 cats are euthanased each year in Australia by animal welfare agencies. There are simply too many bred and not enough homes. This is an absolute disgrace and no humane Australian could possibly want this situation to continue.

How much is that doggy in the window?

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People can buy their animal companion from pounds, animal shelters or rescue centres and save a rejected animal’s life in the process!

Or visit a reputable, registered breeder. They will receive better information on the future care of their pet and be vetted for suitability as an owner.

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[Source:  Say No To Animals in Pet Shops, ^http://www.saynotoanimalsinpetshops.com/]

 

The only good pet shop is a closed pet shop

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Further Reading:

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[1]     Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) in Australia, ^http://www.rspca.org.au/

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[2]    Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) in the United Kingdom, ^http://www.rspca.org.uk/home 

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[3]    American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA),^http://www.aspca.org/

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[4]    People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals  (PETA), ^http://www.peta.org/issues/companion-animals/pet-shops.aspx

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[5]    Say No To Animals in Pet Shops, ^http://www.saynotoanimalsinpetshops.com/

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[6]    Aninal Liberation Victoria,  ^http://www.alv.org.au/storyarchive/0712puppy/cruel.php

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[7]   Paws for Action (NSW),  ^http://www.pawsforaction.com/

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[8]   Pet Store Abuse,  ^http://www.petstoreabuse.com/links.html

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[9]   Animal Liberation on Pet Stores, ^http://animal-lib.org.au/subjects/animals-as-companions/261-pet-shops-puppy-farms-and-pounds.html,  Website: ^http://animal-lib.org.au/

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[10]   Oscar’s Law, ^http://www.oscarslaw.org/about.php

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[11]    ‘Dehumanization‘,  by Michelle Maiese, Beyong Intractability (website), July 2003, ^http://www.beyondintractability.org/bi-essay/dehumanization

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This photo looks to be an innocuous clearing in the Australian scrub somewhere,

which makes this photo all the more representative of the intangible meaning of a place.

Just as few Australians will be aware of this site, few Australians will be aware of what happened here in 1816. 

The site is in Appin outside Sydney.

It is the site of the little known massacre of an unknown number of Australian Aborigines by a posse sent out by the government to murder them and who did just that.

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‘Call to return massacre site to Aboriginal people’

[Source: ‘Call to return massacre site to Aboriginal people‘, by ABC state political reporter Mark Tobin, 20101108, ^http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/11/08/3060655.htm?site=sydney]

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A New South Wales MP has begun a campaign for greater recognition to be given to the descendants of those killed in the 1816 Appin Aboriginal Massacre south-west of Sydney.

The official number of those killed is 14 but some historians believe the death toll is much higher.  Aboriginal men, women and children were shot, while others were driven off a steep cliff.

The events of April 17, 1816 can be traced back a few years earlier.  Tit-for-tat violence between the British and Aborigines caused the New South Wales Governor Lachlan Macquarie to order retribution.  The orders are recorded in governor Macquarie’s diary which is kept at Sydney’s Mitchell Library.

“I therefore, tho (sic), very unwillingly felt myself compelled, from a paramount sense of public duty, to come to the painful resolution of chastising these hostile tribes, and to inflict terrible and exemplary punishments upon,” reads the diary entry from 10 April 1816.

“I have this day ordered three separate military detachments to march into the interior and remote parts of the colony, for the purpose of punishing the hostile natives, by clearing the country of them entirely, and driving them across the mountains.

“In the event of the natives making the smallest show of resistance – or refusing to surrender when called upon so to do – the officers commanding the military parties have been authorised to fire on them to compel them to surrender; hanging up on trees the bodies of such natives as may be killed on such occasions, in order to strike the greater terror into the survivors.”

The captain in charge of the mission was James Wallis. He recorded in his journal that 14 people were killed in the Appin region.

“I regret to say some had been shot and others met their fate while rushing in despair over the precipice,” Captain Wallis said.

But Dharawal man and local historian Gavin Andrews says civilians continued killing Aborigines after the military forces returned to Sydney.

“They went hunting. They went on a black hunt and of course most of the blacks out there were the women and children,” Mr Andrews said.

Mr Andrews believes many more than 14 were killed.

“Well, it is a lot more and what is not recorded is the following three or four days of the militia and the farmers on their killing fields exercise around this countryside here,” he said.

Mr Andrews’s wife is Frances Bodkin. She is a direct descendent of one of the men killed in 1816.

“Kannabi Byugal was one of my ancestors. He was my great grandfather’s grandfather, I think. I get mixed up with all the greats,” Ms Bodkin said.  She still does not go to the cliffs where the women and children fell to their deaths.

“You know it’s fear and I don’t understand why I am afraid, but I am afraid and I have this awful choking feeling inside me so I can’t face it. Even now I still can’t face it,” she said.

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The massacre site is on land owned by the New South Wales Government. Ms Bodkin believes the site of the massacre should be in Aboriginal hands.

“I’d like to return it to what it was before to make it a place that is happy, that it was before the massacres,” she said.

Ms Bodkin has got the support of MP Phil Costa, who is now lobbying the State Government.

“So what we are trying to do now here is to hand this land back to the people who originally lived here or owned it so the story can be told, so it can be a place of healing,” he said.

“If there is a place so sacred as this is to the local Aboriginal community it ought to go back to them.”

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This illustration depicts another massacre of Aborigines twenty odd years later. 

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The Myall Creek Massacre saw colonial settlers led by a squatter, John Fleming, shooting  up to 30 unarmed Australian Aborigines of the local Kamilaroi tribe on 10 June 1838 – largely women, children and old men. After the massacre, Fleming and his gang rode off looking to kill the remainder of the group who they knew had gone to the neighbouring station. They returned two days later to Myall Creek and dismembered and burnt the bodies.

Memorial plaque at Myall Creek

40km west of Inverell in northern New South Wales

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Call to stop celebrating ‘Invasion Day’

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“Australia Day is traditionally the most racist day of the year for Aboriginal people.

 

When people celebrate on January 26, there is no escaping the fact they are celebrating the day that one race of people invaded another race of people’s country and took control of Aboriginal lands and tried to dominate Aboriginal people.

Invasion Day, as it should be called, celebrates the dispossession of land, culture, and way of life of Aborigines.Aborigines and members of the wider community should not allow this to continue. Otherwise we are saying that it was ok to try to destroy the Aboriginal way of life, to murder Aborigines and to attempt cultural genocide.True reconciliation cannot be achieved and a just society cannot be built if we continue to celebrate the gains of one race at the expense of another.Invasion Day is a day to remember the wrongs that were committed against Aborigines, a day to remember the injustices forced upon one race of human beings by another.
This is no day for celebrating; it’s a day for mourning, a time to reflect, and a time to steel ourselves for the ongoing battle for a better society.”

[Source:  Jay McDonald, an activist with the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre, Launceston, quotation reproduced on ^http://meltjoeng.com/?p=2046].

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Editor:   Australia needs to leave the British colonial nest.   The current national celebration of Australia Day falls on 26th January each year (today).  It is the day the British landed the First Fleet at Sydney Cove and proclaimed British sovereignty over the eastern seaboard of New Holland.  (Ed: corrected thanks to the comment below).  It was a British invasion of  foreign land and preceded many massacres of the traditional people to the point of genocide.

Today, Australia’s national strategic security and being a first world wealthy nation, our important interests are to our region, not to Britain, not to the United States.

We have a moral responsibility to democratic human rights in our region, namely in West Papua, and it is despicable that successive Liberal-Labor governments shun the injustices inflicted on the people of our region, in favour of pouring taxpayer billions to support the strategic interest of the US on the other side of the globe.

Celebrating invasion day is an insult to those whose forebears were invaded, displaced, murdered, raped, persecuted and wiped out by colonial diseases. The map of the hundreds of Aboriginal nations was erased by a colonial map of six States. The landscape was butchered and tamed by colonists trying to emulate the old country, planting deciduous trees around settlements to remind them of the four seasons of European origins.

Australia does not have four seasons.  It probably has at least six and the traditional people of this land recognise these by the flowering times of certain native plants and trees.  Wattle Day, the 1st of September, would seem a uniquely Australian and non-partison way to celebrate Australia Day.

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The Wattle is Australia’s floral emblem.

“Wattle is a unifying symbol and in its multitude of forms, it grows in every state and territory. Its profusion is a sign of fertility for a growing nation.  As a symbol of nature, it is a sign of the depth of feeling Indigenous people have for their land. Their ecological practice is an outcome of their relations of kinship with the natural world and they contribute a great deal to land management across Australia based on their eco-knowledge.  There are a wide range of cooperative activities between Indigenous groups, government and industry. Indigenous people refer to these as ‘looking after country‘.”

[Source: ‘Why Wattle Day should be our national day‘, by Paul W. Newbury, 20110123, ^http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=24746]

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Read More:   >Australian National Wattle Day: 1st Sept.

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