Dugongs and Turtles

So many nations have a blindspot
Its appears to me
Gifted with creative forces
Whether on land or sea
Australia has many
Iconic creatures she
Is blaise about their existence
And their right to be

Under Native Titles
Indigenous people can
Hunt them for their personal use
Or non commercial communal needs
Per man
But the manner of subjection
Of criminality
And what amounts to poor control
Actually what we see

Is these laws are being broken
With poaching gangs in play
Not just from the indigenous
But non indigenous, they
Are at it getting around these laws
And clearly it does pay
They are in it for the money
Heartless ignorants who
Lay their 3foot coir mesh nets
In their feeding grounds
Its true

There are some indigenous
Also breaking the law
And with environmental by-catch
For Dugongs its a war
Its really taking liberties
With a created gift
Dugongs dont live everywhere
It should give us a lift
That Australia was chosen
To have this mammal here
And we should be protective
Instead we create fear

We let the low life prosper
Already creatures fight
The elements the pollution
How can this be right
Accidental entanglement
We see this everywhere
Ignorant and negligent fishermen
Who just don’t bloody care

Who just don’t think
About the world they live in anymore
Habitat loss its happening
Boat strikes many more
As we get on the ocean
Uncaring once again
Only interested in ourselves
We really are a pain

Noise we create so much of it
And chemical abuse
We are by our very selves
Often of no use
To the animals of the wild tribes
Some see them as a way
Of making a fast dollar
And ofcourse they pay

Often with their freedom
With their life
Such sorrow we
Inflict upon their families
For us it would be key
But we are disingenuous about them
Its money all the way
Money money money
And fcuk what others say

The dugong eating seagrass roots
Is no enemy of man
8-12 foot long they be
Sea cows truly can
Be very good for Australia
They are wild
And were gifted by
The great mother
In her wisdom
Do we need to ask why

We were trusted to be caring
To be sharing of the wealth
And abundance all around us
And to go about in stealth
Poaching native specimens
For profit far away
Imagining we are respected
At the butt end of decay

We need to control our urges
If indeed urges are what
Get us murdering wild life
Really we should be shot
If we sit back and let it happen
Let the criminality
Slaughter all the wild life tribes
Really thats depravity

We might be in the cities
In our glass and concrete towers
Eating out of freezers
And having high powered showers
But we are party to such vile abuse
Underneath our nose
Its happening to the creatures
And the problem now it grows

Dugongs and turtles
Are being killed each day
Despite our rules and regulations
They get around them okay
The PNG are out there
Its happening no sweat
Some indigenous are overstepping their mark
Thats a fair bet

But the non indigenous blighters
Who slander the indigenous cause
Who go out dugong hunting
And really seldom pause
They work under the radar
Believing they can and will
And these are gifted wild souls
And their blood they spill

I have heard in indigenous circles
The flesh is eaten by
The oil used as a cosmetic
But we must not belie
The honour and the true need
To protect those of the wild
As we protect our families
And a new born child

We need to get our arses into gear
And on the case
We need to protect the gifted ones
As members of a race
Of human beings we need
To care and respect them we
Must Not look at them as lucre
But remember they are free

Native Title is one thing
But loopholes must not be
Allowed to ruin what was a right
Really there has to be
Some control the elders could
Set up some tagging scheme
To act as a protection
And try to redeem

The honour of the honest
The emotion and the care
Bring back sensitivity
Be mindful and aware
Block out the obtuseness
The callousness around
The unimaginative criminals
That seemingly now abound

There is a joy in seeing
The wild souls living free
In their gardens of eden
Underneath the sea
Or bounding through the wilderness
Doing their own thing
Not bleeding out on some
Wild shore
For the profit they might bring.

Full marks to Colin Riddell
A man who follows his heart
Into the environment gifted to all of us
And acts as an angel rather than a demon