Will DEFA Protect Local Wallabies From Mass Slaughter?

Will DEFA Protect Local Wallabies From Mass Slaughter?

Isle of Man – After learning that the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture (DEFA) is commissioning research to inform a policy for controlling the local wallaby population, PETA has fired off a letter this morning urging it to consider humane, non-lethal population control methods first.

In the letter (available here), PETA advises against culling as a form of population control, as it would not only cause animal suffering but actually promote population growth, as the breeding rate of the surviving animals would increase. Environmental modification – such as reducing the availability of grasses in cleared areas by replanting with trees – is a simple and highly effective measure to control wildlife populations. Other successful, non-lethal methods include contraception or sterilisation programmes.

“We will never restore ecological harmony through the barrel of a gun,” writes PETA Senior Campaigns Manager Kate Werner. “It’s worth remembering that wallabies are only on the island today because humans brought them here in the first place. We therefore owe it to these animals to find humane ways to manage the population.”

Ineffective culling initiatives entail gunning down, poisoning, lethally trapping, or otherwise cruelly killing countless animals. Culled animals aren’t the only victims: young and dependent family members are left to starve. Successful population management programmes focus on curtailing food sources and habitat modification via exclusion and repellents.

PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way” – opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk or follow the group on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

Contact:

Jennifer White +44 (0) 20 7837 6327; [email protected]

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