SSAA NSW

Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (NSW) Inc. 13 The NSW Farmers Annual Conference was held this year in Sydney where SSAA NSW exhibited. This was the perfect opportunity to promote our various programs like SSAA Farmer Assist that provides farmers and landowners with accredited SSAA members to assist with pest control. The conference ran over 4 days and had an attendance of about 250 delegate members from throughout the state. What really rang out was the increased issue that landowners are having with the abundance of kangaroos and the current defi ciencies in their ability to manage their numbers effectively. New crops have been absolutely decimated by kangaroos in recent years with there being no sign of signifi cant reduction in numbers or management activities to help maintain control of numbers. Also of particular interest were the instances and varying degrees of pest animal abundance and issues that landowners are facing throughout NSW according to their landscape and land uses. From rabbits in the Cooma district, to wild dogs in Ivanhoe, foxes and cats in the Upper Hunter, each farmer we spoke to had a feral pest problem requiring management with considerable time and resources already personally invested in it. For example, one landowner has spent more than $150,000 in erecting exclusion fencing. However, in some cases, no matter how much time and effort is invested, it still isn't enough for them to effectively control pest animals. What better way to manage feral pest animals than by the use of volunteer recreational shooters to help? This way, farmers are free to concentrate on activities that drive profi tability of their farms whilst receiving sustained management of feral pest animals from our members at no cost. SSAA NSW constantly highlights the valuable role that our members play in conservation of the environment and pest animal management. NSW Farmers Annual Conference

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