A rally was held in Bundeena to protest against plans to allow hunting in NSW National Parks.Legislation was passed earlier in June by the NSW Government which would allow licensed volunteers to hunt in National Parks. One of the expected benefits is the use of volunteers to cull the feral animal population.
A number of speakers, including two NSW MPs from the Greens and representatives of the NPWS Public Service Association and National Parks Association spoke out against the introduction of hunting in National Parks.
Among the concerns raised was safety, in particular the possibility of accidental shooting of bushwalkers who also make use of National Parks. Cases were noted in New Zealand, Canada and the USA of deaths of bushwalkers who had been shot by hunters.
Concerns were also raised that not enough resources would be allocated to oversee hunting in National Parks. Hunting is already allowed in NSW State forests which cover 1.75 million hectares but only 4 full time rangers were allocated to monitor hunting activities in these areas.
The speakers were in favour of culling feral animals but under carefully planned and professional control programs as had already been performed by NPWS. A report by the Invasive Species Council had indicated the existing use of volunteer hunters in NSW State Forests had not been effective in reducing feral animal populations. An excerpt from the report states:
“For a control program to reduce feral animal populations it needs to achieve a high annual rate killed to exceed their natural rate of increase. For example, cat control may require more than 57% of a population to be killed and fox control more than 65%. For the rusa deer found from Royal National park to the NSW south coast, a 46% kill rate each year may be needed.
Hunters in state forests achieve nowhere near these levels and the Game Council program in state forests deliberately spreads shooting efforts to at most one hunter per 400 hectares, limiting hunting pressure.”
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