Skippy survives...

[Timster]

Oh my...

[Lord Jim]

No. No one here likes bleeding hearts fucking around with wildlife because they THINK that is the right thing to do.

Hen, I'm not sure that you've judged the reaction of your fellow countrymen to this accurately. At least based on the admittedly anecdotal evidence of the follow up comments to the story on the Herald Sun website, it seems that Australians react to a story like this pretty much the same way the vast majority of Americans do:

Comments on this story

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Mr Leigh Moss of Beechboro Posted at 11:56 PM May 20, 2011

awwww what a cute little joey. i want to give him a big old hug and a kiss! i just love these goods news stories. i would love to knit a little jumper for bernie. cuddles for bernie YAY,YAY,YAY.

Comment 1 of 14
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123! Posted at 12:09 AM May 21, 2011

welcome to the world little one!

Comment 2 of 14
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chris Posted at 12:16 AM May 21, 2011

He is beautiful! Keep up the stoires telling us how he is going. This is the kind of stories people want to see, not sports, boobs or bums

Comment 3 of 14
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Denise Humphries of Brisbane Posted at 1:21 AM May 21, 2011

Hi Lisa, As a furless kangaroo and wallaby rehabilitator of over 20 years - your joey is very dehydrated and needs subcataneous Hartmans from your vet. You have to address his dehydration or you may lose him. If you need any assistance whatsoever I shall leave my email address for you. All the best for both you and he. Warmest regards, Denise H.

Comment 4 of 14
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Helen of Las Vegas, Nevada Posted at 1:31 AM May 21, 2011

Bless her heart, what a wonderful caring woman. Its wonderful to hear such stories and not the cruel ones that good for nothing people inflict on our animals.

Comment 5 of 14
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diane Posted at 3:42 AM May 21, 2011

This kind of story: full of love, compassion, respect for Life made my day. Long live little joey Bernie !

Comment 6 of 14
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el of Ballarat Posted at 7:00 AM May 21, 2011

How lovely. Both the man who found Bernie and Ms Milligan are very good people and its nice to read a story about people being kind to animals instead of the usual cruel things we hear about. Well done people.

Comment 7 of 14
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zella of Adelaide Posted at 7:02 AM May 21, 2011

you deserve a medal

Comment 8 of 14
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Toni Gibbs Posted at 7:51 AM May 21, 2011

How much more pleasant it would be to read the paper if more stories like this were printed. Decent people, doing decant acts.

Comment 9 of 14
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Ojay Blackman of Black Rock Posted at 7:53 AM May 21, 2011

I have heard the quip about loose lips sinkin' ships, but now I can happily come to grips with the fact loose lips can resuscitate Skips

Comment 10 of 14
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Mary from Sunny Coast Posted at 8:07 AM May 21, 2011

Just love these good news stories. They restore my faith in humanity after all the cruel stuff that we hear of daily. The carer and the man who handed this poor defenseless little thing to her deserve the very best in life. I wish you both much happiness. As for little Bernie - you are so damn cute!! May you live a long beautiful life, brave one.

Comment 11 of 14
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Mark of Mulgrave Posted at 8:27 AM May 21, 2011

not enough of people like this, well done!

Comment 12 of 14
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Patrick of Rooney Posted at 8:30 AM May 21, 2011

123! - I am not sure if the little kanga will read your message, I think it reads the Australian.

Comment 13 of 14
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Sonnshine Posted at 8:33 AM May 21, 2011

Such a wonderful story... thanks to Lisa for giving Bernie a go and trying to revive him. Would be really good to know how to give the kiss of life to an animal? I guess same principle as a human??

Comment 14 of 14

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-n ... 6059949919

Now, at least one of those comments comes from an American, (the lady from Las Vegas) but there is not one single comment echoing sentiments along the lines that you have expressed, (ie, this is an outrage, the Joey should have been euthanized, etc.)

ETA:

These comments, (and the absence of views like yours being expressed...though I might have thought there would have been one or two) do not at all surprise me. I fully expected that Australians would react to this in much the same way that folks in in the US and other Western countries would; as a "feel good" "triumph over adversity " type story that people love to hear....

Now, you may consider these people to be foolish, misinformed, "bleeding hearts", etc., but I'd bet money that they are expressing the views of the vast majority of Australians, and if a poll were conducted I suspect you would find that your position would be very much (possibly even single digits) a minority view. It's a natural reaction for most people (especially when they are bombarded with an endless stream of bad news day in and day out ) to cheer a story like this.

I stand by my prediction that if someone from the government attempts to punish this lady in some way for what she did, and the press gets wind of it, (which they certainly will, if for no other reason than that Mrs. Milligan is sure to inform them) that there will be a considerable public outcry that will cause the bureauocracy to back down.

I also expect that if for some reason she does not have the land needed to provide an adequate environment for Bernie that numerous offers of such will be forthcoming. (If they haven't already)

[Timster]

I think that is the point Jim.

People tend to respond to the visceral/emotional level of the story without considering the larger picture.


Edited to add: Thank you for editing the above post to make me look like a complete idiot.

[Lord Jim]

People tend to respond to the visceral/emotional level of the story without considering the larger picture.

That may very well be the case Tim, (though in this case I think that "larger picture" is somehow being undermined is debatable)

I was responding to Hen's response to my comment about public pressure where she seems to indicate that she did not believe that most Australians would respond in a "visceral/emotional" way; that "No one here likes bleeding hearts fucking around with wildlife because they THINK that is the right thing to do."

The available evidence (so far anyway) suggests that that is not correct, at least as far as this case concerned.

The available evidence suggests that if a government agency were to try to take some action against Mrs. Milligan there would indeed be a public outcry; at which point I would expect the word to come down from someone at an appointive, (ie political) level to the agency to knock it off. Going after people who save defenseless animals (especially cute ones) ain't good politics...

It would be like going after girl scouts for selling cookies without a vendors license....

You may have the law on your side, but you uh, just don't do it...the PR optics are terrible....

In making this point I wasn't passing judgment on whether or not there should be a public outcry and a government back-down in this case, (though I think I've made my personal views regarding this case pretty clear) just pointing out that the odds are quite good that this is what would happen. (i would believe this even if I agreed with Hen about the merits)

And as I said, the available evidence re the public's reaction to this story would tend to back me up on that.

[Timster]

Fair enough.

As a small mammal Wildlife Rehabilitater [As the DNR of Wisconsin called us.] I can see both sides of the issue.

Sometimes the 'cute' factor has to be weighed with the larger consequence. Not to mention Rabies and other communicable diseases. Just saying.

[Lord Jim]

It occurs to me that there's a course that the wildlife authorities in Australia might follow if they agree with Hen's position, that would both avoid negative political fall out and allow them to exploit the publicity this has generated to provide them with a "teachable moment"...

The appropriate official could come forward and say something like this:

"First of all, I want to make clear that the government fully shares the happiness that all Australians feel about the way things have worked out for Baby Bernie and his successful struggle for life, aided by the selfless actions of Mrs. Milligan. And we want to assure the public that absolutely no actions of any sort will be taken against her for her humane and decent acts. This government is certainly not in the business of punishing well intentioned good hearted people who come to the aid of the weak and defenseless.

However, while as I said we're very happy with the successful way this particular case has turned out, we do also feel that we should take this opportunity to lay out some of the guidelines that as general rule, in the interest of the well being of all Australian wildlife, should be followed in similar situations, and to explain our reasons for this...."

And then the official could go on to layout his case for what he thinks people should do in situations like this....

This way the government gets to have the best of both worlds; it gets to use the publicity of this case to educate the public on what procedures it believes should be followed, while at the same time avoiding the PR disaster of looking like it's harassing a kind-hearted a middle aged woman for saving the life of a cute defenseless animal.... It gets to be on the right side of this story politically, while at the same using the incident to advance its larger policy objectives...


I know one person who would certainly approve of this approach:

[Timster]

Brilliant Jim~ I like it!

[BoSoxGal]

It disturbs me to think of the pinkie being euthanized, but not as much as it disturbs me to think of him living an entire life out of sync with his natural instincts.

It is not at all uncommon for baby wildlife to be euthanized if appropriate facilities are not available to raise them in such a manner that they can be released into the wild upon reaching maturity. The same is done in the US all the time by fish/wildlife officials. Not on the front page, but it's done - and it's the right thing to do.

This pinkie is not, and never should be, anybody's pet.

And the fact of the matter is that humans are part of the picture now and so a female roo carrying a pinkie being hit by a car and killed is part of the natural order of things. The pinkie dying as well would have been the natural order of things. It is alive by human intervention that isn't part of the natural order, but rather a fluke.

Deer and moose and all manner are wildlife are hit by automobiles and killed every day. Generally speaking, if they have very young offspring, the offspring will die as well. Somebody will eat the remains, and thus the cycle of life continues on.

The story about the woman keeping a partly paralyzed joey as a pet - that sickened me. Poor creature.

[Gob]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangaroo_meat

Current estimates indicate that there may be between 35 to 50 million kangaroos in Australia. In 2002 the number of kangaroos allowed to be shot by commercial hunters was increased from 5.5 million to 7 million per year.

[Sean]

Personally I tend to have great respect for those who do what is right even though they know it will make them seem like the 'bad guy' to the uninformed public. These are the people who have actual morals and ethics as opposed to those who tend to see life as a popularity contest. Quite refreshing to see in government...

You go Hen!

[Scooter]

So the woman who rescued this animal doesn't have morals? She isn't doing what she thinks is right? If she is going to be the one taking care of this animal, she will be making a commitment to tend to it for close to 18 months before it is ready to be released. That makes her a bad person?

[Sean]

I never mentioned that woman Scoot...

[oldr_n_wsr]

I never understood "docking" dogs tails. My black lab is as big and as strong as most rotties and probaly has a similar tail if the rotties tails were not docked. Sure he knocks things over and when he gets excited I somteims thinks he's going to "wag" a hole int eh sheetrock. But at least you know he's coming.

As far as the pinkie, with all the roos you guys have down there, maybe letting him go is the way. WE see roadkill of racoons and possums all the time andint he spring especially. You know there are little ones somewhere in the woods (or right there on the possums back) that are not going to survive. But heck, it's New York and we don't give a crap about anything but ourselves.

[Lord Jim]

Personally I tend to have great respect for those who do what is right even though they know it will make them seem like the 'bad guy' to the uninformed public. These are the people who have actual morals and ethics as opposed to those who tend to see life as a popularity contest. Quite refreshing to see in government...

Of course that misses the point that anyone who took such a tin ear position would be "out" of government.....

The fact is , politics is a "popularity contest"...

And unless you win that "popularity contest", whatever else you wish to achieve won't amount to squat, because unless you win you won't be in a position to achieve anything else....

[Sean]

Only if your job depends on re-election Jim...

[SisterMaryFellatio]

Pinkie in picture = 1 'roo sausage!!

[Aard Vark]

Sadly you would lose most of the meat getting the bones out.
On the other hand you wouldn't be getting a mouthfull of screw worms. lilke the mother would of had

[Lord Jim]

Only if your job depends on re-election Jim...

Well that's certainly going to be the case for somebody in the decision making food chain, Sean...

Pinkie in picture = 1 'roo sausage!!

Okay, now that's just wrong....

Shame on you...