Long ago, when new-settler men
roamed freely about the Australian bush on horseback, viewing all they saw as
their domain, one loan fellow came across a pair of nesting Galahs and thought
it would be fun to take their eggs. Halting his well-trained horse under the
nest site, he dropped the reins loose on the ground to act as a tether and
climbed up on his horse's rump. Standing on tiptoe and with a good stretch he
could reach his arm deep into the nesting hollow to collect the eggs.
The end of this story for this
particular thief was far different from his anticipated self-satisfying
possession of another's property. After an uncomfortable minute the horse, not
as well-trained as its owner believed, moved forward to relieve the pressure on
his back, effectively leaving the man dangling by his arm, trapped to the elbow
in the hollow tree.
The horror of the next few hours,
possibly days, as the man went through stages of surprise at a sticky
situation, to realisation of a problem, to growing fear and pain, to blinding
agony, terror to panic, to eventual attempts to gnaw, claw and saw through
flesh and sinew to rid himself of the arm that pinned him to the tree, can only
be imagined by those strong enough to see themselves in such a horrendous
predicament.
This was a one-off case, possibly
never repeated. But a sad fact is that here in Australia, and mostly without
people even being aware of them, hundreds of animals daily suffer exactly the
same fate as this man, dying slowly from exposure, dehydration, exhaustion and
shock, caught helpless and without hope on the barbed wire fences that now
crisscross the country.
Every year literally thousands of
animals and birds across all species, including larger kangaroos and koalas,
face cruel deaths in this way. Many of them are on the threatened species
lists. Many, such as gliders, are pregnant, their unborn joeys unable to be
saved. And in many cases the barbed wire
is completely irrelevant and unnecessary, frequently disused and rusted, and
even erected through urban areas.
In the US in the 1800s when ranch
owners first started demarcating their territory with the newly-invented wire,
preventing access to waterholes and blocking traditional wildlife migration
routes, the injuries and deaths to animals caused by the 'devil's rope' caused
gangs to go out at night to destroy the fences. The problems, inconvenience and
public outcry against the new product was enough to force the US parliament to
consider banning its use.
It that had happened
then and there, the ruling would have been reflected in Australian legislation
and countless thousands of animals would have lived to safely breed on and
flourish. But today barbed wire is commonplace, new or derelict, circling every
paddock, across the outback, through forests and bushland, and even found in
city suburbs
In Norway, under
their Animal Welfare Act, policed by an animal welfare committee, barbed wire
is restricted to only internal paddocks, cannot stand alone without other good
visual material, and all disused wire must be removed by a set deadline, or
else be removed by the committee at cost to the land owner. The King may order
the removal of even pre-Act barbed wire fencing, and local councils have the
authority to ban its use across all or in parts of their jurisdiction
Here in the
Clarence Valley where we don’t have such enlightened guidance, properties East
of the Pacific Highway recently purchased by a Chinese consortiums now boast
brand new barbed wire fences of a quality that a human would not try to get
through. And these stand right in the movement pathways of the Endangered
Coastal Emu.
Australia does
have a Dividing Fencing Act (1991, amended / republished 1991), but it is weak,
loose and aimed at avoiding clashes between neighbours. Other State laws
regulate urban fencing, in particular around Canberra to keep things looking
pretty. Our legislation is long overdue for an overhaul. We call on everyone to
join the Clarence Environment Centre in demanding Federal Government review the
Dividing Fences Act, to include environmental responsibility, give local
councils authority to decide which fence types might be appropriate, and to
place an environmental levy on every roll of barbed wire sold countrywide.
- Pat Edwards, Clarence Environment Centre Land for Wildlife
