March 5, 2019
RSPCA Queensland is worried that cruelty to native wildlife could be rising following recent posts to social media.
Several incidents of deliberate cruelty to possums have been posted online.
Three were captured on video and one photographed.
“These are very, very disturbing,” RSPCA spokesman Michael Beatty said.
“The videos depict people deliberately torturing defenseless animals.
“In one video a possum is dragged from a tree and then squeezed and slammed on to a wall before being hurled into the bush.
“In another, a live possum is wrapped in a net before being thrown to dogs that tear it to pieces, and a third video shows a young man biting and chewing a possum before hurling it into the darkness.
“These are quite deliberate and premeditated acts of animal cruelty and show a complete lack of empathy.
“Without meaning to sound too melodramatic the links between this type of cruelty and acts of violence toward humans have been well researched over the years.
“All native animals are protected under the Nature Conservation Act.”
A 24-year-old Mooloo woman has been charged with taking protected wildlife, discharging a weapon on public land and possessing a restricted item in a State Forest in relation to another recent photograph of a dead possum.
Footnote: southburnett.com.au has chosen not to use the images
