Shooters and Fishers Party MLC Robert Brown yesterday accused ABC-TV of using a story on Queensland pig dogging to promote Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore’s upcoming election campaign.
He said the program had no relevance to New South Wales, and is simply a diversion from the current Police criticism of her council’s reluctance to increase CCTV surveillance in Kings Cross.
“The Game Council of New South Wales has strict codes of practice relating to pig dogging, and there are serious penalties for non-compliance.
“The fact is it is an effective and economic way to clean up mobs of pigs. It costs National Parks’ rangers thousands of dollars to do the same job from helicopters,” Mr Brown said.
“As for the footage from YouTube which the ABC said showed hunters using dogs in pig traps, I suggest they give the footage to the police so that these criminals can be prosecuted. It is illegal to do this in New South Wales, if indeed the footage is from this State.
“There are not many feral boars running about in Hyde Park. I would have thought Ms Moore had localised issues to deal with, for example the ferals running around in Kings Cross, rather than trying to work up an election campaign about pig dogging in Queensland,” Mr Brown said.
Cr Moore, the Greens, RSPCA and Animal Liberation are trying to have pigdogging banned outright, highlighting the illegal actions of some people and saying it a nothing but a blood sport.
The Australian Pig Doggers and Hunters Association condemned the illegal bahaviour shown on the ABC program.
APDHA president Mark Beattie said he hoped “further steps will be taken that ensures the people exposed participating in the illegal activities will be brought before the courts”.
Mr Beattie added that the program had failed to acknowledge that the Dog A Hog competition it featured had raised over $5000 for a local school.
The ABC-TV program can be seen here.
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