I was at a function, talking to a young woman about this and that, when the topic turned to the wild horses of the Snowy Mountains. She said she was in favour of culling because they “destroy the environment”.
I felt my blood boiling. This woman was obviously not a horse lover — and just spouting something she learned parrot fashion.
“So you are telling me you support the cold blooded murder of mothers and children being shot at from helicopters, brutally left wounded, screaming, children lost, starving without their dead mothers, families scattered, blood everywhere???”
She looked at me, startled. I knew then I was right. She hadn’t fully understood the word “culling”.
“Oh well no.. but…”
“There is no but,” I said. “You either support violence or peace, which is it? Tell me what kind of human you are.”
“But they are an introduced species who do damage,” she stuttered.
“So are humans. Should we cull ourselves then? In what world do we have the right to say another species creates damage, without looking at all the damage humans do.”
I know it’s a tough concept for some humans who think we alone rule the world and don’t have any regard for any other species. But we need to, They are far more important than most people think. And to cull is a brutal, cowardly war against the most innocent and vulnerable.
Maybe it is time we look at land management through a different lens. And that’s a discussion for another time.
Pic: A mother and son rescued from a Snowy Mountain cull by the Deep Peace Trust, now residing happily and in peace together at A Place of Peace Sanctuary.