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Wildlife
How animal agriculture impacts wildlife
It has been estimated that perhaps 55% of Australian species will suffer population declines from climate changes. ~ Dr Anne Fowler BSc(Vet)(Hons) BVSc, MACVSc (Avian Health, Wildlife Health)
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Animal agriculture impacts wildlife in many ways. Native animals face widespread habitat loss through deforestation for cattle farming, added pressures of adapting to a changing climate with more extreme weather events, and hunting and persecution due to perceived threats to farmed animals.
Fast Facts
Habitat Loss
HABITATS LOST, FOR GOOD
Forested areas provide a habitat for many of Australia's unique flora and fauna. As these habitats are destroyed through deforestation, increasing numbers of species are pushed towards extinction.
Deforestation is the leading cause of habitat loss, and Australia is in the midst of a deforestation crisis. Today, only half of Australia's forests and bushland remain intact compared to pre-European arrival. Australia is currently ranked in the top five countries for our rate of deforestation. It is the only developed nation in the top ten countries listed for high deforestation rates.
Every 86 seconds, an area the size of the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) is destroyed. Since 1750, Australia has lost 28% of its Mallee forest, 27% of its rainforest, 19% of its open forest, and 11% of its woodland forest.
Over 66% of Queensland's deforestation and land clearing is driven by beef production. Habitat loss remains the most significant threat to koalas in Queensland and New South Wales. Beef production was linked to clearing over 145,000 hectares of known and likely koala habitat in Queensland between 2019 and 2020.
Species Extinction
HUMAN DRIVEN MASS EXTINCTION
The State of the Environment report, released in 2022, clearly shows that the animal agriculture industry is a primary driver of deforestation, leading to critical habitat loss for Australian animals, including our beloved koalas.
Just as deforestation is the leading cause of habitat loss, habitat loss is the leading cause of species extinction. Given Australia's rate of deforestation, it is perhaps not surprising that Australia holds the record for the highest number of mammal extinctions globally. To date, Australia has lost 55 species of wildlife.
Globally, we have entered a period where we are losing species of plants and animals at such a rate that has now been classified as a mass extinction event. The planet has experienced five previous mass extinction events, the last one occurring 65.5 million years ago, which wiped out the dinosaurs from existence. Experts advise that we are now in the midst of a sixth mass extinction. Unlike previous extinction events caused by natural phenomena, the sixth mass extinction is driven by human activity.
Hunting Wildlife
WILDLIFE VS WAGU
Australia's native animals have existed in harmony with the landscape, and each has a vital ecological role to play.
Kangaroos have lived on the Australian continent for 20 million years, evolving with the landscape. Kangaroos play a vital role in promoting the regeneration of native plants and reducing fuel loads in forests and grasslands.
Dingoes, Australia's only native canid, have existed on our continent for up to 18,000 years. As apex predators, they play a pivotal role in Australia's natural ecosystems.
Despite this, Kangaroos, Dingoes and many other native Australian species face relentless persecution because of perceived threats to animal agriculture.
Australia's slaughter of kangaroos is the largest land-based slaughter of mammalian wildlife on earth, killing ten times the number of seals clubbed to death in Canadian seal hunting (that kills around 200,000 seals annually). Kangaroos are killed in the thousands each night, justified by a mistaken and morally reprehensible 'pest species' status because of their perceived 'competing' with sheep and cattle for pasture. It takes 50 adult kangaroos to eat the same amount as a single cow.
Animal agriculture producers falsely label dingoes 'wild dogs' to justify unnecessary killing programs, including trapping, baiting (using controversial and brutal 1080 poison) and bounty programs that reward trappers for every dingo killed.
Farm Transparency Project and Defend the Wild recently undertook an investigation that revealed native dingoes being trapped and killed as part of a misguided and unnecessary program of population control. Hidden cameras show trapped dingoes, distressed, struggling and crying before being shot with a rifle by the trapper.
Their investigation revealed that the Victorian Government pays for 173 dingo traps to be set daily (an average of the 2022-23 "wild dog management plan").
Dingoes are trapped and killed to protect the profits of sheep and cattle farmers who claim that dingoes prey on young sheep and cows. However, studies show that 80% of the 10 million lambs in Australia die before they reach weaning age do so due to poor animal welfare and selective breeding practices that result in multiple births and smaller lambs. In studies of lamb mortality, predation includes deaths due to attacks by birds, foxes, flies (through flystrike) and dogs. Often, the mortalities attributed to predators were lambs who died from other causes and were preyed on by predators after their passing. A 2016 report undertaken by the CSIRO suggests that actual predation accounts for as little as 0.12% of lamb mortality.
Farmed animals are raised with the intention of slaughtering them for profit. Australia's native animals, kangaroos, dingoes and other species, are essential to our ecosystem and fulfil a vital role in the natural environment. They have been erroneously categorised and pursued as pests, nuisance animals and threats when the real danger to our environment, climate change, deforestation, land degradation, and water pollution are all primarily driven by animal agriculture.
Climate Change
A WARMING WORLDS IMPACT ON WILDLIFE
Climate change is leading to more frequent extreme weather conditions. It has been estimated that perhaps 55% of Australian species will suffer population declines from
climate changes.
The Governments State of the Environment report states that the "Black Summer" of bushfires 2019-20 killed or displaced an estimated 1 billion to 3 billion animals and decimated 9% of the remaining koala habitat.
Mass coral bleaching events have occurred due to Marine heatwaves in 2016, 2017 and 2020.
The report shows that increasing temperatures, changing fire and rainfall trends, rising sea levels, and ocean acidification had significant impacts on Australia's native plants and animals and that these impacts would persist.
