If we are to consider animals at all as part of the problem, the ones we must look at are the owned grazing animals, which are under our control and whose numbers can, without cruelty, be drastically reduced right now. The arid lands of Australia are fragile and drought is the norm. Very few parts can sustain continuous grazing. However more than half Australiažs cattle herd is in the tropical and arid zone.

Seventy-five per cent of the Australian landmass is pastoral grazing and nearly half of that, is now degraded.

As an example, in the late 19th century many millions of sheep were supported on the grazing lands of central NSW. Despite the fact that numbers carried on this land were later reduced, the vegetation there has been permanently changed and native fauna and flora have been severely depleted. Up to 40 per cent of species have disappeared from some areas.