Kiwis try to match us at stupid, give it a fair shake.
Australians and Kiwis have a certain healthy rivalry, which has persisted over generations. Generally we are very similar people although we do our best to deny it, and our sheep farmers are nothing like theirs. Animal husbandry has a different connotation over here, which stops short of theirs.
Basically we have similar problems, such as politics, a bad economy, stupid rules, deficits, (but I repeat myself). We share the same feral animals, politicians, rabbits, cats, and foxes. Kiwis tend to see the possums that were imported from here and are now in plague proportions as feral, but hey, they are good Aussie animals, they are lucky to have them. To be fair though, we tend to see Kiwis them selves as ferals, so I guess we are even.
I have to admit though that they have come up with a great idea for dealing with the rabbit problem. They have a charity event called the Great Easter Bunny Hunt, in which teams are formed to go out and hunt these pests. This year it is reported that 47 teams of twelve shooters managed to dispose of something in the order of 23,000 rabbits. This is a pretty good effort in that it disposed of a heap of destructive feral pests, as well as raising thousands of dollars for charity. Who could object?
Oh well, for a start there is dropkick animal welfare group Saving Animals from Euthanasia, (SAFE).
I referred a couple of days ago to the furry critter reflex, which exists among mainly urban populations who are out of touch with reality. SAFE is an organization that caters to these people who perceive rabbits as cute and cuddly without being able to see the destruction they leave in their wake.
Safe director Hans Kriek said he was against the hunt. "It's seen as a party atmosphere, sending people out as inexperienced hunters blasting away at animals. The ones they kill are one thing, the ones they injure are another." …
"You can commit any atrocity you like to animals in the name of hunting, and you fall outside the legislation, which is crazy, because wild animals feel pain just as much as domestic ones," he said.
It’s nice to see that New Zealand has its share of idiots who are anti fun, anti hunting and anti reality. What the hell is supposed to be wrong with hunters enjoying the hunt, doing a public service, and doing charity a good turn while they are at it? I doubt that they can out loony our loony’s, but they are doing a pretty good job of trying. Perhaps they could become more competitive if they get Bob Brown from us.
I promise them, its not going to be like, “You can take our Green when you pry him from our cold, dead hand.”
Perhaps the New Zealanders should have highlighted the reduction in carbon emissions resulting from the death of all those rabbits. SAFE would have to get on board with the hunt or risk being the worst thing any group can be, ie., global climate change insensitve.
ReplyDeleteTo take it a step further, I'll bet dead rabbits would make high quality carbon offsets the charity could sell. That would be an offset that would do some actual good.
That sounds like fun to me, actually. Can I bring my SLR?
ReplyDeleteMontana would be glad to send New Zealand all the wolves (which breed like rabbits) they want to eat the those bunnies, as long as they keep them. When you run out of bunnies you can send in your bunny-huggers to hold hands and sing Kum-By-Ya with the wolves. In a tightly enclosed pen, of course, where they can "become one" with nature.
Hi, over the years I have met many Maori people here in Australia. They have a great nature and just get on with life here. However as for the rest of the Kiwis I have yet to meet one that was not up himself. The reason is most of them who come here have an identity problem. New Zealand (I have been there) is a small country that never has and never will achieve much on a worldwide level. So they seem to have problems coming to grips with the truth. The Pakeha’s (flee on a dogs back) as the Maori term them, love to dish it out to other nationalities, but can never take it when these people retaliate with the truth about them (kiwis).
ReplyDeleteYears ago I worked in Sydney with an Englishman and a white Kiwi. The job we had was out in the open all day and pretty hot. At the end of the day the three of us would go for a beer.
This Kiwi called Bud on the way to the pub would continually make remarks about the English, Even I knew many of the remarks were Bull***t however this dumb kiwi kept it up for nearly two weeks. I was thinking when is the English guy going to tell this Kiwi ars**pe what to do with himself.
Anyway the English guy (Tony) who though a quiet reserved person had served with Special Forces in the UK, and had gone to university so was reasonably well educated.
Well he spat the dummy and let the kiwi guy have it. The kiwi guy just like a dumb sheep seemed to physically shrink. He was dumbstruck at what was said to him.
After a while I said, come on guys lets knock it off and go for a beer. The kiwi just walked off in another direction.
After that he stayed well clear of the English guy at work and on the way home like the gutless rocket mouth he was. Great for Tony (the English guy) as he know longer had to put up with the dumb kiwis idle prattle.
Over the years I have met quite a lot of white Kiwi's, in hindsight one, yes just one was a guy that thought before he opened his mouth, had a great sense of humour and was a great work buddy unlike the rest of his countrymen (Pakeha’s non Maori's) I have met.
I personally when it comes to NON Maori kiwis now have and point of view which is "I don't mind, and they don't matter"!
Actually Anon I have met some of the types you have mentioned. That though was back in the 80sand since then there seems to be a much better type of Kiwi around and some of them have become quite good friends.
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