Letter: Cockatoo Cull

There is an online petition to save the beautiful sulphur crested cockatoos from Government sanctioned culling in inner Sydney:http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/stop-cockatoo-culls-in-potts-point.html

Property owners in Potts Point have applied for permits from NSW National Parks and Wildlife to kill (cull) sulphur crested cockatoos in order to prevent damage to their buildings (see article in City News, 30 June 2011). Culling native wild birds in urban areas is unnecessary, unethical, unsafe and inevitably fails to protect property. 

It has been documented that previous culls of sulphur crested cockatoos in Potts Point and other parts of Sydney have not worked. There are many humane and much more effective alternatives to culling as a form of property protection.

These beautiful, intelligent, wild birds are beloved by many residents in our wonderful community. They add fun and an innocent wildness to our highly urbanised environment. Cockatoos are part of Sydney, and they have a right to co-exist peacefully with humans. It is our responsibility to adapt our built environments to the needs and habits of native wildlife.

The cockatoos are a protected native species, hence the need for a permit to kill them. Culling simply doesn’t work – it degrades an already fragile urban ecosystem and is quite simply, an irrational act of cruelty and violence in the name of property protection.  There are many cruelty-free options available to the property owners of this area to repel cockatoos which may be causing damage to their properties.

A simple Internet search on “humane cockatoo control in urban areas” provides links to companies that supply engineering controls for cockatoos, including ultrasonic devices, kites and other visual deterrents, low voltage shock tape, birdspikes and noise deterrents.

Please pass the petition link and information on to your friends, families and colleagues – the wild ones need our support! Petitions and letters to the Minister and Director have recently worked to get culling permits banned in Broadway earlier this year, so there’s a strong precedent for this kind of action.

We can save these beautiful wild creatures with such simple actions and clear intentions.  Let’s act now to ensure that the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service reject all applications for killing these gorgeous native birds, and to encourage NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service officers instead encourage and teach residents of urban areas how to repel the birds in humane, non-lethal ways.