Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Manufacturing) Share this | Hansard source

I begin by commending the member for La Trobe for bringing this matter to the House—a matter that is not often spoken about or widely known in the community until someone draws attention to it. And as others have said, it quite rightly refers to the hunting and killing of wild animals that effectively are already in captivity but are allowed to roam freely within large farms and wildlife reserves. As other members have pointed out, the whole animal, or parts of it, are then displayed as a trophy for the hunter when he goes back to his own place.

I understand from one report that a fee of somewhere between $10,000 and $50,000 can be paid per animal to the conservation park owner for the pleasure and privilege of going out and shooting these defenceless animals. As the member for Wills pointed out earlier on, we have seen a dramatic drop in lion numbers–I want to talk a bit more about that if time permits.

I also understand that this is becoming a growing business within Africa. In South Africa there are already some 160 farms already up and running and raising animals for these very purposes, often drawing support from genuine volunteers who believe the animals are being raised to try and increase the numbers of particular animals and not for the purpose of later having them hunted.

Between 2001 and 2006, the figures show that 1,830 lion trophies were exported from South Africa—I use lions, because they are probably the predominant animal that seems to be the focus of the discussion. In the next five years, from 2006 to 2011, the numbers skyrocketed to 4,062 parts exported. This is the number that is known to the government. I have no doubt that there would be cases of animals being hunted, a fee being paid and it all being done underhand, and the figures are never recorded, and the animals are shipped off to a country that perhaps is not a signatory to any of the protective measures that are in place. Or they deal with the animal through the black market for which I understand, particularly in Asian countries, there is a huge demand, not just for the display of the trophies but in fact as a food source. The animals supposedly have special qualities which make them very attractive to certain cultures.

The fact of the matter is that it is a growing practice and, whilst the farmers of these conservation zoos would quite often argue that in one sense by doing this they are protecting the animals in the wild, the figures point to a different picture. In fact, since canned hunting has come into play, the number of lions running freely has also dropped, so it is doing nothing to protect the true wildlife of the country at all. Indeed, it puts a higher bounty on the wildlife outside of the conservation areas because, as they become scarcer in number, their value also goes up. Figures of up to $100,000 per lion are now charged for the pleasure of killing a lion that is truly in the wild.

Whilst here in Australia we are signatories to the CITES convention and we do what we can, the truth of the matter is that even in Australia we have, I believe, limited statistics available to us as to what is happening. I tried to go through the statistics that the Parliamentary Library provided for us, but it was clear that even then we were not getting a true picture of what may or may not be happening with respect to these animals in Africa.

This goes to the heart of another bigger and more serious matter; that is, the permanent loss of wildlife, fauna and flora that is occurring as a result of human activity right around the world. While we are dealing with one particular aspect of it, the reality is that wildlife is here for a purpose.

I understand that last year Australia hosted the World Parks Congress here in Sydney. Thomas Freedman, in an article, made it clear that the earth's natural environment is worth saving and the protected forests, national parks and marine sanctuaries are the 'basic life support systems that provide the clean air and water, food, fisheries, recreation, stable temperatures and natural coastal protections that sustain us humans'. They were his words, not mine, but he is absolutely right. The animals being treated this way in conservation parks are just part of the big picture of destruction occurring right now throughout the world. Whatever we can do to stop it we should.

Debate adjourned.

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