Meet The Winners: BirdLife Australia Photography Awards Has Announced The Best Shots Of Australian Birds (71 Pics)
#31 Human Impact: “Take Offence” By Simon Cherriman (Shortlist)
“Wire fences gridlock the Australian landscape and impact wildlife species on a scale I believe has not yet been properly documented or publicized. They constrain the natural movements of terrestrial species, or, when these animals try to hop or jump over them, often see creatures caught, hung up with their limbs broken and a slow, painful death. Barbed varieties of such fences present an extra hazard to those species that might have the ability to fly over them, but not to see the dangerous mesh in a rural jungle of trees and shrubs. I fought back tears as I wrapped this poor owl in my shirt and cut the mesh. It gazed at me with stricken eyes, unaware that the damage to its patagium was too severe for successful rehabilitation and that is the fate of humane euthanasia was sealed the moment it hit the wire. In the 21st century, there is no excuse for such senseless (and useless) structures in our landscape.”
Southern Boobook, Perth Hills, Noongar Country, WA
Image credits: birdlifephotoaward.org.au
“Wire fences gridlock the Australian landscape and impact wildlife species on a scale I believe has not yet been properly documented or publicized. They constrain the natural movements of terrestrial species, or, when these animals try to hop or jump over them, often see creatures caught, hung up with their limbs broken and a slow, painful death. Barbed varieties of such fences present an extra hazard to those species that might have the ability to fly over them, but not to see the dangerous mesh in a rural jungle of trees and shrubs. I fought back tears as I wrapped this poor owl in my shirt and cut the mesh. It gazed at me with stricken eyes, unaware that the damage to its patagium was too severe for successful rehabilitation and that is the fate of humane euthanasia was sealed the moment it hit the wire. In the 21st century, there is no excuse for such senseless (and useless) structures in our landscape.”
Southern Boobook, Perth Hills, Noongar Country, WA
Image credits: birdlifephotoaward.org.au
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