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The story on the front page of this issue of the Central Western Daily is enough to make even the most even-tempered Orange resident’s blood boil.
If you haven’t read it, here’s a tidy summary: a property dedicated to the care and well-being of neglected and abused animals fleeced of its invaluable hay when its operator was at a hospital appointment with her sick husband.
It’s a shocking and heartbreaking tale.
Let’s give the thief or thieves a shred of leniency and say they probably didn’t know Noni McDermott was with her husband John for his cancer treatment as they were loading her much-needed feed onto their vehicle.
What kind of inconsiderate and selfish dregs would do something so despicable?
But even if that’s true, they almost certainly realised they weren’t just taking hay from a farmer in need – a sickening enough act in itself – but rather from a not-for-profit animal shelter.
What kind of inconsiderate and selfish dregs would do something so despicable?
It’s been said before that this drought has brought out the best in Australians.
In this region and further afield we’ve seen and hard about countless cases of donations of hay and other livestock feed and nutrition essentials to those whose very livelihoods depend on their availability.
We’ve heard of group starting toiletries drives, of businesses collecting non-perishables, even schools holding rain dances for a gold-coin donation.
Fairfax Media – which publishes the Central Western Daily – launched its own campaign, with Buy a Bale, for donations and awareness.
Social media has come to the fore, with people offering moral support and whatever they can pitch in from wherever they are.
Others have provided free agistment, help with feeding or fencing, even to wash the school uniforms of rural students attending boarding school.
Nevertheless, as Mrs McDermott’s story highlights, there’s a sinister element among us who don’t care for the cause or the greater good, just themselves.
There is a mad and ongoing scramble for any remaining hay stocks. It’s an awful situation, and there’s no denying the suffering is widespread.
But is that suffering a reasonable excuse to steal from others in the same predicament? No, of course not.
Here’s hoping justice is served on the guilty parties in the near future.
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