Email Your Local Tasmanian Election Candidates

Tell your local election candidates to protect lutruwita / Tasmania’s spectacular natural places and iconic wildlife from invasive species.

Tasmania is home to some of the most spectacular natural places in Australia. It has the potential to become a wildlife revival hub free from invasive species, however, it’s threatened by an explosion of feral plants and animals.

Feral deer are trampling the World Heritage Area and places like Bruny Island and the Freycinet Peninsula. Without serious action, it’s estimated that the population could exceed one million by 2050.

Feral and roaming pet cats are hunting and killing endangered wildlife and dense thickets of gorse are crowding out native vegetation and increasing bushfire risk.

Invasive species are Australia’s leading cause of animal extinction and degrade almost every world heritage site and national park in Australia.

But, with a state election in March, we can spark change that works for nature in Tasmania, not against it.

We have written a list of key policy asks, detailing exactly what the next government needs to do to stamp out some of the worst invasive species impacts across the state — from setting an ambitious goal of no new extinctions in Tasmania to overturning the protected status of feral deer.

These asks are a roadmap to protecting the state from the on-going devastation of our natural environment and extinction of our native wildlife. We’ll only be able to turn them into promises if every key election candidate hears about them from you!

The only way we’re going to get the next government to tackle invasive species is if voters like you, write to your local candidates demanding policies that make a difference.

Writing a personal email is one of the most powerful actions you can take. Not only that, it’s easy! You don’t have to be an expert, or need a lot of time.

Simply download our writing kit and we’ll guide you through writing an email and sending it to your local electoral candidates.

This may look a bit different to other letter writing campaigns you have seen – that’s because sending an email from your own email address is powerful. We know from experience that when political candidates receive personal emails from people like you, they take it seriously. So please complete the form to get your writing kit and send a message now!

 

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Thank you to the over 500 people who emailed their local NSW state election candidates calling for change to protect nature! Your emails had a BIG impact over course of the campaign.

If you’re still keen to have even more impact, you can find all of our current campaigns via our Take Action page.

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Dear Project Team,

[YOUR PERSONALISED MESSAGE WILL APPEAR HERE.] 

I support the amendment to the Kosciuszko National Park Wild Horse Heritage Management Plan to allow our incredible National Parks staff to use aerial shooting as one method to rapidly reduce feral horse numbers. I want to see feral horse numbers urgently reduced in order to save the national park and our native wildlife that live there.

The current approach is not solving the problem. Feral horse numbers have rapidly increased in Kosciuszko National Park to around 18,000, a 30% jump in just the past 2 years. With the population so high, thousands of feral horses need to be removed annually to reduce numbers and stop our National Park becoming a horse paddock. Aerial shooting, undertaken humanely and safely by professionals using standard protocols, is the only way this can happen.

The government’s own management plan for feral horses states that ‘if undertaken in accordance with best practice, aerial shooting can have the lowest negative animal welfare impacts of all lethal control methods’.

This humane and effective practice is already used across Australia to manage hundreds of thousands of feral animals like horses, deer, pigs, and goats.

Trapping and rehoming of feral horses has been used in Kosciuszko National Park for well over a decade but has consistently failed to reduce the population, has delayed meaningful action and is expensive. There are too many feral horses in the Alps and not enough demand for rehoming for it to be relied upon for the reduction of the population.

Fertility control as a management tool is only effective for a small, geographically isolated, and accessible population of feral horses where the management outcome sought is to maintain the population at its current size. It is not a viable option to reduce the large and growing feral horse population in the vast and rugged terrain of Kosciuszko National Park.

Feral horses are trashing and trampling our sensitive alpine ecosystems and streams, causing the decline and extinction of native animals. The federal government’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee has stated that feral horses ‘may be the crucial factor that causes final extinction’ for 12 alpine species.

I recognise the sad reality that urgent and humane measures are necessary to urgently remove the horses or they will destroy the Snowies and the native wildlife that call the mountains home. I support a healthy national park where native species like the Corroboree Frog and Mountain Pygmy Possum can thrive.

Kind regards,
[Your name]
[Your email address]
[Your postcode]


Dear Project Team,

[YOUR PERSONALISED MESSAGE WILL APPEAR HERE.] 

I support the amendment to the Kosciuszko National Park Wild Horse Heritage Management Plan to allow our incredible National Parks staff to use aerial shooting as one method to rapidly reduce feral horse numbers. I want to see feral horse numbers urgently reduced in order to save the national park and our native wildlife that live there.

The current approach is not solving the problem. Feral horse numbers have rapidly increased in Kosciuszko National Park to around 18,000, a 30% jump in just the past 2 years. With the population so high, thousands of feral horses need to be removed annually to reduce numbers and stop our National Park becoming a horse paddock. Aerial shooting, undertaken humanely and safely by professionals using standard protocols, is the only way this can happen.

The government’s own management plan for feral horses states that ‘if undertaken in accordance with best practice, aerial shooting can have the lowest negative animal welfare impacts of all lethal control methods’.

This humane and effective practice is already used across Australia to manage hundreds of thousands of feral animals like horses, deer, pigs, and goats.

Trapping and rehoming of feral horses has been used in Kosciuszko National Park for well over a decade but has consistently failed to reduce the population, has delayed meaningful action and is expensive. There are too many feral horses in the Alps and not enough demand for rehoming for it to be relied upon for the reduction of the population.

Fertility control as a management tool is only effective for a small, geographically isolated, and accessible population of feral horses where the management outcome sought is to maintain the population at its current size. It is not a viable option to reduce the large and growing feral horse population in the vast and rugged terrain of Kosciuszko National Park.

Feral horses are trashing and trampling our sensitive alpine ecosystems and streams, causing the decline and extinction of native animals. The federal government’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee has stated that feral horses ‘may be the crucial factor that causes final extinction’ for 12 alpine species.

I recognise the sad reality that urgent and humane measures are necessary to urgently remove the horses or they will destroy the Snowies and the native wildlife that call the mountains home. I support a healthy national park where native species like the Corroboree Frog and Mountain Pygmy Possum can thrive.

Kind regards,
[Your name]
[Your email address]
[Your postcode]