Thanks very much for this article. For me the question of eating meat and if so, how much and what and how, is a daily one. I am not a vegetarian (even though I have been in several periods in my life). I realise that being a vegetarian (an option I consider many times) is socially almost impossible. Think about all the barbecues, dinner parties, christmas parties with an abundance of (meaty) snacks, etc. I try to find free range bacon whenever I want to eat bacon and eggs, but it is not as widely available as I hoped it would be. I really think that people eat too much meat and it's only getting more every year. The problem is that whenever we eat meat, we never know how much an animal has suffered for our greed. I think in the end I have no intention of becoming a vegetarian again, but I think the way people think they can do anything they like with animals is really disgusting.

Congratulations, Katrina Sharman and Voiceless!
Yours is a timely messge of hope.
If the human species doesn't start treating other species with compassion and dignity, what hope is there for us to deal decently with each other?
Therefore, what hope for the survival of the human species - preoccupied as it is with fear, suspicion, and the "need" to develop ever more terrible means of destroying each other.
I truly believe that compassionate treatment of animals is the starting point. It is good to know at Christmas, supposedly time of "peace on earth goodwill towards all people" that legal ways to protect animals are starting to happen.
Christina Macpherson
www.antinuclearaustralia.com

Like KeesB, I too cannot claim to be a strict vegitatian, but the only "meat" I will buy is a few sausages and a couple of boxes of re-manufactured fish fillets of dubious origin per year and KeesB, I fully agree with you. It's hard being a vegitarian unless you lock yourself away from all your friends and relatives who regularly partake in the famour "Aussie Barbie" however some sort of balance needs to take place. A colossal amount of water goes into intensive animal farming simply to feed obese patrons of fast food outlets such as McDonalds and Hungry Jacks, not to mention the plethora of pizza and chicken meat outlets dominating the Australian scene. It's a ridiculous situation and one the Government should have acted against long ago in the interests of a healthy population, but it won't happen while big business holds the reins of Government, nor will it happen whilst people continue to believe that animals are simply commodities who feel neither discomfort or pain. Humans, after all, are simply predatory animals who are currently at the top of the heap, but they can't remain there forever. Their own practices are slowly destroying their status and nature will eventually restore the balance.

Studies have consistently shown that wildlife populations can plumet by more than 90% when impacted by drought periods as short as three months. And if Katrina and her ignorant metrocentric cohorts think "factory farmed" animals live a sad life and a cruel death then she should take the time to observe wildlife starving en masse.

Yet, we have these urban "bimbocrites" who are first to condemn farmers for their practices but are never there with the bullet that would put an animal out of its misery. Indeed, at a time when farmers are being condemned for overstocking and all the ecological problems that result from it, there is no legal mechanism in the Kangaroo protection legislation to allow even the slightest culling of starving macropods in a drought.

For months after graziers have destocked their sheep or cattle, or have switched to hand feeding the core herd with debt, the community's 'Roo herd is desperately destroying the last vestiges of pasture in death throes that are cruel, destructive and tragic.

And where is the Minister for Environment?
Where is the Director General and his minions?
Where are the animal rights activists?

They've spent the budget on workshops, on leave, or posing for the camera, a thousand miles from care for any of the suffering they cause.

In response to KeesB and Wildcat:

I've been vego for 14 yrs now and would definitely consider myself a very social Aussie. I attend BBQs, go out for dinner and host dinner parties. It really is a bit of a cop out to say it is too hard to be vegetarian in today's society - if anything, it is much easier than it used to be. If you're invited to a BBQ just take a packet of vegie sausages along or make your own kebabs or patties. There is ALWAYS a vegie alternative on restaurant menus and if there isn't just ask the chef to make you something different. It really is no big deal. If you feel passionate about animals in factory farms then show some initiative and don't support the industry - it is NOT that hard to stop eating meat.

Another city slicker with absolutely no idea what is involved in living on the land, or the realities of feeding a nation. She's likely one of those kids who doesn't know where eggs come from.

I grew up shooting pests and ferals, and I've hated doing it, but it's a necessary evil so people who've been kept in cotton wool their whole lives (like most animal rights activists) can eat on a daily basis. They say society is only ever three hot meals from anarchy (or Arnold Rimmer did anyway :P)
Farmers shoot to kill by the way, not cause pain. They always go for the head shot, and minimise pain & distress for the animal, contrary to what the author would have you believe. The reality is most pests are dead before they hear the shot.

I wonder if the author has ever come close to, or even seen a feral predator in action? Clearly not, since they would gut you as soon as look at you, and they regularly do kill livestock, and it's a far more painful way to die than a .22 slug to the brain.

I hate that Roos are shot since they're native (don't care about shooting introduced pests), but the reality is they aren't in short supply, and culling is required to keep the livestock fed (though I refuse to participate in the shooting of any native animal).

Some lawyer with too much time on their hands, who clearly can't cut it in the real world, has no right to tell farmers how to live or operate, since she's just trying to carve out a niche or name for him/herself and their organisation.
Btw in my experience, one can hardly be expected to listen to a lecture on morality or humanity of any kind from a lawyer, since it's their business to make a mockery of the moral compass of society.

I will however, agree with the author that activities such as duck hunting, or any other form of "sport" hunting is disgusting, and should be banned outright.