City big-mouths just don’t get it
A BAND of hog wild inner-city drongos set a new record for misguided anger this week over a couple of wellhatted politicians standing jubilant behind a stinking pile of dead pigs.
It was that pesky Katter mob again – Shane Knuth and the most recognisable Akubrist this side of Dubbo, Bob Katter – celebrating the removal of 92 feral swine from the food chain near Innisfail.
They were there for the inaugural Currajah Hotel Pig Hunt which brought in 3.7 tonnes of inedible pork, including one monstrous beast tipping the scales at 107.5kg.
Knuth, whose Hill electorate was home to the former boar, took to Facebook to revel in the kill and congratulate the 14 teams of hunters for their dexterous marksmanship.
The image kicked up a massive fuss, earning a “this photo may show violent or graphic content” warning from Facebook and hundreds of comments.
Let’s take a moment to unpack some of the more confused feedback the Katter’s Australian Party MP received.
“If kids kill an animal it is a sign of psychopathic tendencies,” noted one fellow.
“You slaughter these innocent ani- mals with no regard for their life, so what does that make you?” Fair cop, old bean. “You are a disgraceful cruel horrible disgusting human being," asserted another.
The word “disgusting” emerged as a common theme, usually interspersed with smatterings of “truly vile”, “gutless”, “weak spineless morons” and the timeless “embarrassment to the human race” trope.
Poor Knuth’s phone must have been buzzing off the kitchen table with the frequency of venomous vitriol spitting through the screen.
It is difficult to understand where most of these concerned folk are coming from (Melbourne) given the sheer level of environmental destruction these invasive pests cause.
They eat cassowary eggs, destroy turtle nests and are rather partial to raw turtle omelets as well.
They wipe out entire colonies of rare turtles, feasting on hatchlings as they break their shells, and are a major factor in driving some species to the brink of extinction.
Native bird chicks are fair game, reptiles and their eggs, endangered frogs, fungi, bulbs and plants – the list goes on.
They are also starting to encroach on suburbia as we saw back in February when Palm Cove residents captured footage of pigs roaming freely through the streets.
Then there is the $50 million cost they cause to Queensland farmers every year through crop destruction through “predation, competition and destruction of crops and pastures”, according to Queensland Government figures.
Introduced back in colonial times by hungry frontiersmen, their numbers have ballooned to an estimated 24 million-strong population across Australia.
That’s about one hog for every human.
The prolific breeders can make up depleted numbers in an amorous heartbeat, meaning constant work to destroy them is vital.
I am no lover of senseless animal slaughter.
Just last week I got red-faced and riled when a portly older gentleman took an abandoned baby sparrow I had intended to illegally hand-rear and squeezed it to death because it was not a native species. But come on. It’s not their fault but feral pigs are living, breathing condemnation of our human legacy on this land, right alongside cane toads, and shaming people for shelling out their own money and bullets to keep their numbers in check is ridiculous.
It should be noted that neither Knuth nor Katter actually pulled a trigger, and were only there “out of support”.
The comments section was not all dark days – one bloke suggested Katter needed a new stylist because the woolly-jumper-over-the-shoulders look went out of vogue a quarter of a century ago.
“A bit Sydney Eastern Suburbs for a country bumpkin, doesn’t really go with the jeans and 10-gallon hat on the two-pint head,” he reckoned.