Cape York cattle cull halted by minister

AERIAL shooting of cattle at a remote Cape York national park has been branded “unethical and illegal” as graziers accuse the state of being responsible for an “absolute waste” of a valuable resource.

On Tuesday, aviation fuel was delivered to the Oyala Thumotang National Park northwest of Coen ahead of a planned cull designed to rid the park of cattle that have strayed from neighbouring pastoral land.

A source connected to the Cape grazing industry, too afraid of government action to provide a name, said the cull was an appalling waste that left animals to rot where they fell to be eaten by feral pigs.

“Because it’s so far away from anywhere, they do it and do it and it goes unchecked and that happens year in and year out,” the source said.

“It’s an absolute waste, the place has such limited employment this is a resource that we are destroying.”

It’s alleged graziers were given five days’ notice to retrieve stray cattle but permits required to muster in the national park take 50 days to process,” the source said.

“On the rare occasions when adequate notice is given, it’s always during the wet season when it is far too difficult and dangerous to muster cattle,” Hill MP Shane Knuth said.

Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch said the cull was “unethical and should be illegal”.

Opposition agriculture spokesman Tony Perrett said the Cape York situation was “absurd”.

“Minister Scanlon must answer why this slaughter was allowed to happen and who authorised it,” he said.

A Department of Environment spokesman insisted branded cattle were not targeted and the cull was suspended on Tuesday to allow graziers time to muster stray cattle.