Wildlife Mini-Bytes
Animal Cruelty
Animal cruelty offenders will undergo psychological assessments and be monitored by police in a bid to stop their violence escalating. The proposal by the Barnett Government -- believed to be the first of its kind in Australia -- is aimed at breaking cycles of abuse, amid fears that some animal attackers can develop into serial killers. Details of those convicted of animal cruelty would go on to a police database so officers could monitor their behaviour and record any further offences. The slaying of a number of kangaroos and other animals over the past year prompted the RSPCA to lobby the State Government to take action, with concerns that the worst offenders were a timebomb waiting to go off. Full story here; http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,25766175-948,00.html *PerthNow
Hunting
Online Petition to stop hunting in NSW national Parks at http://www.thepetitionsite.com/8/Stop-Hunting-of-Australian-wildlife
Uranium
Environment Minister, Peter Garrett, has approved the Four Mile uranium mine in South Australia, stating that he has imposed strict approval conditions that will ensure the mine follows World’s best environmental practice. Minister Garrett says he is “certain this operation poses no credible risk to the environment.” *ABC
Poaching
Kenyan wildlife authorities have impounded nearly $1 million worth of elephant tusks and rhino horns smuggled by poachers from southern Africa and bound for illegal ivory markets in Asia. It was one of Africa's biggest ivory hauls. Sniffer dogs found the nearly 300kg of ivory at Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta Airport in cargo crates coming from Mozambique on a Kenya Airways (KQNA.NR) flight, the director of Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) told reporters late on Tuesday. "The rhino horns are freshly cut and one of them has a bullet wound," Julius Kipng'etich said. "It's a sad moment. Remember all wildlife wherever it is, is a world heritage. So if we lose any, it's a loss to all of us as a human race." *Rueters
Poisoning Paradise
The "Poisoning Paradise, Ecocide New Zealand" documentary is now being shown around New Zealand. A hardhitting expose about the facts of consistently using 1080 in NZ, the documentary shows falcons and other birds dying, freshwater crayfish fighting over submerged 1080 pellets, deer and pigs rotting in creeks, eels eating dead animals in waterways, and dying stock. This doco has serious implications for the continued use of 1080 in Australia.....if anyone in the Government bothers to watch it. *WPAA
Hairy Marron
More than 2,000 rare crayfish will be released into the Margaret River this week, following a five-year breeding program to save the endangered species. The hairy marron is under threat from the more common smooth marron, which has been mating with hairy marron females. It is hoped the breeding program will produce up to 10,000 hairy marron each year. Craig Lawrence from the Pemberton Freshwater Research Centre says the specially bred hairy marron will be released in areas where smooth maroon and hybrid species have been removed. "This breeding program will hopefully flood the system with the correct gene pool," he said. Mr Lawrence says the marron will be tagged before they are released. "We'll track this population for several more years," he said. "It really depends on the rate of recovery as to the period we will track them, but we will monitor the population just as we monitor marron populations throughout the state." *ABC
ACT Kangaroos
The 19 kangaroo bodies that were shot in the Canberra horse paddocks have been buried. The bumbling ACT Environment department are now making excuses about how this breach of the "Code of Practice" has never happened before, and they will make sure it doesnt happen again. Meanwhile the ACT Environment department have reiterated their intention of killing kangaroos every year in the Canberra Nature Parks to maintain what they call "sustainable numbers" of kangaroos. *WPAA
Now all the kangaroos are gone....
A kangaroo kill at fenced Thompsons Lake, South of Perth in Western Australia three years ago has gone too far, say local residents. The kill was supported by the local Conservation Council, and a few other organisations, who claimed the kangaroos were damaging the environment. There was a strong local protest, but police harrased the protestors, and the kill went ahead. Its uncertain how many kangaroos were shot, but the WA Environment Department at the time put the mob number at 450, claiming the area would only support 22 kangaroos. But this week the Department said 1032 kangaroos had been shot at Thompsons Lake between May 2006 and March 2007. And now, according to locals, the kangaroos have all but disappeared, who say the "cull went too far". Is this what we can expect to see around Canberra in few years time? *WPAA
Bow Hunting
A kangaroo has been fatally shot with a crossbow arrow at Yanchep National Park, sparking an investigation by the Department of Environment and Conservation. A Western Power worker discovered the western grey kangaroo dead on an access road with an arrow protruding from its thigh. Authorities believe the kangaroo was slaughtered some time in the past 10 days "The large male kangaroo appeared to have suffered a slow and painful death, as it had been paddling its leg in the dirt for some time," Yanchep National Park Visitor Services manager Heather Beswick said. "This was an extremely upsetting discovery to make and it is disturbing to think that a person would intentionally inflict such pain and suffering on an innocent animal." Anyone with information regarding the incident is urged to contact park authorities on 9561 1004. *Network Item
Kangaroo Industry
Animal welfare activists says it is not their fault if Queensland loses significant export income and jobs as a result of an overseas ban on kangaroo meat. Wild game harvesters have been told one of their major markets, Russia, has banned kangaroo imports due to food safety concerns. Mark Pearson from the Wildlife Protection Association says the job losses are a concern but the sector was never sustainable. "Whether Russia banned it or not, there are very few kangaroos left in the commercial zones in South Australia and New South Wales because they've been shot out and exactly the same thing was going to happen in Queensland," he said. "The responsibility for this is not the animal welfare movement. The responsibility lays with the industry and their lack of consideration for the shooters and their future."
David Arnold from the Remote Area Planning and Development Board says it is a blow because the industry contributes much to local communities and the state's economy. "Everyone just seems to overlook the wild game industry and with such a huge export loss, it will have an immediate and direct impact on our region," he said. "Across the region, I'd be talking in the millions in export dollars and the loss of employment which again goes under the radar a bit." Mr Arnold says local economies will suffer. "The kangaroo industry, or the wild game industry, is a very valuable contributor economically to our whole region as well as Queensland and Australia," he said. *ABC
Kangaroo shooters are preparing to be out of work as early as the end of this week, because Russia has banned the import of the game meat. Russia had taken 70 per cent of kangaroo meat processed, but last week told Australian exporters it had banned the product for food safety reasons. More than 50 jobs will be lost when a kangaroo abattoir closes in Broken Hill in NSW. Approximately 160 shooters supply Australian Meats, which processes 5000 kangaroos a week. A shrinking export market is to blame, says shooter Robert Kemp. Mr Kemp says he was told the abattoir is closing because a deal to sell meat to Russia fell through. He says it will have a big impact on him in the short term. "It throws everything up in the air until you can establish yourself with another processor," he says. The abattoir is set to close on Wednesday. management wasn't available for comment. Shooter Tony Blinco, from western Queensland, says he'll have to find other work, like roo harvesters have done in the past. "They've got jobs and gone to the council and things like that, and they'll shoot on their days off to try and supplement their wage, and if it gets bad enough, I will have to do the same thing," he says. *ABC
Ed Comment, Some interesting figures here. If the kangaroo processing plant process 5000 kangaroos a week, from 160 shooters, that means each shooter shot 4.46 kangaroos each night, or 31 kangaroos in a week. Hardly a big income? And what the story above didnt say is that the men employed in the kangaroo processing plants are Brazilians, bought in under John Howards "aussie worker replacement scheme".
A western Queensland kangaroo meat processor will meet Russian officials in Sydney today to find out more about a ban on kangaroo meat imports. Russia announced the ban last week because of food safety concerns. Jodie Cronin from Wild Game Resources in Longreach says 95 per cent of its product is sold to Russia and the company has been forced to close the local abattoir from tomorrow. She says about 60 people have lost their jobs and no-one knows how long the plant will be closed. "Everyone's ... down in the dumps about it at the moment because of course we're not getting any answers," she said. "And because we're such a small factory, we get along really well. "And it's just put a big impact on us because we've all had to go out and look for different jobs and I just can't give them any answers to when we're going to start up again." She says the Longreach plant sends about 30 tonnes of kangaroo meat to Russia every week and a permanent closure would be a big loss to the local economy. "We're hoping to find out that we will be reopening in the near future hopefully ... even if it's just a couple of months or it's the start of next year, hopefully there's a promising start for us but we've just got to wait and see what the outcome of it is," she said. *ABC
Quolls
Have you ever seen a quoll? If not, then why not meet one of Queensland's rarest mammals when quolls come out to play at the Numinbah Quoll Discovery Day. You can come face to face with Slugger, a live spotted-tailed quoll, mainland Australia's largest carnivorous marsupial, at the Numinbah Valley Hall on July 26. At Wildlife Queensland's quoll day, rural and semi-rural residents will have a chance to win a new poultry shed to help protect hens from the meat-eating appetites of the local quoll population. A grant of up to $750 to construct or create a quoll-proof poultry pen will be available to one lucky landholder on the day. And Australia's leading quoll expert, Dr Scott Burnett, will be there to talk about quolls and introduce Slugger.
If you have seen a quoll on your property, Wildlife Queensland wants to find out more about local quoll numbers and residents' quoll experiences. The federally-funded Protecting Quolls in Queensland Landscapes project is being run in “quoll hotspots” throughout Queensland. The Numinbah Valley Quoll Discovery Day is from 10am to 12.30pm at the hall on Numinbah-Murwillumbah Road. Refreshments will be provided. The day has been organised by Wildlife Queensland with the federal government's Caring for Our Country program, the University of the Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast City Council and SEQ Catchments. So go along, meet Slugger and have a great quoll day! *Gold Coast Mail
Kangaroos Harrassed
Illegal off-road bikers causing havoc metres from homes, with one seen armed with a crossbow and chasing a kangaroo, have Hills residents up in arms. Residents in The Vines may take matters into their own hands after the latest incident last weekend, when Roxburghe Drive residents were forced to call police, Ellenbrook Security and City of Swan rangers after a resident saw a bike rider with a crossbow chasing a kangaroo, inmycommunity.com.au reports. One resident of the street, who did not want to be named, said he had always been bothered by the “hoons” on the privately-owned property, but that when he thought they may be harming animals he was disgusted. He said he had contacted the owner of the land to see if they could close off the property to illegal riders, but was told there was nothing she could do. "People need to take responsibility for their own land,” he said. “They put in cyclone fencing to protect some plants, but they’re not prepared to fence it off for kangaroos.”
The resident said he also suggested to the owner to install CCTV cameras at the access points to the property to identify the riders, but nothing happened. “I guess it’s all too expensive,” he said. A spokesman for Wilson Security, the contractor for security services in The Vines and Ellenbrook, would not comment on the kangaroo incident, which occurred on Sunday July 5. The City of Swan confirmed that two customer advocates were called to the site by police in relation to off-road vehicles, and that they pursued two riders in their four-wheel drive vehicles until the terrain made it impossible to continue. Ellenbrook Police Station Senior Sergeant Peter Hayes said no injured kangaroos were found. *PerthNow
Dugong
The Queensland Government has introduced new laws to protect dugongs off the coast of Gladstone. Primary Industries Minister Tim Mulherin says under the new rules fishermen around Facing Island have to be within 200 metres of their nets at all times. He says the changes will prevent dugongs from being trapped and drowning. Fishermen who abandon their nets risk a $1,000 fine and could have their nets seized. The President of the Wildlife Protection Association of Australia Pat O'Brien says it is a great move, but has also suggested other measures. "One of the issues I think they also need to deal with is the increase in development proposals in the Curtis Island area because dugong aren't just around Facing Island, they're all over the place," he said. "So you know, perhaps they need to look very closely too at any potential impact from development proposals on Curtis Island as well. "It appears that dugong populations have crashed fairly dramatically over the last five years. "Of course it's not just fishermen and nets, there's shark nets as well that are an added threat. There's a lot of boats in the area now, boat strike is another threat to dugong populations and the loss of sea grass beds." *ABC
Wild Pigs
Reported sightings of feral pigs north of Cape Tribulation are dropping after trapping was stepped up in May. Contract pig trapper Jeremy Roberts of Cape Pest Control said he had trapped more pigs in 15 traps from Cape Tribulation to the Bloomfield River than he had seen in 50 traps between the Daintree River and Cape Tribulation. "We began a 12-month trial on May 1 and have already trapped 85 pigs in just 30km," he said. "The best part is researchers are already reporting a decrease in live sightings in the area so we know we are making an impact." The integrated management program, which has been in place for three years in the Daintree region, previously only covered north of the Daintree River to Cape Tribulation and works with local landholders and Queensland Parks and Wildlife . Cairns Regional Council agreed to extend the contract for another 12 months as well as widening the boundaries.
Mr Roberts said pig management in the Daintree region relied predominantly on trapping as the sensitive ecology of the area also had to be taken into consideration. "In reality, I don't think we will ever eradicate feral pigs but if we can have an impact on coastal hotspots and take as many pigs out of these areas as possible, it can only be a good thing," he said. "We have heard reports of them destroying turtle nesting sites and competing for food with cassowaries and other native animals. "I think part of the reason we are trapping so many of these pigs is that this area has never been targeted before so the pigs aren't used to traps." Cairns Regional Council's natural areas management co-ordinator Russell Wild said there was an estimated six million feral pigs in the Far Northern region with the Daintree Coast community feral pig-trapping program catching and disposing of 2299 animals since 2005. *Cairns Post
Flying Foxes
Singleton Council is asking all residents that have African Olive trees on their land to remove them as the council attempts to eradicate the food source that has seen the flying fox colony of Burdekin Park stay in town during the winter months. “Unless they have to be kept, get rid of them,” Singleton Council’s manager parks and facilities, Alan Fletcher, said. “If the trees have to be kept, stop them fruiting by hedging them.” The African Olive (Olea europaea subspecies cuspidate) can grow up to 12 metres high and is easily recognisable by its elliptic leaves and small purple-black fruits, about one centimetre in size. Mr Fletcher said by examining their droppings, it appears the flying foxes have been feeding on this fruit, which ripens in the colder months.
The council is currently in the process of clearing African Olive trees from all its parklands in a joint operation with The Upper Hunter Weeds Authority. Laurie Perry, Director of Yunaga Mine Services, has been removing the weeds and estimates he would have cleared almost 1000 trees from a section of parkland in Wattle Ponds. The council also plans to remove the weed from areas along the river and in Redbournberry, McDougalls Hill and council reserves as part of the operation. The trees are cut and pasted with the herbicide garlon and then mulched to prevent the spread of seeds. Usually the number of flying foxes in the park decreases dramatically during the winter months but this new food source has allowed the colony to stay in the park. This time last year there were no flying foxes in Burdekin Park. This year there is presumed to be anywhere between 2000 and 5000 flying foxes inhabiting the park. *Singleton Argus
Everglade Pythons
The federal government on Thursday said it would open up Big Cypress National Wildlife Refuge, which borders Everglades National Park, to a pilot program allowing licensed hunters to ''terminate'' any python they encounter. It's part of a broad program to control the invasive snakes, laid out Thursday by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. The announcement comes days after Florida Sen. Bill Nelson called for a controlled hunt in Everglades National Park and state wildlife managers announced they would permit expert trappers to kill snakes on state marshland. The program includes many things park scientists have been doing for years to battle the Burmese import: outreach and hot lines for the public; studies of python movements, habits and threats to the ecosystem; and programs to design python traps and sexual scents that might be used to bait them. But Salazar, who pledged to tackle the snake problem during his first visit to the Everglades in May, also vowed to seek more funding to expand efforts.
For instance, federal scientists are working with the University of Florida to develop drone aircraft with thermal imaging to pinpoint the difficult-to-detect snakes. The park also might add to the dozen agents who have removed hundreds of pythons during the past few years, and will consider whether to expand the state's expert posse program into Everglades National Park. One hurdle is a park prohibition against hunting. But the pilot program will open federal land in the Big Cypress, where seasonal hunting and guns are allowed. Because no laws protect python, there is technically nothing to prohibit properly licensed hunters from shooting them now, but the program would formalize the effort and data collection. ''We are committed to aggressively combating this threat, including having trained and well-supervised volunteers hunt down and remove snakes,'' Salazar said in a release. Eradicating python will be difficult. Scientists say less than 5 percent of the estimated 100,000-plus snakes in the park are ever seen. Hunting alone likely won't do it. ''There is no one silver bullet,'' said Paul Souza, field supervisor for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. *Miami Herald
Ed Comment; Its interesting that at the US has strong bans on importing trees and plants, but still allows the import, breeding, and sale for pets of these Burmese pythons.
Please sign petition to protect the Grey Headed Flying-fox in New South Wales
http://www.thegreycross.org/
Thinking about Wildlife? Who’s going to watch over our wildlife when you no longer share their World? Well, we are! The Wildlife Protection Association of Australia Inc. will continue to forcefully lobby governments to do better with wildlife management, and by taking them to Court if necessary. We are currently working on developing eLearning projects, so students can become aware of the importance of our wildlife living in a safe and secure natural environment. After you have looked after your family and friends in your Will, think about wildlife. A bequest to the Wildlife Protection Association of Australia Inc. will ensure that we can continue to take a leading role in protecting and conserving our precious wildlife. None of the donations we receive are diverted to "administration". Every dollar we get through bequests or donations for wildlife hits the ground running! Talk to your solicitor, or if writing your own Will, add the words "I bequeath to The Wildlife Protection Association of Australia Inc. for the purpose of protecting wildlife in Australia (a specified sum), or (specified items including land or vehicle), or (the residue of my estate) or (percentage of my estate) free of all duties, and the receipt of the President, Secretary or other authorised WPAA officer for the time being shall be a complete and sufficient discharge for the executor(s)." You can also phone me for a confidential chat, as to how a bequest can help us work to protect our wildlife, when you are no longer able to. * Pat O’Brien, WPAA 07 54941890
Kangaroos - Faces in the Mob!
On the east coast of Australia lies a valley of magical beauty, surrounded by mountains and shrouded in mists during winter. In these idyllic surroundings live a mob of wild Eastern Grey Kangaroos whose society is rich and complex. Faces in the mob is an engaging true story of life within this one mob of Australian wild Eastern Grey Kangaroos.
For two years, award-winning Australian filmmakers Dr. Jan Aldenhoven and Glen Carruthers lived with this mob. Hear their compelling account of the world of these captivating marsupials where each animal has its own personality. Buy the DVD now with Paypal...$29.95 Au includes free postage in Australia.
http://www.kangaroo-protection-coalition.com/kangaroos-facesinthemob.html
Follow the destinies of two lovable joeys - a female named Sunshade whose mother is conscientious and successful, and Jaffa, a little male full of pluck and courage whose mother is absent-minded. And witness everything from birth to the dramatic and sometimes deadly battles between adult males.
Never before has the richness and complexity of the kangaroo society and the daily drama of their family life been revealed in such stunning detail. Superbly photographed, this beautiful story of Australia's most famous animal will captivate you from beginning to end. This is the best documentary about our beloved kangaroos that has ever been produced. Profits from sales of the DVD go to help the Kangaroo Protection Coalition to campaign for the protection of our beautiful kangaroos.
Buy the DVD now with $34.95 Au Paypal for International postage delivery. http://www.kangaroo-protection-coalition.com/kangaroos-facesinthemob.html
This DVD would make a great "All Year Round" present!
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
Wildlife Bytes 14/7/09
Wildlife Protection Association of Australia
Majura Kill Over
The Department of Defence has finished its cull of 7,000 kangaroos on a site in Canberra. The Department began culling the kangaroos in early May saying they had reached unsustainable levels at the Majura training area. About 4,000 animals were culled in nine days before the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal granted a temporary stay on the cull while it heard an appeal from animal rights group. Animal Liberation challenged the granting of the cull licence, arguing there was sufficient inaccuracy in the assessment of kangaroo numbers on the land. In late June the tribunal dismissed the appeal, saying there was compelling evidence that the animals were damaging native grasslands. The Defence Department says it restarted the cull on the same day and finished killing the animals just over a week ago. *ABC
Callum Brae
The Callum Brae shooting seems to be finished although a couple of shots have since been heard. Most people have been devastated by the shooting. We have photos and incident reports which will go online. Special thanks to those brave souls who drove around looking for the shooters, and those who walked around the perimeters of the Reserves. We know now that as Callum Brae kangaroos are being killed in the Nature Reserve, a couple of hundred metres down the road they have swapped Block 17, section 102 with a developer for a long stay caravan park. This land is "recognised as grassland habitat for the endangered grassland earless dragon, and any development by the lessee on the site is likely to have a significant impact on that threatened species." (ACT LA Hansard) The development application which is currently nailed to the fence of this block is to dig it up and install sewer, stormwater and water pipes. "The potential future development of block 17, section 102 and associated damage and/or destruction of grassland earless dragon habitat on that site also appear to be mitigated to some degree by the proposed establishment of two grassland and woodland nature reserves in the Jerrabomberra Valley, around 200 hectares each, which may promote ongoing survival of the grassland earless dragon." (ACT LA Hansard) So the ACT Government is killing the kangaroos on Nature Reserves that are overrun with rabbits, hares, and rubbish to ostensibly save a few lizards, while allowing big development to occur on the same grasslands! The four ACT Greens have supported the Government on killing the Canberra kangaroos. The ACT Governement is now in public relations overload, with the ACT spindoctors trying to justify the kill.
Shot Kangaroos Found
The ACT Government has started an investigation into the shooting and dumping of around 20 kangaroos in Canberra's south. A land owner found the decomposing eastern grey kangaroos at the weekend beside a horse paddock near Curtin. Parks and Reserves acting manager Daniel Iglesias says the killings were not part of the Government's recent cull of 500 kangaroos in the Canberra Nature Reserve. However he says it appears it was done by someone who had a licence. "Whilst the animals were culled as part of a licensed operation they weren't disposed of properly," he said. "People operate in keeping with their licence conditions, they employ marksmen who are experts at what they do, they know the procedure very, very well and this is an isolated incident." Mr Iglesias says disposing of carcasses properly is a condition of any licence to shoot kangaroos in the ACT. "Traditionally what happens is that we'll dig a pit prior to commencement of the culling operation and the animals are put straight in," he said. "I don't recall any incident like this in the past." *ABC
Weeds?
The ACT Government will spend $2 million on controlling weeds this financial year. ACT Environment Minister Simon Corbell says weeds have the potential to damage the environment, affect primary industries and interfere with local waterways. Mr Corbell says the Territory's new weed strategy will guide the management of weeds for the next 10 years. "The focus will be on those areas that are most vulnerable, for example, in our native grassland areas," he said. "We know from the recent Commissioner for Sustainability and Environment Report that weeds, along with kangaroos, are one of the major threats to the viability of those native ecosystems." *ABC Ed Comment; What can we say? Putting roads, shopping centres and houses on top of those grassland ecosystems doesnt help either!
Crocodiles
A crocodile expert in Darwin says more efforts need to be made to track crocodiles across jurisdictions. A farm at Middle Point today reported 18 saltwater crocodiles missing after a quarterly audit yesterday. It is feared the reptiles have been stolen and could be sold on the black market in southern states for between $500 and $1000 each. Crocodylus Park's Graeme Webb says many farms use a marking system to show where crocodiles come from. He says the crocodile industry has become a lot bigger and authorities need to take the illegal pet trade seriously. "Enforcement is a pretty difficult issue when croc farming has got quite big now in the Territory and there's a fair bit of movement goes on interstate. "It's a bit hard to know how well interstate people are really controlling what's on the farms and the movement of crocs between them." *ABC
NSW National Parks under Fire Again
Proposed changes to the National Parks and Wildlife Act, making it easier to develop commercial facilities and resorts in national parks, puts nature under attack and is bad for local business. New developments in Sydney Harbour National Park could become a real possibility. The controversial Quarantine Station redevelopment as a resort on North Head was approved under existing laws. No doubt, greedy developers could push for more harbour-side resorts if they can get the law changed. *Canberra Times
Whales
A two-year-old humpback calf was reunited with its mother after being freed from ropes near Forster yesterday. A delicate rescue operation successfully freed the baby after it became entangled in 50m of rope at Boomerang Beach, on the Mid North Coast. National Parks and Wildlife Service rescue teams arrived at the scene after receiving calls from locals who spotted the distressed animal off the beach. With the Forster-Tuncurry Coastal Patrol and the Pacific Palms Surf Lifesaving Club, the crew worked throughout the day, eventually cutting the 8m calf free at about 3pm using hook-shaped knives on long poles. After hovering around her trapped baby as they worked to free him, the mother rejoined her calf as he was freed and the pair continued on their journey north. Ropes and nets pose a continuing problem for humpback whales, with large numbers trapped each year. *Daily Telegraph
Hunting
According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, there were more than 12.5 million active hunters over the age of 16 in the United States as of 2006.
QPWS
Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) rangers are embroiled in a fight with the State Government over constant changes in the name of their department. The rangers have launched a campaign to ensure the name of the service and its logo, a Herbert River possum dubbed 'Herbie', are legally protected from future name changes. Ranger spokesman Roland Dowling says the Department's name has been changed about every three years since 1975. He says each time it changes, new signs have to be put up and millions of dollars could be saved if the name of the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service was legally protected. "We understand that it's the Government's right to actually call the departments what they want," he said. "But we see the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service to be very similar to the Ambulance Service and the Fire Service and the Police Service and no-one ever talks about changing those names because it is a service to the community. "The public actually need to have a consistent identity with which to actually relate to." However, the State Government says the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service name and logo are here to stay. Sustainability Minister Kate Jones says the Service has kept its name, despite a name change for the Department of Environment and Resource Management.Ms Jones says the 'Herbie' the possum logo will remain in use as long as she is the Minister. *ABC
Kangaroo Meat to China
Russia will ban meat imports from a number of enterprises in Australia effective July 10 and import of all kangaroo meat from August 1 due to violations of food safety standards. The July 10 import ban applies to pork and pork products from three Australian enterprises (822, 3173 and 7170) and beef, pork and "the meat of small, horned livestock" from one enterprise (201). As for the ban on import of kangaroo meat, food safety violations in those shipments have become systemic in nature recently, Rosselkhoznadzor spokesman Alexei Alekseenko said. At least one shipment was found to contain E.coli bacteria. Most of the kangaroo meat imported to Russia undergoes industrial processing. Russia also added 27 Argentine enterprises to the list of authorized meat suppliers. "Having accepted the guarantee of Argentina's veterinary service, Rosselkhoznadzor has deemed it possible to expand the list of Argentine meat enterprises authorized to export product to the Russian market by 27," the food safety watchdog said in a statement. http://www.interfax.com/3/503944/news.aspx
Russia has banned all kangaroo meat from being imported to the country. The news is a massive blow to the Australian kangaroo harvesting industry as Russia takes up to 70 per cent of supply. The industry contributes up to $270 million to the Australian economy per year and employs over 4000 people. Project officer with the Queensland Macropod and Wild Game Harvesters Association, Tom Garrett says its because of food safety concerns. "They're saying that there's a systemic problem with the import of Kangaroo meat into Russia and their quoting E-coli in one shipment so I believe it's a little bit to do with politics as well," he says. Mr Garrett says the ban come in on the 1st of August this year and it will see the price of kangaroo meat become worthless. *ABC Rural
Queensland's kangaroo industry says a ban by Russia on all kangaroo meat imports will impact on jobs in outback communities. The Queensland Macropod and Wild Game Harvesters Association says Russia announced the ban this week because of food safety concerns. Project officer Tom Garrett says Russia was Australia's biggest market for manufacturing kangaroo meat, so the ban will hurt the sector. "There was a huge investment by Russian concerns into the most modern processing plant for the kangaroo industry in the last 20 years out at Charleville," he said. "That effectively means that market is no longer there. So huge ramifications for somewhere like Charleville that's built a huge plant and employs local people. "Russia took the manufacturing meat from the kangaroo industry ... the same as they took manufacturing meat for the beef industry. Tragic ... I think it's going to have a huge impact on employment in regional Queensland. We're at a real crisis point." *ABC
Ed Comment; Russia has just announced a ban on all kangaroo products from the 1st August, citing consistent contamination. For those that are unaware, the kangaroo meat exported to Russia is manufacturing meat. This is forequarter bones with meat attached, offal, trimmings and bruising, all put through a grinder and turned into slush, then boxed, snap frozen and exported. The Russians use it for salami and sausage mostly. They add chopped root vegetables and fat, fill the slush into sausage casings, and smoke them. Its then hung for some weeks until cured, then eaten. This is what our politicians have been doing in China lately, trying to convince the Chinese to buy the rejected Russian export kangaroo slush. However at a AL NSW meeting with Lisa Nie of of the Commercial Division at the Chinese Embassy in Canberra last week, she explained it was very controversial already and the decision to import kangaroo meat into China is no where near definite as the industry and the Government are implyng. We should have addresses to write to soon. We also believe that Russia’s complete ban will be a critical pressure point for the European Union to follow – especially after the baby harp seal product bans in both ‘countries’. *
Koalas
From 1 to 31 August 1927, Queensland held what was to be the last open hunting season on koalas in Australia. David Stead, President of the Wild Life Preservation Society of Australia, warned that 300,000 would be killed. This figure was ridiculed in certain quarters, but as later events would show, even Stead underestimated the carnage.
The Annual Report of the Department of Agriculture and Stock for the year 1927-28 gives the number of koalas “secured” as being 584,738. This official figure, though, accounts only for those koalas whose skins reached the market. The Report fails to take into account the deaths of wounded koalas whose bodies were never recovered, those whose damaged pelts were rejected by skin dealers, those whose skins were sold among those of other marsupials, and young koalas who were uselessly killed or, having deprived of their mother, were left to starve. In all probability, the total is closer to 800,000 – a figure which exceeds the total number of koalas which remain alive today in the whole of Australia. Before 1927, it was possible in certain parts of Queensland to see large numbers of koalas in their natural habitat. Today, few Australians have ever seen them outside zoos.
Little has been made of this remarkable episode in Australia’s history. The first account of any details was given by A.J. “Jock” Marshall in his 1966 book The Great Extermination. In the second chapter, entitled “On the Disadvantages of Wearing Fur”, Marshall first places the 1927 open season within the context of the trade in koala fur, before looking at the controversy surrounding the Government’s declaration through the pages of the Brisbane Courier. He theorises that the chief factor in motivating Queensland politicians to open the season was the need to secure vital rural votes. In 1979, Nora Howlett dealt more directly with the slaughter in her article “The Bear You Couldn’t Buy”. In this comprehensive account, Howlett provides a history of the trade, looks at the lead-up to the declaration, and deals briefly with the controversy itself. Her article provides a number of insights into the motives behind the actions of the various forces.
Today it is possible to find the 1927 open season mentioned in a number of books and articles, but most accounts are brief and tend to feed off one another. The most relevant account for the purpose of this thesis is that which appears in Geoffrey Bolton’s Spoils and Spoilers. Bolton, like Marshall and Howlett, sees the open season as being a vote-catching stunt which by no means had its desired effect. * Preface from Glenn Fowler, "Black August":
Kangaroo Road Kill
Hyatt Regency Coolum resort has asked Sunshine Coast Regional Council for animal crossing signs and a reduced speed limit along parts of David Low Way after several of its twitchy-nosed visitors were killed by cars. At least two eastern grey kangaroos, famously welcome at the resort's golf course, have been killed within the last week. The Hyatt Regency Coolum said it had requested a 60kmh speed limit along its David Low Way frontage. The resort chain informed the Daily of its action yesterday as a Mudjimba woman shared her story of trying to rescue two adult kangaroos involved in two separate hits last week. Jaylene Musgrave said her two young nieces and her nephew were still traumatised by what occurred last Friday at dusk while driving south on David Low Way. “We were driving back from Coolum after going to the park and saw a kangaroo that had obviously been struck by a car in the middle of the lanes,” Mrs Musgrave said. “As I went to get it off the road, cars were swerving and very nearly hitting me. The kids were screaming and it took me ages. I had blood all over my hands.” Mrs Musgrave said a few days earlier she had informed Hyatt Regency Coolum staff that one kangaroo was foraging far too close to the roadway. She said that on her return from driving her husband Adam to work she found the same kangaroo had been struck heavily, but was still alive. Despite her efforts and a trip to the vet, the kangaroo had to be euthanased.
Mrs Musgrave said she had received a written reply to her own letter from the resort saying it had been advised by the Environmental Protection Agency that fencing structures would only create in-breeding within kangaroo “mobs”. "They promote the wildlife part of the experience with their golf course but they won’t provide for their safety,” Mrs Musgrave said. Hyatt Regency Coolum landscape manager Daniel Jamieson said EPA representatives had spent three to four hours at their premises three weeks ago for the purpose of inspecting the issue. Mr Jamieson said the EPA was happy with the open landscape because it allowed a number of different kangaroo “mobs” to come and go. “We certainly like the environment that our golf course provides. The complaint (of kangaroos being struck) is not a common one,” he said. Mr Jamieson said the resort was yet to receive a reply from the council about the request for animal crossing signs and a reduced 60kmh speed limit. He said anyone who saw a kangaroo carcass or a kangaroo posing a danger to motorists on the resort’s David Low Way frontage could call him on 5446 1234. *Sunshine Coast Daily
Ed Comment; Its only a couple of years ago they were serving kangaroo meat at the Hyatt Regency Coolum golfing BBQ's. How attitudes can change! A newpaper poll indicates that something like 70% of residents were in favor of lowering the speed limits to protect the kangaroos.
Penguins
Snipers will patrol the beach to protect Sydney's endangered little penguins as CSI-style forensics are used to find the killer -- or killers -- of nine of the colony at Manly. An investigation into the penguin deaths at North Head was dramatically stepped up yesterday after another little penguin was found mauled to death on Quarantine Beach on Saturday. It was the ninth from an endangered colony of just 60 pairs killed by either a dog or fox in the past 10 days. Four dead penguins were found last Friday and a further four in following days. Autopsies at Taronga Zoo had confirmed the penguin's injuries were consistent with a dog or fox attack. The National Parks and Wildlife Service contracted two gunmen armed with .22 calibre rifles to patrol Quarantine Beach and surrounding areas late last night after fox tracks were found in the area. The shooters will return to the area again tonight.
Manly council has also enlisted the services of Australia's only animals forensics experts to try to find the animal responsible. They hoped DNA swabs taken from the dead penguins would identify the breed of dog involved. If a dog matching the description is identified, council have the authority to execute a warrant at the owner's address to sample the dog's DNA. If it matched that taken from the penguins, the dog owner faced heavy fines and possible criminal charges. Attacks on the penguins took place on private beaches with no public access, making the population difficult to monitor. But a group of vigilante activists from the Manly Environment Centre have vowed to do ``whatever it takes'' to protect the penguins and have enlisted an army of 30 volunteers to watch over the penguins night and day. Group spokeswoman Angelika Treichler said the attacks were occurring about dusk, when the penguins returned from their fishing trips, and during mating.
``They are being attacked when they have a full belly of fish, or when they are mating out of their burrows and not really paying attention,'' Ms Treichler said. Sydney is home to eight colonies of endangered species, ranging from bandicoots and ospreys to frogs and squirrel gliders. WIRES spokeswoman Jilea Carney said pet owners should keep domestic animals separated from wildlife at all times by locking them inside at night, attaching double bells to cat collars and never allowing a dog to roam in or near a national park. National Parks and Wildlife director Sally Barnes said animals should be reported immediately. "We are appealing to all dog owners in the region to be particularly vigilant,'' Ms Barnes said. "The loss of any penguins in this fragile community is terrible.'' *Daily Telegraph
ACT
The Australian Capital Territory's unique and ancient wildlife has never been under greater pressure than it is right now. This country has been blessed with fauna and flora not seen in any other country in the world, like the land itself they are ancient and have evolved throughout aeon's to a specialised form to complement their unique lifestyles. The combination of both the land and its unique flora and fauna is what makes Australia our country OUR country and some of us are very proud of it, especially when the uniqueness of species is instantly recognisable throughout the world and the sight of such instantly identifies our origins.
Since the earliest intercontinental migrations this land has been pillaged by man, this is evident in the changing of the flora regenerative patterns created by the repeated application of the fire stick by aboriginal hunters, but but it has been over the last two hundred years, since the first fleet sailed into Port Jackson that the land has been increasingly raped and violated, in the first instance by unknowing and unseeing men who had no option but to tame the country or starve., Unfortunately, these men have evolved into uncaring and obtuse men who happened to be elected into positions of power who view the "inconvenience" of fauna on land that they wish to exploit as nothing but an obstacle between themselves and obscene amounts of money, and because of this, this fauna, as unique as it may be, must be removed as soon as possible by whatever means that comes to hand.
A small number of us recognises this threat of extinction to the international symbol of our special country and are determined to attempt to maintain the status quo and nurture and save what we can, hoping against hope that this Government will one day wake up to the realisation of what living jewels we are the custodians of before they are all gone, never to be seen alive by the coming generation who will have to be content with a picture either in a book or on the Internet. It is a David and Goliath struggle against something that is venerated here in the A.C.T. that is money and unfortunately, I personally believe that because we have objected to the wholesale slaughter ordered by those who feel they have the divine right, we are now fighting the egos of the Parliament.
Over the last few years the greedy and uncaring have increasingly turned their rapacious eyes towards the land upon which our natural fauna exist as a source of revenue ripe for exploitation and so they have, via "official" channels bombarded the general public with propaganda and pseudo rationales in order to attempt to "legitimise" abhorrent acts that would have otherwise rightly been condemned as barbaric without this conditioning.It is the wildlife carers that are attempting to salvage what we can from the foulness of it all, however unfortunately we appear to be starting to realise that perhaps we cannot win this one sided battle with the limited resources we have to hand. At times in desperation we can see that we are losing ground until........What?When the last specimen has died and our uniqueness is just as sterile as parts of Europe, with no fauna and scarcely a bird call, what will the "Gimme" merchants turn their eyes to next? It won't matter, the Australia we loved, the country known throughout the world by the single glimpse of a fauna icon will be gone forever. All that will be left is a computerised bank balance for a very few. And I'll bet you will hear the wail "WE DIDN'T KNOW." * Letter from an ACT Canberra Times reader.
Wildlife Politics
Only a very brave person would suggest that the Labor Party is still the Labor Party of old. Recent shenangans of the Federal Labor Party would suggest that the Federal Labor is very far removed from the caring, environmentally sensitive, community based political animal it used to be, 20 years or so ago. Most people when comparing the Labor and Liberal Parties still talk of Tweedldum and Tweedledummer, hardly an appropriate way to talk about our Government.....but they deserve it! And are the State and Territory Governments any better? It really doesnt matter which State or Territory one names, corruption, deals with shooters, deals with wierdly motivated Independents, conservation land swaps with developers, onging destruction of wildlife habitat, etc etc continues unabated. Another problem with some of these States and Territories is that they fund most local community groups, who are then incapable of opposing Government policy. It seems that every day, another politician, even State Premiers, disappear with a wiff of corruption smoke. A few end up in Court, as is currently happening in Queensland, but most just disappear, their crimes and indescretions covered up by their political cohorts. Even the Nationals seem to have disappeared off the political landscape, except for an odd media burst about killing more flying foxes, or more kangaroos. So who does the wildlife loving Australian vote for? The Democrats, once good for keeping the barstards honest, disappeared with Andrew Bartlett. Although they are believed to be attempting a comeback, its unlikely to happen. Anyone who buys something and gets a receipt, gets reminded about Meg Lees and the extra GST tax she imposed on us all while leader of the Democrats. But what about the Greens? Although they have some very good elected animal friendly people that one could count on one or two hands, the Canberra Greens support for killing the kangaroos around Canberra has impacted badly on the other Greens around the country. Many people will be hesitant about voting Green after the support given by the Canberra Greens to some of the worst and most brutal kangaroo massacres ever seen in this country. Their other animal related accomplishments of the Canberra Greens include two media releases about caged hens....... So what do people who love animals and wildlife do about voting for the animals. Do we need an Animals Party? Well, many people think we do. While the Greens and Democrats have walked away from many animal issues in a bid to become "a non-single issue Party", an Animals Party would presumably focus only on the many animal issues that urgently need to be addressed around Australia. And as we speak, a Party for the Animals may finally be on the drawing board. *
Leopard Frogs
Thirty or forty years ago, on a warm spring night, an observant listener near a wetland in Grand Teton National Park might have heard a sound like a creaky door hinge or a small boat engine. The sound was the call of a northern leopard frog, and researchers think it hasn’t been heard in the park in at least a decade. In 1995, a child visiting the park found one and showed it to a ranger. The ranger snapped a picture, marking the last definitive evidence of a rana pipiens in the region. In a place that many wildlife enthusiasts consider the last intact ecosystem in the lower 48 states, the absence of the leopard frog in Grand Teton is conspicuous. But last week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that the frog could receive Endangered Species Act protection, rekindling hopes among researchers from around the region that the frog could stage a comeback. Chuck Peterson, a professor of biological sciences at Idaho State University, said amphibian researchers documented the leopard frog at a field station near Moran Junction in Grand Teton in the early 1950s. People also reported the frog at Leigh and String lakes. “They weren’t an abundant species back then,” he said. By the 1970s or early ’80s, the frog was likely on the decline.
“In 1991, we started looking,” said Peterson. “There was an observation of one. ... up by the Flagg Ranch area in the early 1990s. I’ve gone back [to the park] a couple of times and looked for them.” The frogs have also declined or disappeared from the surrounding region. Stable northern leopard frog populations used to exist places such as Victor, Idaho. Populations still exist near Ashton, Idaho. “Leopard frogs were the most abundant amphibian in southern Idaho in the ’70s,” said Peterson. “My ballpark estimate is that they’ve disappeared from 80 percent of the places they used to be. In northern Idaho, I think they’re just gone up there.” The reason for the frog’s decline is likely complicated, said Peterson. It comes as researchers document the disappearance of other amphibians across the planet. “To have such a widespread loss like that would suggest to me that disease is involved,” said Peterson, who explained that pathogens such as the rana virus and the chytrid fungus have taken a toll on frogs in the United States and other countries. Still, disease probably isn’t the whole story. “Drought can make a disease worse,” Peterson continued. “It can stress them. Seldom does a species decline for just one reason.”
In addition to drought, development and pesticides have also proven detrimental to frog populations. The construction of the Jackson Lake Lodge, the rerouting of a road near Yellowstone Lake and the damming and channelling of the Snake River are all examples of how incremental development has impacted amphibian habitat in Grand Teton and Yellowstone parks. Even small changes in water temperature or water chemistry can make an amphibian more susceptible to disease. Debra Patla, a research associate at Idaho State University participating in an amphibian inventory monitoring program with the National Park Service, said she and other researchers are holding out hope that a population of leopard frogs still exists in the park. “They might be out there, we just haven’t found them yet,” she said. “When they’re there, you really see them. They’re a conspicuous frog because they jump. They go leaping into the water. They’re very vocal too. There have been reports, but they have not been documented since 1995.”
Peterson agreed. He recently received a report of a leopard frog near Phelps Lake, but unfortunately the species is often confused with spotted frogs. “They’ll seem to disappear from an area and then they’ll come back,” he said. “I think ... in drought conditions a lot of amphibians will go locally extinct.” “I don’t think the current drought is the answer,” Peterson continued. “Amphibians have had to deal with wet and dry conditions. You always expect population fluctuations in amphibians. Are we looking at a population fluctuation or actual long-term declines? I think for leopard frogs, it is pretty clear that it is a long-term trend.” If leopard frogs do get Endangered Species Act protection, reintroducing them to the park isn’t out of the question, Patla said. “There are reintroductions for other amphibian species,” she said. “I still have hopes that they’re out there somewhere,” Patla continued. “But, as the years go by, I get less and less optimistic.”
Erin Robertson, biologist for Center for Native Ecosystems, one of the groups that petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to consider listing the leopard frog, said the species is one indicator of a larger problem. “There’s a worldwide decline in amphibians, and this is an example of a decline that is happening locally right now,” she said. The northern leopard frog is 2 to almost 5 inches long, green, brown or yellow, with large oval dark spots surrounded by a lighter halo and is found along streams and rivers, wetlands, permanent or temporary pools, beaver ponds and also permanent bodies of water depending on its life stage, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service. Along with spotted frogs, boreal chorus frogs, boreal toads and tiger salamanders, northern leopard frogs are one of five native species of amphibian in the park. Bullfrogs also live in the park but were introduced by humans, according to the Park Service. The northern leopard frog is endemic to 19 states including Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Colorado and South Dakota, and while some populations seem to be thriving, others have faded away over the years. * By Cory Hatch, Jackson Hole, Wyo.
Scrub Turkeys
Brush turkeys have been invading suburban Sydney on a scale not seen since the ibis moved in many years ago. The large, aggressive birds are playing havoc with gardens, frightening pets, eating their food and building huge mounds. But the experts are warning they are here to stay; it is illegal to eat a protected native species and people should get used to them. The brush turkey is a ground-dwelling bird about 70 centimetres long that lives exclusively in the Australasian region of the world. Dr Ann Goeth is a senior threatened species officer with the Department of Environment and Climate Change and also one of the world's leading authorities on the local birds. She believes the turkeys are moving into suburban areas of Sydney for a number of reasons, including the drought. "They also find a lot of food in the kind of mulch and gardens that people provide," she said. "A lot of people indirectly attract these birds as well by either providing compost heaps where the birds can feed from, they have bird feeders, which brush-turkeys really like as well, or they might leave their pet food out on the back porch, which brush turkeys really like to eat as well." Network Item
Geoff Ross, a wildlife management officer with New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife, says the birds are also making a mess of backyards. "This species are megapodes, which means they build mounds," he said. "So the males incubate the eggs laid by females in these large mounds of garden material that's effectively breaking down and providing heat and that incubates the eggs. "We're seeing a lot more of these mounds around the inner-urban areas now - one reporting of an instance in Mosman. "Mounds are being located in Epping, Lane Cove and places like that on the North Shore. So they are gradually moving into those urban interfaces." Mr Ross says it is this building of the mounds and their propensity to destroy flower beds with their enthusiastic scratching that makes the turkeys the enemy of local gardeners. "They'll scratch up a lot of backyards' garden material to build that mound, particularly with people who have spent a lot of resources in maintaining a natural urban bushland, then of course brush turkeys will avail themselves of that very natural area and start building mounds in that backyard," he said.But Dr Anne Goeth reminds people that brush turkeys are a native species and protected by law. "So you're not allowed to catch them. You're also not allowed to actually destroy these mounds when there is eggs in there because you would destroy the eggs and the chicks," she said.
And she says you are definitely not allowed to put them on the barbie. "I mean they're big birds, big turkeys and obviously it's easier to shoot one of those than buy something if you are hungry, but hopefully that's not happening anymore these days," she said. "I've been told it's quite tough. I have never eaten them myself, of course." Mr Ross recommends that instead people learn to be tolerant of their new neighbours. "Now if you do have a mound you can seek National Parks' guidance on how to deal with that mound in your back garden," he said. "If it's particularly impacting upon you or your family, we can offer things like we give you a permit that will allow you to cover the mound with a tarpaulin and so the male can't work the mound, or you can cover it with mesh."You can use sprinklers to divert the male's attention away from the mound. Things like that, particularly now that we're allowed to hose our gardens again."
He says Sydneysiders worried about the turkeys should follow the example of their Queensland counterparts. "They are here to stay and it's one of being able to adapt to them being there and of course, this is nothing new for those people who live north of the border in Queensland," he said. "Brush turkeys are an everyday occurrence in the backyards of all Brisbane residents and residents on the Gold Coast. "So wherever you reside in those warmer coastal areas you get a few brush turkeys and again in Sydney they're just recapturing, if you like, those habitats they used to live in before."
Majura Kill Over
The Department of Defence has finished its cull of 7,000 kangaroos on a site in Canberra. The Department began culling the kangaroos in early May saying they had reached unsustainable levels at the Majura training area. About 4,000 animals were culled in nine days before the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal granted a temporary stay on the cull while it heard an appeal from animal rights group. Animal Liberation challenged the granting of the cull licence, arguing there was sufficient inaccuracy in the assessment of kangaroo numbers on the land. In late June the tribunal dismissed the appeal, saying there was compelling evidence that the animals were damaging native grasslands. The Defence Department says it restarted the cull on the same day and finished killing the animals just over a week ago. *ABC
Callum Brae
The Callum Brae shooting seems to be finished although a couple of shots have since been heard. Most people have been devastated by the shooting. We have photos and incident reports which will go online. Special thanks to those brave souls who drove around looking for the shooters, and those who walked around the perimeters of the Reserves. We know now that as Callum Brae kangaroos are being killed in the Nature Reserve, a couple of hundred metres down the road they have swapped Block 17, section 102 with a developer for a long stay caravan park. This land is "recognised as grassland habitat for the endangered grassland earless dragon, and any development by the lessee on the site is likely to have a significant impact on that threatened species." (ACT LA Hansard) The development application which is currently nailed to the fence of this block is to dig it up and install sewer, stormwater and water pipes. "The potential future development of block 17, section 102 and associated damage and/or destruction of grassland earless dragon habitat on that site also appear to be mitigated to some degree by the proposed establishment of two grassland and woodland nature reserves in the Jerrabomberra Valley, around 200 hectares each, which may promote ongoing survival of the grassland earless dragon." (ACT LA Hansard) So the ACT Government is killing the kangaroos on Nature Reserves that are overrun with rabbits, hares, and rubbish to ostensibly save a few lizards, while allowing big development to occur on the same grasslands! The four ACT Greens have supported the Government on killing the Canberra kangaroos. The ACT Governement is now in public relations overload, with the ACT spindoctors trying to justify the kill.
Shot Kangaroos Found
The ACT Government has started an investigation into the shooting and dumping of around 20 kangaroos in Canberra's south. A land owner found the decomposing eastern grey kangaroos at the weekend beside a horse paddock near Curtin. Parks and Reserves acting manager Daniel Iglesias says the killings were not part of the Government's recent cull of 500 kangaroos in the Canberra Nature Reserve. However he says it appears it was done by someone who had a licence. "Whilst the animals were culled as part of a licensed operation they weren't disposed of properly," he said. "People operate in keeping with their licence conditions, they employ marksmen who are experts at what they do, they know the procedure very, very well and this is an isolated incident." Mr Iglesias says disposing of carcasses properly is a condition of any licence to shoot kangaroos in the ACT. "Traditionally what happens is that we'll dig a pit prior to commencement of the culling operation and the animals are put straight in," he said. "I don't recall any incident like this in the past." *ABC
Weeds?
The ACT Government will spend $2 million on controlling weeds this financial year. ACT Environment Minister Simon Corbell says weeds have the potential to damage the environment, affect primary industries and interfere with local waterways. Mr Corbell says the Territory's new weed strategy will guide the management of weeds for the next 10 years. "The focus will be on those areas that are most vulnerable, for example, in our native grassland areas," he said. "We know from the recent Commissioner for Sustainability and Environment Report that weeds, along with kangaroos, are one of the major threats to the viability of those native ecosystems." *ABC Ed Comment; What can we say? Putting roads, shopping centres and houses on top of those grassland ecosystems doesnt help either!
Crocodiles
A crocodile expert in Darwin says more efforts need to be made to track crocodiles across jurisdictions. A farm at Middle Point today reported 18 saltwater crocodiles missing after a quarterly audit yesterday. It is feared the reptiles have been stolen and could be sold on the black market in southern states for between $500 and $1000 each. Crocodylus Park's Graeme Webb says many farms use a marking system to show where crocodiles come from. He says the crocodile industry has become a lot bigger and authorities need to take the illegal pet trade seriously. "Enforcement is a pretty difficult issue when croc farming has got quite big now in the Territory and there's a fair bit of movement goes on interstate. "It's a bit hard to know how well interstate people are really controlling what's on the farms and the movement of crocs between them." *ABC
NSW National Parks under Fire Again
Proposed changes to the National Parks and Wildlife Act, making it easier to develop commercial facilities and resorts in national parks, puts nature under attack and is bad for local business. New developments in Sydney Harbour National Park could become a real possibility. The controversial Quarantine Station redevelopment as a resort on North Head was approved under existing laws. No doubt, greedy developers could push for more harbour-side resorts if they can get the law changed. *Canberra Times
Whales
A two-year-old humpback calf was reunited with its mother after being freed from ropes near Forster yesterday. A delicate rescue operation successfully freed the baby after it became entangled in 50m of rope at Boomerang Beach, on the Mid North Coast. National Parks and Wildlife Service rescue teams arrived at the scene after receiving calls from locals who spotted the distressed animal off the beach. With the Forster-Tuncurry Coastal Patrol and the Pacific Palms Surf Lifesaving Club, the crew worked throughout the day, eventually cutting the 8m calf free at about 3pm using hook-shaped knives on long poles. After hovering around her trapped baby as they worked to free him, the mother rejoined her calf as he was freed and the pair continued on their journey north. Ropes and nets pose a continuing problem for humpback whales, with large numbers trapped each year. *Daily Telegraph
Hunting
According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, there were more than 12.5 million active hunters over the age of 16 in the United States as of 2006.
QPWS
Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) rangers are embroiled in a fight with the State Government over constant changes in the name of their department. The rangers have launched a campaign to ensure the name of the service and its logo, a Herbert River possum dubbed 'Herbie', are legally protected from future name changes. Ranger spokesman Roland Dowling says the Department's name has been changed about every three years since 1975. He says each time it changes, new signs have to be put up and millions of dollars could be saved if the name of the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service was legally protected. "We understand that it's the Government's right to actually call the departments what they want," he said. "But we see the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service to be very similar to the Ambulance Service and the Fire Service and the Police Service and no-one ever talks about changing those names because it is a service to the community. "The public actually need to have a consistent identity with which to actually relate to." However, the State Government says the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service name and logo are here to stay. Sustainability Minister Kate Jones says the Service has kept its name, despite a name change for the Department of Environment and Resource Management.Ms Jones says the 'Herbie' the possum logo will remain in use as long as she is the Minister. *ABC
Kangaroo Meat to China
Russia will ban meat imports from a number of enterprises in Australia effective July 10 and import of all kangaroo meat from August 1 due to violations of food safety standards. The July 10 import ban applies to pork and pork products from three Australian enterprises (822, 3173 and 7170) and beef, pork and "the meat of small, horned livestock" from one enterprise (201). As for the ban on import of kangaroo meat, food safety violations in those shipments have become systemic in nature recently, Rosselkhoznadzor spokesman Alexei Alekseenko said. At least one shipment was found to contain E.coli bacteria. Most of the kangaroo meat imported to Russia undergoes industrial processing. Russia also added 27 Argentine enterprises to the list of authorized meat suppliers. "Having accepted the guarantee of Argentina's veterinary service, Rosselkhoznadzor has deemed it possible to expand the list of Argentine meat enterprises authorized to export product to the Russian market by 27," the food safety watchdog said in a statement. http://www.interfax.com/3/503944/news.aspx
Russia has banned all kangaroo meat from being imported to the country. The news is a massive blow to the Australian kangaroo harvesting industry as Russia takes up to 70 per cent of supply. The industry contributes up to $270 million to the Australian economy per year and employs over 4000 people. Project officer with the Queensland Macropod and Wild Game Harvesters Association, Tom Garrett says its because of food safety concerns. "They're saying that there's a systemic problem with the import of Kangaroo meat into Russia and their quoting E-coli in one shipment so I believe it's a little bit to do with politics as well," he says. Mr Garrett says the ban come in on the 1st of August this year and it will see the price of kangaroo meat become worthless. *ABC Rural
Queensland's kangaroo industry says a ban by Russia on all kangaroo meat imports will impact on jobs in outback communities. The Queensland Macropod and Wild Game Harvesters Association says Russia announced the ban this week because of food safety concerns. Project officer Tom Garrett says Russia was Australia's biggest market for manufacturing kangaroo meat, so the ban will hurt the sector. "There was a huge investment by Russian concerns into the most modern processing plant for the kangaroo industry in the last 20 years out at Charleville," he said. "That effectively means that market is no longer there. So huge ramifications for somewhere like Charleville that's built a huge plant and employs local people. "Russia took the manufacturing meat from the kangaroo industry ... the same as they took manufacturing meat for the beef industry. Tragic ... I think it's going to have a huge impact on employment in regional Queensland. We're at a real crisis point." *ABC
Ed Comment; Russia has just announced a ban on all kangaroo products from the 1st August, citing consistent contamination. For those that are unaware, the kangaroo meat exported to Russia is manufacturing meat. This is forequarter bones with meat attached, offal, trimmings and bruising, all put through a grinder and turned into slush, then boxed, snap frozen and exported. The Russians use it for salami and sausage mostly. They add chopped root vegetables and fat, fill the slush into sausage casings, and smoke them. Its then hung for some weeks until cured, then eaten. This is what our politicians have been doing in China lately, trying to convince the Chinese to buy the rejected Russian export kangaroo slush. However at a AL NSW meeting with Lisa Nie of of the Commercial Division at the Chinese Embassy in Canberra last week, she explained it was very controversial already and the decision to import kangaroo meat into China is no where near definite as the industry and the Government are implyng. We should have addresses to write to soon. We also believe that Russia’s complete ban will be a critical pressure point for the European Union to follow – especially after the baby harp seal product bans in both ‘countries’. *
Koalas
From 1 to 31 August 1927, Queensland held what was to be the last open hunting season on koalas in Australia. David Stead, President of the Wild Life Preservation Society of Australia, warned that 300,000 would be killed. This figure was ridiculed in certain quarters, but as later events would show, even Stead underestimated the carnage.
The Annual Report of the Department of Agriculture and Stock for the year 1927-28 gives the number of koalas “secured” as being 584,738. This official figure, though, accounts only for those koalas whose skins reached the market. The Report fails to take into account the deaths of wounded koalas whose bodies were never recovered, those whose damaged pelts were rejected by skin dealers, those whose skins were sold among those of other marsupials, and young koalas who were uselessly killed or, having deprived of their mother, were left to starve. In all probability, the total is closer to 800,000 – a figure which exceeds the total number of koalas which remain alive today in the whole of Australia. Before 1927, it was possible in certain parts of Queensland to see large numbers of koalas in their natural habitat. Today, few Australians have ever seen them outside zoos.
Little has been made of this remarkable episode in Australia’s history. The first account of any details was given by A.J. “Jock” Marshall in his 1966 book The Great Extermination. In the second chapter, entitled “On the Disadvantages of Wearing Fur”, Marshall first places the 1927 open season within the context of the trade in koala fur, before looking at the controversy surrounding the Government’s declaration through the pages of the Brisbane Courier. He theorises that the chief factor in motivating Queensland politicians to open the season was the need to secure vital rural votes. In 1979, Nora Howlett dealt more directly with the slaughter in her article “The Bear You Couldn’t Buy”. In this comprehensive account, Howlett provides a history of the trade, looks at the lead-up to the declaration, and deals briefly with the controversy itself. Her article provides a number of insights into the motives behind the actions of the various forces.
Today it is possible to find the 1927 open season mentioned in a number of books and articles, but most accounts are brief and tend to feed off one another. The most relevant account for the purpose of this thesis is that which appears in Geoffrey Bolton’s Spoils and Spoilers. Bolton, like Marshall and Howlett, sees the open season as being a vote-catching stunt which by no means had its desired effect. * Preface from Glenn Fowler, "Black August":
Kangaroo Road Kill
Hyatt Regency Coolum resort has asked Sunshine Coast Regional Council for animal crossing signs and a reduced speed limit along parts of David Low Way after several of its twitchy-nosed visitors were killed by cars. At least two eastern grey kangaroos, famously welcome at the resort's golf course, have been killed within the last week. The Hyatt Regency Coolum said it had requested a 60kmh speed limit along its David Low Way frontage. The resort chain informed the Daily of its action yesterday as a Mudjimba woman shared her story of trying to rescue two adult kangaroos involved in two separate hits last week. Jaylene Musgrave said her two young nieces and her nephew were still traumatised by what occurred last Friday at dusk while driving south on David Low Way. “We were driving back from Coolum after going to the park and saw a kangaroo that had obviously been struck by a car in the middle of the lanes,” Mrs Musgrave said. “As I went to get it off the road, cars were swerving and very nearly hitting me. The kids were screaming and it took me ages. I had blood all over my hands.” Mrs Musgrave said a few days earlier she had informed Hyatt Regency Coolum staff that one kangaroo was foraging far too close to the roadway. She said that on her return from driving her husband Adam to work she found the same kangaroo had been struck heavily, but was still alive. Despite her efforts and a trip to the vet, the kangaroo had to be euthanased.
Mrs Musgrave said she had received a written reply to her own letter from the resort saying it had been advised by the Environmental Protection Agency that fencing structures would only create in-breeding within kangaroo “mobs”. "They promote the wildlife part of the experience with their golf course but they won’t provide for their safety,” Mrs Musgrave said. Hyatt Regency Coolum landscape manager Daniel Jamieson said EPA representatives had spent three to four hours at their premises three weeks ago for the purpose of inspecting the issue. Mr Jamieson said the EPA was happy with the open landscape because it allowed a number of different kangaroo “mobs” to come and go. “We certainly like the environment that our golf course provides. The complaint (of kangaroos being struck) is not a common one,” he said. Mr Jamieson said the resort was yet to receive a reply from the council about the request for animal crossing signs and a reduced 60kmh speed limit. He said anyone who saw a kangaroo carcass or a kangaroo posing a danger to motorists on the resort’s David Low Way frontage could call him on 5446 1234. *Sunshine Coast Daily
Ed Comment; Its only a couple of years ago they were serving kangaroo meat at the Hyatt Regency Coolum golfing BBQ's. How attitudes can change! A newpaper poll indicates that something like 70% of residents were in favor of lowering the speed limits to protect the kangaroos.
Penguins
Snipers will patrol the beach to protect Sydney's endangered little penguins as CSI-style forensics are used to find the killer -- or killers -- of nine of the colony at Manly. An investigation into the penguin deaths at North Head was dramatically stepped up yesterday after another little penguin was found mauled to death on Quarantine Beach on Saturday. It was the ninth from an endangered colony of just 60 pairs killed by either a dog or fox in the past 10 days. Four dead penguins were found last Friday and a further four in following days. Autopsies at Taronga Zoo had confirmed the penguin's injuries were consistent with a dog or fox attack. The National Parks and Wildlife Service contracted two gunmen armed with .22 calibre rifles to patrol Quarantine Beach and surrounding areas late last night after fox tracks were found in the area. The shooters will return to the area again tonight.
Manly council has also enlisted the services of Australia's only animals forensics experts to try to find the animal responsible. They hoped DNA swabs taken from the dead penguins would identify the breed of dog involved. If a dog matching the description is identified, council have the authority to execute a warrant at the owner's address to sample the dog's DNA. If it matched that taken from the penguins, the dog owner faced heavy fines and possible criminal charges. Attacks on the penguins took place on private beaches with no public access, making the population difficult to monitor. But a group of vigilante activists from the Manly Environment Centre have vowed to do ``whatever it takes'' to protect the penguins and have enlisted an army of 30 volunteers to watch over the penguins night and day. Group spokeswoman Angelika Treichler said the attacks were occurring about dusk, when the penguins returned from their fishing trips, and during mating.
``They are being attacked when they have a full belly of fish, or when they are mating out of their burrows and not really paying attention,'' Ms Treichler said. Sydney is home to eight colonies of endangered species, ranging from bandicoots and ospreys to frogs and squirrel gliders. WIRES spokeswoman Jilea Carney said pet owners should keep domestic animals separated from wildlife at all times by locking them inside at night, attaching double bells to cat collars and never allowing a dog to roam in or near a national park. National Parks and Wildlife director Sally Barnes said animals should be reported immediately. "We are appealing to all dog owners in the region to be particularly vigilant,'' Ms Barnes said. "The loss of any penguins in this fragile community is terrible.'' *Daily Telegraph
ACT
The Australian Capital Territory's unique and ancient wildlife has never been under greater pressure than it is right now. This country has been blessed with fauna and flora not seen in any other country in the world, like the land itself they are ancient and have evolved throughout aeon's to a specialised form to complement their unique lifestyles. The combination of both the land and its unique flora and fauna is what makes Australia our country OUR country and some of us are very proud of it, especially when the uniqueness of species is instantly recognisable throughout the world and the sight of such instantly identifies our origins.
Since the earliest intercontinental migrations this land has been pillaged by man, this is evident in the changing of the flora regenerative patterns created by the repeated application of the fire stick by aboriginal hunters, but but it has been over the last two hundred years, since the first fleet sailed into Port Jackson that the land has been increasingly raped and violated, in the first instance by unknowing and unseeing men who had no option but to tame the country or starve., Unfortunately, these men have evolved into uncaring and obtuse men who happened to be elected into positions of power who view the "inconvenience" of fauna on land that they wish to exploit as nothing but an obstacle between themselves and obscene amounts of money, and because of this, this fauna, as unique as it may be, must be removed as soon as possible by whatever means that comes to hand.
A small number of us recognises this threat of extinction to the international symbol of our special country and are determined to attempt to maintain the status quo and nurture and save what we can, hoping against hope that this Government will one day wake up to the realisation of what living jewels we are the custodians of before they are all gone, never to be seen alive by the coming generation who will have to be content with a picture either in a book or on the Internet. It is a David and Goliath struggle against something that is venerated here in the A.C.T. that is money and unfortunately, I personally believe that because we have objected to the wholesale slaughter ordered by those who feel they have the divine right, we are now fighting the egos of the Parliament.
Over the last few years the greedy and uncaring have increasingly turned their rapacious eyes towards the land upon which our natural fauna exist as a source of revenue ripe for exploitation and so they have, via "official" channels bombarded the general public with propaganda and pseudo rationales in order to attempt to "legitimise" abhorrent acts that would have otherwise rightly been condemned as barbaric without this conditioning.It is the wildlife carers that are attempting to salvage what we can from the foulness of it all, however unfortunately we appear to be starting to realise that perhaps we cannot win this one sided battle with the limited resources we have to hand. At times in desperation we can see that we are losing ground until........What?When the last specimen has died and our uniqueness is just as sterile as parts of Europe, with no fauna and scarcely a bird call, what will the "Gimme" merchants turn their eyes to next? It won't matter, the Australia we loved, the country known throughout the world by the single glimpse of a fauna icon will be gone forever. All that will be left is a computerised bank balance for a very few. And I'll bet you will hear the wail "WE DIDN'T KNOW." * Letter from an ACT Canberra Times reader.
Wildlife Politics
Only a very brave person would suggest that the Labor Party is still the Labor Party of old. Recent shenangans of the Federal Labor Party would suggest that the Federal Labor is very far removed from the caring, environmentally sensitive, community based political animal it used to be, 20 years or so ago. Most people when comparing the Labor and Liberal Parties still talk of Tweedldum and Tweedledummer, hardly an appropriate way to talk about our Government.....but they deserve it! And are the State and Territory Governments any better? It really doesnt matter which State or Territory one names, corruption, deals with shooters, deals with wierdly motivated Independents, conservation land swaps with developers, onging destruction of wildlife habitat, etc etc continues unabated. Another problem with some of these States and Territories is that they fund most local community groups, who are then incapable of opposing Government policy. It seems that every day, another politician, even State Premiers, disappear with a wiff of corruption smoke. A few end up in Court, as is currently happening in Queensland, but most just disappear, their crimes and indescretions covered up by their political cohorts. Even the Nationals seem to have disappeared off the political landscape, except for an odd media burst about killing more flying foxes, or more kangaroos. So who does the wildlife loving Australian vote for? The Democrats, once good for keeping the barstards honest, disappeared with Andrew Bartlett. Although they are believed to be attempting a comeback, its unlikely to happen. Anyone who buys something and gets a receipt, gets reminded about Meg Lees and the extra GST tax she imposed on us all while leader of the Democrats. But what about the Greens? Although they have some very good elected animal friendly people that one could count on one or two hands, the Canberra Greens support for killing the kangaroos around Canberra has impacted badly on the other Greens around the country. Many people will be hesitant about voting Green after the support given by the Canberra Greens to some of the worst and most brutal kangaroo massacres ever seen in this country. Their other animal related accomplishments of the Canberra Greens include two media releases about caged hens....... So what do people who love animals and wildlife do about voting for the animals. Do we need an Animals Party? Well, many people think we do. While the Greens and Democrats have walked away from many animal issues in a bid to become "a non-single issue Party", an Animals Party would presumably focus only on the many animal issues that urgently need to be addressed around Australia. And as we speak, a Party for the Animals may finally be on the drawing board. *
Leopard Frogs
Thirty or forty years ago, on a warm spring night, an observant listener near a wetland in Grand Teton National Park might have heard a sound like a creaky door hinge or a small boat engine. The sound was the call of a northern leopard frog, and researchers think it hasn’t been heard in the park in at least a decade. In 1995, a child visiting the park found one and showed it to a ranger. The ranger snapped a picture, marking the last definitive evidence of a rana pipiens in the region. In a place that many wildlife enthusiasts consider the last intact ecosystem in the lower 48 states, the absence of the leopard frog in Grand Teton is conspicuous. But last week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that the frog could receive Endangered Species Act protection, rekindling hopes among researchers from around the region that the frog could stage a comeback. Chuck Peterson, a professor of biological sciences at Idaho State University, said amphibian researchers documented the leopard frog at a field station near Moran Junction in Grand Teton in the early 1950s. People also reported the frog at Leigh and String lakes. “They weren’t an abundant species back then,” he said. By the 1970s or early ’80s, the frog was likely on the decline.
“In 1991, we started looking,” said Peterson. “There was an observation of one. ... up by the Flagg Ranch area in the early 1990s. I’ve gone back [to the park] a couple of times and looked for them.” The frogs have also declined or disappeared from the surrounding region. Stable northern leopard frog populations used to exist places such as Victor, Idaho. Populations still exist near Ashton, Idaho. “Leopard frogs were the most abundant amphibian in southern Idaho in the ’70s,” said Peterson. “My ballpark estimate is that they’ve disappeared from 80 percent of the places they used to be. In northern Idaho, I think they’re just gone up there.” The reason for the frog’s decline is likely complicated, said Peterson. It comes as researchers document the disappearance of other amphibians across the planet. “To have such a widespread loss like that would suggest to me that disease is involved,” said Peterson, who explained that pathogens such as the rana virus and the chytrid fungus have taken a toll on frogs in the United States and other countries. Still, disease probably isn’t the whole story. “Drought can make a disease worse,” Peterson continued. “It can stress them. Seldom does a species decline for just one reason.”
In addition to drought, development and pesticides have also proven detrimental to frog populations. The construction of the Jackson Lake Lodge, the rerouting of a road near Yellowstone Lake and the damming and channelling of the Snake River are all examples of how incremental development has impacted amphibian habitat in Grand Teton and Yellowstone parks. Even small changes in water temperature or water chemistry can make an amphibian more susceptible to disease. Debra Patla, a research associate at Idaho State University participating in an amphibian inventory monitoring program with the National Park Service, said she and other researchers are holding out hope that a population of leopard frogs still exists in the park. “They might be out there, we just haven’t found them yet,” she said. “When they’re there, you really see them. They’re a conspicuous frog because they jump. They go leaping into the water. They’re very vocal too. There have been reports, but they have not been documented since 1995.”
Peterson agreed. He recently received a report of a leopard frog near Phelps Lake, but unfortunately the species is often confused with spotted frogs. “They’ll seem to disappear from an area and then they’ll come back,” he said. “I think ... in drought conditions a lot of amphibians will go locally extinct.” “I don’t think the current drought is the answer,” Peterson continued. “Amphibians have had to deal with wet and dry conditions. You always expect population fluctuations in amphibians. Are we looking at a population fluctuation or actual long-term declines? I think for leopard frogs, it is pretty clear that it is a long-term trend.” If leopard frogs do get Endangered Species Act protection, reintroducing them to the park isn’t out of the question, Patla said. “There are reintroductions for other amphibian species,” she said. “I still have hopes that they’re out there somewhere,” Patla continued. “But, as the years go by, I get less and less optimistic.”
Erin Robertson, biologist for Center for Native Ecosystems, one of the groups that petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to consider listing the leopard frog, said the species is one indicator of a larger problem. “There’s a worldwide decline in amphibians, and this is an example of a decline that is happening locally right now,” she said. The northern leopard frog is 2 to almost 5 inches long, green, brown or yellow, with large oval dark spots surrounded by a lighter halo and is found along streams and rivers, wetlands, permanent or temporary pools, beaver ponds and also permanent bodies of water depending on its life stage, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service. Along with spotted frogs, boreal chorus frogs, boreal toads and tiger salamanders, northern leopard frogs are one of five native species of amphibian in the park. Bullfrogs also live in the park but were introduced by humans, according to the Park Service. The northern leopard frog is endemic to 19 states including Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Colorado and South Dakota, and while some populations seem to be thriving, others have faded away over the years. * By Cory Hatch, Jackson Hole, Wyo.
Scrub Turkeys
Brush turkeys have been invading suburban Sydney on a scale not seen since the ibis moved in many years ago. The large, aggressive birds are playing havoc with gardens, frightening pets, eating their food and building huge mounds. But the experts are warning they are here to stay; it is illegal to eat a protected native species and people should get used to them. The brush turkey is a ground-dwelling bird about 70 centimetres long that lives exclusively in the Australasian region of the world. Dr Ann Goeth is a senior threatened species officer with the Department of Environment and Climate Change and also one of the world's leading authorities on the local birds. She believes the turkeys are moving into suburban areas of Sydney for a number of reasons, including the drought. "They also find a lot of food in the kind of mulch and gardens that people provide," she said. "A lot of people indirectly attract these birds as well by either providing compost heaps where the birds can feed from, they have bird feeders, which brush-turkeys really like as well, or they might leave their pet food out on the back porch, which brush turkeys really like to eat as well." Network Item
Geoff Ross, a wildlife management officer with New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife, says the birds are also making a mess of backyards. "This species are megapodes, which means they build mounds," he said. "So the males incubate the eggs laid by females in these large mounds of garden material that's effectively breaking down and providing heat and that incubates the eggs. "We're seeing a lot more of these mounds around the inner-urban areas now - one reporting of an instance in Mosman. "Mounds are being located in Epping, Lane Cove and places like that on the North Shore. So they are gradually moving into those urban interfaces." Mr Ross says it is this building of the mounds and their propensity to destroy flower beds with their enthusiastic scratching that makes the turkeys the enemy of local gardeners. "They'll scratch up a lot of backyards' garden material to build that mound, particularly with people who have spent a lot of resources in maintaining a natural urban bushland, then of course brush turkeys will avail themselves of that very natural area and start building mounds in that backyard," he said.But Dr Anne Goeth reminds people that brush turkeys are a native species and protected by law. "So you're not allowed to catch them. You're also not allowed to actually destroy these mounds when there is eggs in there because you would destroy the eggs and the chicks," she said.
And she says you are definitely not allowed to put them on the barbie. "I mean they're big birds, big turkeys and obviously it's easier to shoot one of those than buy something if you are hungry, but hopefully that's not happening anymore these days," she said. "I've been told it's quite tough. I have never eaten them myself, of course." Mr Ross recommends that instead people learn to be tolerant of their new neighbours. "Now if you do have a mound you can seek National Parks' guidance on how to deal with that mound in your back garden," he said. "If it's particularly impacting upon you or your family, we can offer things like we give you a permit that will allow you to cover the mound with a tarpaulin and so the male can't work the mound, or you can cover it with mesh."You can use sprinklers to divert the male's attention away from the mound. Things like that, particularly now that we're allowed to hose our gardens again."
He says Sydneysiders worried about the turkeys should follow the example of their Queensland counterparts. "They are here to stay and it's one of being able to adapt to them being there and of course, this is nothing new for those people who live north of the border in Queensland," he said. "Brush turkeys are an everyday occurrence in the backyards of all Brisbane residents and residents on the Gold Coast. "So wherever you reside in those warmer coastal areas you get a few brush turkeys and again in Sydney they're just recapturing, if you like, those habitats they used to live in before."
Monday, July 6, 2009
Wildlife Bytes 30/6/09
Wildlife Mini-Bytes
Dolphins
Miles offshore in the US, a fight is raging between angry anglers armed with guns and bombs and bottlenose dolphins, the marine mammals popularized in movies and TV shows like "Flipper." Boat captains say dolphins, known for their toothy grins and playfulness, are growing increasingly aggressive in their quest for food, with some taking fish right off the hook — something that rarely happened just a few years ago. In response, fishermen are pulling out everything from pipe bombs to .357-caliber Magnum pistols to fend them off — and breaking a federal law against harming the sea mammals. The head of a national fishing organization, Bob Zales II, said the problem of bottlenose dolphins stealing fish has gotten "tremendously worse" in the last year. So have stories of retaliation by angry boat captains and ordinary anglers, who are paying hundreds of dollars for even short fishing trips because of high fuel prices. "You have people who are getting so frustrated they're shooting at them," said Zales, of Panama City, who has fished for more than four decades and is president of the National Association of Charter Boat Operators. * YahooNews. Full Story here... http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090626/ap_on_re_us/us_fighting_flipper
Wildlife Smuggling
A package from Sweden containing two live tarantulas and two live scorpions has been intercepted at Sydney's international mail centre. Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service staff made the discovery on June 14, after opening four film canisters contained in the package. Customs and Border Protection investigators, with support from AQIS and NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service officers, searched a home in Doonside, in Sydney's outer west, where a number of other specimens were found. * Herald Sun
Turtles, Wild Pigs, and Shooters
A leading turtle researcher says he is confident the flatback turtle population has not been badly affected by wild pigs which were introduced to a significant breeding site. Wildlife officers have eradicated the pests from Wild Duck Island, off Mackay, which is the major breeding ground for flatback turtles. Up to 30,000 eggs are laid on the island each year, but a large portion have been eaten by the pigs. It is believed the pigs were introduced to the island in the last couple of years. (by shooters) Doctor Col Limpus says they posed a significant threat but the problem was solved in time. "If the pigs had not been removed, if they'd been left there to cause the continuing damage that they were doing to the eggs, it would seriously threaten our capacity to maintain a sizeable population of flatback turtles on in Eastern Australia," he said. "Had it continued for decades, it would have been disastrous - in 20 years time, when the young turtles from this period are coming back to breed, we may not even be able to detect much more than a minor reduction in breeding numbers." *ABC
Bald Eagles
Bald eagles are making a comeback in the US, and are nesting at six confirmed locations in southeastern Wisconsin - compared with only two as recently as 2007 - and a steadily increasing number of people are calling state Department of Natural Resources offices to report eagles flying over their communities, department officials said. A pair of eaglets at Donges Bay gorge in Mequon are hopping around a broad nest of branches atop a white pine in a secluded area along the Lake Michigan shore. The wooded bluff at the gorge is home to the first successfully nesting bald eagles in the metropolitan area in more than 100 years. More adult eagles are joining them, said Tami Ryan, regional wildlife program manager with the DNR in Milwaukee. "This is definitely a success story for our region," Ryan said. "Bald eagle sightings are on the rise."
Golden Eagles
Ambitious plans to bring Golden Eagles back to Ireland have been guaranteed for the next two years, it was revealed today. Scottish conservationists will continue to support the project by supplying chicks despite a series of poisonings in Donegal, Kerry and Wicklow. In the last years five White-tailed Eagles, one Golden Eagle and two Red Kites have been poisoned and experts believe several more birds were also victims of killer bait and their bodies not recovered. Officials in Scotland said they will donate seven more chicks this year bringing the total number of Golden Eagles released in Donegal to 65. Dr Ciaran O’Keeffe, director of science and biodiversity for the Irish National Parks and Wildlife Service, welcomed the move. “I have been pleased to contribute to this review, and reiterate my thanks to Scotland for providing us with Golden Eagles to continue this massively important project,” he said. *IOL
Screwworm Fly
Queensland scientists have developed traps and tests aimed at wiping out a dangerous species of fly that eats living flesh. Minister for Primary Industries, Fisheries and Rural and Regional Queensland Tim Mulherin said the screw-worm fly is endemic to Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines but has not entered Australia. "This exotic pest is just a short step away from entering our country so strict measures and procedures are in place to protect our cattle, wildlife, native fauna and other animal industries," the Minister said. "Screw-worm fly infestation is considered to be one of the most serious animal disease threats facing Australia's livestock industries. "The spread of screw-worm fly into Australia would threaten the survival of the northern cattle industry and the estimated direct production losses would be in the order of $500 million per year. The Minister said the screw-worm fly could enter Australia as an adult insect in a storm front or on a boat, or as larvae (maggots) on animals or humans. *Australia TO
Frogs
Scientists think they have resolved one of the most controversial environmental issues of the past decade: the curious case of the missing frogs' legs. Around the world, frogs are found with missing or misshaped limbs, a striking deformity that many researchers believe is caused by chemical pollution. However, tests on frogs and toads have revealed a more natural, benign cause. The deformed frogs are actually victims of the predatory habits of dragonfly nymphs, which eat the legs of tadpoles. * BBC, Full Story Here.. http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8116000/8116692.stm
Meanwhile according to the BBC, a new study has shown up to one billion frogs are taken from the wild for human consumption each year. Researchers arrived at this conclusion by analysing UN trade data, although they acknowledge there is a lot of uncertainty in the figure. France and the US are the two biggest importers, with significant consumption in several East Asian nations. About one-third of all amphibians are listed as threatened species, with habitat loss the biggest factor. But hunting is acknowledged as another important extinction driver for some species, along with climate change, pollution and disease - notably the fungal condition chytridiomycosis which has brought rapid extinctions to some amphibians. Thee article also states that a large portion of the trade in amphibians for the pet trade is conducted illegally, and experts say customs officials in many countries are ill-equipped to spot and deal with illegal consignments. * BBC
Whales
The International Whaling Commission's annual conference has ended in disarray, keeping in place a ban on commercial whaling amid deep rifts between hunters and conservationists. The commission's new chairman said the IWC should now question its role, as the conference on the Portuguese island of Madeira wrapped up a day early with delegates agreeing only to extend negotiations on whaling for another year. *Herald Sun
Muttonbirds
As Tasmania's short-tailed shearwaters undertake their arduous migration across the Pacific to winter grounds off Alaska and Siberia, a new peril has emerged in recent years to dog their progress. Despite vandalism and disturbance of their breeding grounds, and overfishing of their food supply, the shearwaters and other migratory seabirds must also contend with a sea of plastic floating in our once pristine oceans. The seas of the world are awash with man's plastic waste. In particular, the northern Pacific across which the muttonbirds travel twice a year. By some accounts, this vast region of ocean holds a staggering 100 million tonnes of flotsam, most of it plastic and much of it ending in the stomachs of travelling birds.
Wildlife Cruelty
Authorities believe they are close to solving one of Queensland's worst animal cruelty cases. A shame file of at least five cases of cruelty against native animals in southeast Queensland in the past two months has led to a closer working partnership between police and the RSPCA. Investigators have a fresh lead on the brutal death of a kangaroo found at the Wolston Park Golf Club, in Brisbane's southwest, on June 18 with a metre-long hunting arrow piercing its abdomen. RSPCA spokesman Michael Beatty told The Sunday Mail: ``We have a strong lead. Information has been phoned through on offenders who might have been in the area at the time.'' Meanwhile, Broadwater MP Peta-Kaye Croft said she was saddened and angered after a baby wallaby had been found in the Coombabah Lakelands this month with wounds likely caused from a slingshot attack. Primary Industries Minister Tim Mulherin said offenders found guilty would face the maximum penalty -- a $100,000 fine. *Sunday Mail
Majura Kangaroos
The Defence Department has resume a cull of thousands of kangaroos on a site in Canberra. The ACT Government granted the Defence Department a licence to kill 7,000 kangaroos at the Majura site. Around 4,000 animals were killed before the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal put a temporary stay on the cull in May. Animal Liberation challenged the granting of the licence, arguing there was sufficient inaccuracy in the assessment of kangaroo numbers on the land. But today the tribunal ruled the cull can continue as there was evidence the kangaroos have caused substantial damage to ecological communities and threatened species. Animal Liberation was expected to appeal the decision, but has decided by teh time an appeal can be maounted, all teh kangaroos will have been killed.
Prehistoric Kangas
The Australian newspaper reports that a new study claims that humans caused the extinction of the largest kangaroo ever to hop on earth, but the results have been cahllenged by others. Weighing in at 230kg and standing 2m tall, short-faced Procoptodon goliah was wiped out by prehistoric hunters who lay in wait by water holes, according to an international team led by paleontologist Gavin Prideaux of Adelaide's Flinders University. There has been long-running scientific debate about what caused the demise of the so-called "megafauna", exotic mammals and flightless birds that roamed the Australian continent until about 46,000 years ago. Other experts will not be satisfied until Dr Prideaux and his team find hunting and butchering tools found in direct association with megafauna remains. But one has to wonder how 45,000 years ago a small population of indigenous hunters could wipe out such a large species? WPAA
Kangaroo Meat to China
After five years of negotiations, Chinese authorities have finally signed trade protocols to allow kangaroo meat into the country. The agreement was signed on the same day as protocols for allowing donkey meat into China. Queensland kangaroo processor, John Burey, says its a very big win for the industry. "Russia used to, and still would, consume 70 per cent or more kangaroo meat," he says."Now China, they could consume by far and away more kangaroo meat than we could supply." * ABC
Pythons
A python stolen from a Perth wildlife centre has been found by using the tracking device on the animal it ate. The two-metre carpet python swallowed a woylie in the Narrogin district of WA earlier this month. The snake was taken to the Department of Environment and Conservation's (DEC) research centre for treatment because the marsupial was still wearing a wristwatch-sized radio at the time it was swallowed. The snake was then stolen from the centre on Monday. The DEC used a plane to locate the radio collar and found the snake, with the collar still inside it, at a house in Heathridge. John Angus from the research centre says they were lucky to find the python. "We were able to pinpoint the location of this animal," he said. "We probably would have never of recovered it otherwise." Two men have been taken into custody. A woylie is a small marsupial also known as a brush-tailed bettong. It is listed as endangered. *WA news
NSW ...Shooting in National Parks
The NSW State Parliament has become increasingly incestuous lately with the cosy relationship with Labor, Fred Nile of the Christian Democrats and the Shooters Party passing each other’s legislation, no matter what the merits and the effect it will have on you. It all began way back when Labor allowed the Shooters into State Forests to shoot feral animals. That legislation lay there until Minister Ian MacDonald started to declare some forests open to shooters. One of the most notable was his opening up of Belanglo forest to shooting. Most of the community would have preferred the Belanglo forest be dedicated as a memory to the beautiful young people who perished there as a result of a serial killer equipped to kill. If John Howard did anything right I would commend his attempts to restrict the sale of semiautomatic guns after the Port Arthur massacre.
But to accommodate their friends in the Upper House, Labor last year passed the Firearms Amendment Bill which allowed, amongst a host of changes, the re-arming of thousands of people in contradiction of the firearms amnesty. Why would they pass such legislation? Because Labor could then rely on the Shooters to pass their evil Planning reforms, despite the Coalition’s attempt to send the Bill to a committee to evaluate just exactly what the hurried legislation meant to us. You will find out just how horrible Part 3A is becoming soon when the Regional Planning panels are stacked up to pass anything touristy over $5 million along the coast.
Last week Labor cashed in again when Lee Rhiannon’s Bill to save prime agricultural land from the coal miners was voted down by the Shooters and one other vote - that of the Reverend Fred Nile, who was described by his former Christian Democrat member, the Reverend Gordon Moyes, along with the Shooters Party as one of “Labor’s junkyard dogs”. You might wonder why the Shooters, who have a farming base, sold out the farmers. You might until you see the Shooters Bill allowing Game Council approved shooters to shoot native animals in National Parks. Yes, I know you just read that again to check.
“Native animals” including black swans, ducks, teals, corellas, three types of kangaroos and anything the Game Council can get on the list, inside our National Parks. Catherine Cusack, the Liberals and Opposition spokesperson on the environment, came out quickly, saying: “We totally reject the idea of shooting in national parks and the concept of shooting native animals in national parks is repugnant to almost anyone.” Local MP Andrew Stoner confirms the Coalition is totally against the Bill in its present form. Carmel Tebbutt’s office says the Minister for Environment and Climate Change will not support the shooting of native animals in National Parks.
This you would expect from the Environment Minister, but she has not cut out supporting the Bill which would make the provision for any future minister of whatever bent to open any national park to game hunting. The Minister’s reputation for integrity is on the line here. The definition of game hunting is unclear and there is provision in the Bill for almost anything to be included. For instance, farmers have long sought, and obtained without too much trouble, licence to kill protected animals when they threaten their livelihood. Not just kangaroos but also corellas, cockatoos, bats, wombats and dingoes. Farmers are always blaming national parks for harbouring all sorts of threats such as wild dogs, so perhaps we could see shooters hunting in Limeburners Nature Reserve.
Limeburners contains possibly the most viable pack of 100 per cent gene test dingoes on the coast, probably in the whole of NSW. How a shooter will do a gene test on a dog running away from him is a mystery. Out west we might even see Game Council-appointed shooters experiencing the thrill of taking down a charging wombat. In the past we have seen animal activists like the PETA organisation trying to save black swans shot by duck shooters with highly effective shotguns but highly defective eyesight. Minister Ian Macdonald set out an answer for that democratic protesting problem in his new legislation to remove any environmental study requirements for the Repco Rally from Tweed to Kyogle over National Park and State Forest dirt roads and the provision to prosecute any protestors. His friends in the Shooters Party took note of that and have included making it an offence for anyone to even approach a shooter to talk with him while he is hunting.
Forget about animal rights, forget about democracy. Macdonald is taking us into a brave new totalitarian world. Labor is on a hiding to nothing on this one. The environmental movement is in an uproar over this and the general public will not stand for it. But Labor needs the Shooters and the Reverend Fred to get the rest of their evil program up, so they will probably try to float a compromise of the shooting of ferals only as a conservation tool, which will help the National Parks and Wildlife Service protect their native fauna. Sounds all right to the general public perhaps, but let us take a look at this propaganda. In the published work, “A critique by ISC policy officer Dr Carol Booth of ‘Recreational hunting and its place within Australia’, an issue of the Australian Shooters Journal,” the Invasive Species Council says: “Of all conservation NGOs, the Invasive Species Council has the strongest potential reasons to support recreational hunting on public lands, for it campaigns for more effective control of feral animals.
But the council opposes recent moves to open up State Forests and National Parks to recreational hunters because evidence shows that recreational hunting usually does not provide effective feral animal control and creates a serious risk of worsening feral animal problems … Conclusion: Feral animal control is being used as a justification by some State governments to open up public lands to recreational hunters. NSW Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald, for example, told Parliament that “after habitat loss, invasive species are the single greatest threat to Australia’s unique and treasured biodiversity,” and that recreational hunting was a “sensible option” to “help to eradicate feral animals”. The Invasive Species Council agrees that feral animal control is very important, but concludes there is no evidence to support the claims that recreational hunting is an effective or low cost option. ‘Outsourcing’ control of feral animals to ineffective recreational hunters will see populations increase, particularly if governments use it as an excuse to not fund professional control efforts.
There is also the very serious risk that governments are unwittingly creating incentives for maverick hunters to move feral animals into new areas and worsen feral animal problems.” Wherever hunters have access to forests to shoot ferals the ferals do not disappear. Obviously the hunters have a vested interest in their survival. In fact they have a voluntary code of not shooting deer, male or female, in each deer species breeding season. There is an answer to the need to remove feral animals from the reserve system and that is through proper resourcing of NPWS and encouraging the work of people like Bernard Whitehead, who is already trapping humanely all sorts of ferals in the Maria-Limeburners area. The most valuable contribution though would be in keeping the shooters and the Game Council out. *Macleay Argus
Ed Comment, The Shooters Party's push to hunt native animals in National Parks is still on the backburner, still appears to be supported by Labor, and the Bill will come back later this year.
Conservation funding for critically-endangered woylies The project is part of the Government’s $3.5million allocation for six Natural Resource Management projects in line with its commitment to strong management of Western Australia’s natural resources. “The aim is to establish a secure emergency colony for the woylie,” the Minister said. “The enclosure will not only protect the woylies from feral predators but will also enable scientists to conduct vital research on the health of woylies.” Mrs Faragher said $100,000 would be used to support the further recovery of woylies, including an investigation into potential wildlife health issues related to the species’ decline and establishing a woylie captive breeding program at Perth Zoo.
“The captive breeding program is expected to involve a dedicated keeper at the zoo and woylies that remain in wild populations for breeding,” she said. “Perth Zoo’s wildlife veterinary expertise is vital in understanding the conservation needs of the woylie and I am looking forward to their ongoing contribution to these critical recovery actions.” The Minister said the woylie had bounced back from near extinction once before. “Once spread across southern Australia, the woylie was found in just three areas in South-West Western Australia by the 1970s,” she said.
“Thanks to fox control, a breeding program and the establishment of new populations, the woylie was the first Australian vertebrate to be removed from State and Federal endangered species lists in 1996, as a result of recovery actions. “However, since 2001, woylie populations have declined dramatically, with some populations shrinking by 97 per cent. “The Department of Environment and Conservation has been investigating these declines in a major collaborative research program, but has been unable to isolate the specific cause or causes.” In 2000, there were about 20,000 woylies in the Upper Warren region, and there are now estimated to be less than 1,000. Mrs Faragher said maintaining WA’s biodiversity was an important part of responsible natural resource management. “The woylie has made a spectacular recovery once before and we are taking decisive action now to give it a chance to do so once again,” she said. *AustraliaTO
Cane Toads
The discovery of an adult cane toad in a remote Kimberly community has sparked fears that the pest is closing in on WA. Kimberly Toad Buster spokeswoman Sandy Boulter said the adult toad hitchhiked on a truck from Darwin to Turkey Creek, a small settlement 858km east of Broome, on the Great Northern Highway last Tuesday. She said the toad – the first to be found in Turkey Creek – was found by Warmun General Store workers when they unloaded the truck. Turkey Creek is the only town near WA’s iconic Bungle Bungles – a major tourist attraction in the region. Students from Ngalanagnagpum School have preserved the toad ahead of an educational visit from the Toad Busters, who are working to stop the toad from reaching WA.
Under the State Government’s draft Cane Toad Strategy for West Australia 2009-19, the government plans to strengthen quarantine procedures along WA’s border to prevent the spread of cane toads. Species threatened by cane toads will be identified, quarantine procedures will be reviewed and strengthened, education campaigns will be developed and long-term biological control measures put in place as part of the plan. Members of the community have until tomorrow to comment on the draft policy. The Toad Busters are concerned their methods of killing the toads with Dettol and carbon dioxide will be banned because the Department of Environment and Conservation considered it inhumane. Ms Boulter said more violent options of killing the pests were not practical to the volunteers. “Dettol power backpacks can kill millions of toads in 10 minutes,” she said. “The main thing (we want) is to give us back our weapons.” PerthNow
Whaling
A third of the whales harpooned by Japan in the Antarctic last summer were pregnant, it was claimed yesterday. Conservation group Humane Society International (HSI) said Japan's own figures, revealed in secret documents discovered at the International Whaling Commission meeting being held this week, showed the "true, disgusting nature" of the country's whale hunting. Japan's annual hunt, which it claims is a scientific study, took a horrific toll on female whales, the HSI said. The HSI said data from Japan's 2008/2009 hunt showed of 679 whales it reported killing, 304 were female. The data showed 192 of the whales were pregnant. Four were lactating. "The four lactating females would each have had a calf that would have starved to death," HSI Australia's director Michael Kennedy said.
Mr Kennedy said the Japanese data also contained "gruesome" details of how whale foetuses were treated after being torn from their mothers on board the whaling fleet's factory ship. "They report they measure the length and weight of the foetus, they measure their eyes and take skin samples from the foetus for what they call genetic studies," Mr Kennedy said. "It is gruesome, useless information which, if it was even needed, could be found without dismembering a foetus." The details of Japan's impact on female whales was contained in what is known as a "Cruise Report", secretly sent to the IWC's scientific committee before the IWC meeting in Portugal.
During the 2007-2008 hunt Australia was shocked when newspapes published photos of a minke whale and her calf being hauled aboard a Japanese factory ship to be dismembered. HSI vice president Kitty Block said Japan's whale hunt should be condemned and was conducted in a whale sanctuary under the guise of science. "The fact is this hunt is commercial and killing pregnant females makes it all the more egregious," Ms Block said. Australian Environment Minister Peter Garrett, who is at the IWC meeting, said Japan had killed more than 13,000 whales in the name of research since a moratorium on commercial whaling was imposed in 1986.
One of Mr Garrett's tactics to try to end Japanese whaling is to bring it under the direct control of the IWC, something Japan has been vigorously opposing. Japan is also pushing hard for a "coastal whaling quota" - which would allow it to kill whales in its own waters without the pretence of scientific study - which conservation groups said was a return to commercial whaling. This week the Australian Government announced what it called the largest study of Antarctic whales. The joint Australian-New Zealand scientific expedition will steam to Antarctica this summer. No whales will be killed during the research. * Daily Telegraph
Wildlife on menu spurs smuggling
A rising appetite for wildlife and its increasing use in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) are fueling an increase in the illegal imports of endangered animals, a senior official has said. "Illegal wildlife trade used to be outbound, but domestic demand has reversed the trend," Wan Ziming, director of enforcement and training at the endangered species' office of the State Forestry Administration, told China Daily. Wild animals are mostly smuggled in at the southwestern border and coastal regions, according to figures by Customs and major border points. Because the trade is illegal, the number of smuggling cases uncovered does not reflect the full extent of the animals and plants being brought into the country, Wan said.
Last year, there were 87 criminal cases of endangered species being smuggled, up from 77 in 2005, said Wan. In 2007, there was a spike in cases to 175. "Illegal wildlife trade is alive and dynamic," said Xu Hongfa, director of the World Wildlife Fund's (WWF) TRAFFIC East Asia China Program. "We have noticed an increasing amount of trade and consumption in wildlife, including bear paws, tortoises, pangolins and monitor lizards," he said. The smuggling has severely impacted the wildlife populations in neighboring countries, particularly Southeast Asian nations, Wan said. He said the demand stems partly from a "resource dilemma" faced by the country - rich in variety, but scarce in amount. "The demand comes from a traditional culture of using wildlife for food and medicine," he said. "It is not easy to change the cultural habits of 1.3 billion people."
Chinese people have long believed in the medicinal and health benefits of wild plants and animals. The trade in TCM products has also been growing at an annual rate of 10 percent, which has seriously impacted medicinal plant and animal populations, though more than half of plants and animals being used by TCM are from artificial propagation or captive breeding. Up to 20 percent of these are now considered threatened. Eating wild animals is also a traditional practice in southern China. The consumption of wild animals, which slowed amid the SARS epidemic in 2003, has once again gained popularity, a WWF survey has found.
Profit from illegal trade can be up to 10 times the cost, with restaurant operators offering the exotic dishes usually aware of the violation but lured by the gains, Xu said. Illegal trade in tiger meat and bones is also alive, continuing to threaten the extinction of an already depleted species, he said. Alarmingly, Xu said, more wealthy people are demanding elephant ivory for decorative purposes. Of the 87 wildlife cases uncovered by the Customs last year, more than half involved ivory, Wan said. "The profit margin is as high as in drug trafficking but the punishment is too mild," he said. He Yong from the International Fund for Animal Welfare China said the demand for wildlife springs from weak links in law enforcement - the use and trade of wild animal products is banned, but artificial breeding is allowed in many instances to fulfill the needs of customers. *China Daily
15 rare Sumatran Elephants Killed
At least 15 endangered Sumatran elephants have been shot or poisoned to death with cyanide-laced fruit this year, marking a sharp rise in the rate of killing from 2008, a government conservationist said Wednesday. The giant mammals were mostly killed by poachers for their ivory, said Tony Suhartono, the director of biodiversity conservation at the Forest Ministry. The number killed in the past six months is equal to the total for the whole of 2008, he said. "It is shocking," said Syamsidar, a campaigner with the World Wildlife Fund in the western island of Sumatra.
The killing is the result of a "conflict between humans and elephants," said Syamsidar, who like many Indonesians goes by a single name. "The forest is in critical condition due to the illegal logging, slash-and-burn farming practices and plantations." Indonesia's endangered elephants, tigers, rhinos and orangutans are increasingly threatened by their shrinking habitat in the jungle, which is commonly cleared for commercial farming or felled for lumber. Only 3,000 Sumatran elephants are believed to remain in the wild. They sometimes venture into inhabited areas searching for food and destroy crops or attack humans, making them unpopular with locals. *AP
Happy hoppers damage poppy crops
The mystery of crop circles which appear from time to time in Tasmania's legal opium poppy fields may have been solved. It seems it is not aliens, but junkie wallabies hopping around in dazed circles - perhaps. Poppies are grown in Tasmania for morphine used by the pharmaceutical industry to make pain control drugs. But humans are not the only ones who have discovered that the poppies contain narcotics. Recently retired farmer Lyndley Chopping spent more than 30 years growing poppies and he has seen wallabies acting strangely in his fields. "They would come and eat some poppies and go away. They seem to know when they've had enough. Then they'd come back again and they would do hop around in circles in the paddock," he said.
"It's hard to work out. Didn't seem to be any real pattern to their behaviour." But the state's largest poppy producer, Tasmanian Alkaloids, has noticed a pattern in the wallabies' behaviour. Rick Rockliff is the company's field operations manager. "Often other forms of food are in short supply in late January/February and half their weight in poppy capsules is seed which is very nutritious. It's the seed you see on bread rolls," he said. "In the process of nibbling open the capsule it's possible they do ingest a little bit it. The capsule material contains the narcotic alkaloids. Ingested in large quantities it has a short-term effect."
Barry Wells, animal welfare officer at the University of Tasmania, isn't sure that the wallabies are getting stoned. . "It's quite possible that they are being affected by them," he said. "But we need to rule out the other things and look more closely to make sure that they are eating lots of it and it is affecting them. They could become addicted and start eating lots of them." He says if the wallabies are addicted to the poppies there would probably be signs, like bowel upsets and constipation. "We would expect them to be uncoordinated - staggering about, walking in circles," he said. "Certainly out of character from what you would expect with wild wallabies." *ABC News
Outfoxing the bats
Residents of a Territory air base being terrorised by a plague of bats have launched a noisy tirade at the "flying rats" in a bid to get rid of them. Each morning between 6.30 and 7am they have been making as much noise as possible around the bases of the flying fox-laden trees to scare them away. Some residents living in the married quarters at RAAF Base Tindal near Katherine have been cracking whips and banging pots and pans while Defence vehicles are being driven around with sirens blaring. Other tenants, who are so fed up with the screeching, smelly species that have been keeping them up at night, have even got their hoses out and attempted to spray them away from the branches.
The noise campaign followed the Northern Territory News revealing earlier this month how the residents are constantly under attack by the red and black flying fox species. The residents said they often experienced headaches, nausea and vomiting because of the stench and a 13-year-old boy had to be rushed to Katherine Hospital after he was attacked by a bat on the base in April. A resident told the NT News that most of the families on the base were at their wits end as to how to get rid of the "disease-ridden pests". And she said the noise campaign didn't seem to have worked.
"We've been out there making as much noise as possible and the bats are still here," she said. "We have tried almost everything and it is just not working." Defence has even started cutting down trees to their stumps so the bats don't have anywhere to roost. But residents are saying they should just cull the bats. "They really need to just have a cull," one woman said. "It didn't seem to be a problem to cull hundreds of wallabies so why not bats too?" Wallabies were causing problems on the air base's runway after several planes struck the mammals on take-off and landing and aero medical services were halted. * NT News
Letter to the NT News Territory Day is approaching, along with the usual noisy, pesky fireworks. As a lifetime resident of the NT, I'm long over all this silliness to do with cracker night. However, perhaps there is a silver lining to this dark, gunpowder-smoke cloud. It's well known, of course, that fireworks strike terror into animals -- both pets and wildlife . Perhaps this knowledge could be put to effective use by scaring off the flying fox plague that is so annoying the residents of Tindal near Katherine. I suggest that on Territory Day plenty of fireworks are set off near where the bats roost (under supervision, of course) in an attempt to encourage them to move on. This might need to be done over a longer period of time but it seems worth a try to see if this will help solve the problem. Letting off fireworks to frighten fruit bats is potentially a lot kinder than culling them or cutting down trees they roost in. *Alex Nelson, Alice Springs
Possums
Almost 400 brush-tailed possums have been culled by the Royal Botanic Gardens Trust since 2002, but environmentalists are now arguing that alternatives should be sought. The Trust receives a licence from the National Parks and Wildlife Service through the NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change, which allows the animals to be trapped and taken to a vet to be euthanased. Representatives of the Trust said culling was necessary to deal with overcrowding and damage caused to plants as well as injuries caused by territorial behaviour among possums. Under National Parks guidelines, it is illegal to relocate possums more than 50 metres from where they were caught, because their territorial nature makes survival rates among relocated animals very low.
Some environmentalists suggest a more humane approach to population control should be considered. One environmentalist, who did not wish to be named, said sterilisation of the animals would be a better alternative to culling. This has not been taken up by the Trust, which maintains that culling is the best option. In internal correspondence obtained by Central, a Botanic Gardens Director Mark Savio wrote: “When trapping first started in the Gardens, the possums found were in horrific condition - covered in injuries from fights with other possums and stress dermatitis from overcrowding.’’ According to Mr Savio, at the time of writing, 394 brush-tailed possums had been culled since permission was granted by National Parks in July 2002, an average of 55 a year.
Mr Savio said Botanic Garden’s staff found the overall health of the brush-tailed population improved after culling began. “Because we are managing the population at a sustainable level, such injuries and stress-related illnesses are rare in the trapped possums. Due to our trapping program, our possum population is now much healthier than it used to be,” he wrote. Animal activists have also expressed concern that there had been an increase in the culling in recent weeks. Mr Savio wrote that trapping occurred only “when horticulturalists are having problems with possums damaging plants in a particular area, but no more than once a week”.
Ed Comment; Well, why are we not surprised about this? This is the same Botanic Gardens who want to remove the flying foxes too, by frightening them away with sirens and loud noise when they come into roost. History shows these flying fox relocation attempts are a complete failure, and cause many deaths. The Melbourne Botanic Gardens relocation attempt cost 3 million dollars, and was claimed by the State government to be success...that is, unless you were a flying fox!
Claims that the Sydney Botanic Gardens possums were in poor condition have not been backed up by any experienced possum carer. But injuries occur, that's nature, and many of the Gardens possums would range into the City in search of food and shelter anyway, and would fight and mate with City possums. Where do we stop killing our native animals, in our last remnant pieces of wildlife habitat? Kangaroos, possums, flying foxes, parrots, wallabies, lorikeets, ducks, even wombats, are all under fire, and allowed to killed by State governments who seem to lost purpose and plot! Do we stop the killing when there are no wildlife species left?
Bonorong
Bureaucratic bungling scuttled a ``visionary'' plan, funded by Kathmandu clothing founder Jan Cameron, to create a world-class rescue service for orphaned and injured animals in Tasmania. Documents obtained by The Australian under Freedom of Information laws reveal Tasmania came close to securing a five-year deal with Ms Cameron's Bonorong Wildlife Centre. But the deal fell over last month, with Boronong blaming chronic red tape and a ``lack of direction'' within government. Boronong, also known as Go Wild Tasmania, is bitterly disappointed, as is Ms Cameron, whose charitable Elsie Cameron Trust purchased the wildlife park with the aim of setting up the proposed service. ``Now I've got a bloody wildlife park that I don't really want to have -- unless it can be transformed into something more to do with animal welfare, rather than just displaying animals,'' Ms Cameron said.
In late 2007, GWT offered to take over the emergency wildlife care service, now provided by 220 volunteers under government co-ordination. It offered the use of the 7.8ha Boronong, north of Hobart, for the care of native animals orphaned or wounded. The deal would have seen injured animals nursed back to health at a centre for excellence in native animal care, with special enclosures, trained keepers, administrative staff, a full-time co-ordinator -- and even an animal ambulance service. Primary Industries Minister David Llewellyn jumped at the offer and, after about a year of talks, Mr Llewellyn signed an in-principle agreement with GWT managers, Sally Bryant and Pru Cotton, on December 15. Taxpayers' only contribution to the new service would be a $7000 telephone hotline and the salary of one public servant for 12 months to aid the transition.
But a paper trail suggests Mr Llewellyn's department struggled to organise these aspects. As the months dragged on, news of some sort of deal leaked to volunteer carers, who became resentful and fearful that their role was being usurped by GWT and the cashed-up Ms Cameron. Documents suggest these perceptions were unfounded, with GWT to take over co-ordination of these volunteers, not supplant them. However, volunteers began campaigning with venom and, by last month, Volunteering Tasmania wrote to Mr Llewellyn that growing ``apprehension'' was threatening ``the volunteering sector in general''.
Mr Llewellyn was also privately under fire from GWT. ``Unnecessarily protracted negotiations and lack of direction shown by your department have created havoc and fear amongst the volunteer wildlife carers,'' Dr Bryant wrote to Mr Llewellyn on April 7. ``And the goodwill that has been garnered through our patient negotiations and recognition of the sensitivity of the surrounding issues has been lost ... The simple negotiations have become entangled in a mire of bureaucracy.'' In desperation, GWT offered to organise a transition co-ordinator. But stung by the backlash from volunteers, Mr Llewellyn reluctantly pulled out.
In an open letter to volunteers last month, the minister expressed regret and praised GWT for its ``visionary ideas''. Volunteer carers opposed to the GWT takeover are jubilant. ``We were the ones doing the hard yards and these negotiations went on for two years with us knowing almost nothing about it,'' Jude Lennox said. ``We volunteer to the government; not to private enterprise. We are all rapt that it (GWT) is not going ahead. All we ever wanted was the status quo.'' *The Australian
Traditional Hunting
"It's a sham. It's time for a ban. Or there will be nothing left for future generations'' Eddie Deemal Aborigonal elder Eddie Deemal wants an end to the ``sham'' of traditional hunting. And he is not alone. ``If they want to hunt dugong or turtle, they must do it by spear from a canoe,'' the 83-year-old said. ``That is the traditional way.'' For centuries his people have lived off the rich bounty of the Coral Sea -- hunting fish, turtles, crabs, rays and dugong -- by the coloured sands of Cape Bedford. Mr Deemal still hunts the traditional way himself. Silhouetted by the rising sun, the old man, cradling his bamboo fishing spears, strikes a timeless pose. Every morning he wades kilometres through knee-deep water over the white sand bars in front of his Elim Beach home scanning for whiting, mud crabs and barramundi. He boasts he once speared a 55kg barra in the shallows, heavier than his own body weight, taking hours to wrestle the mighty fish to shore. ``That fish, he fed my family for a month,'' he said.
The Deedar tribesman, custodian of the sea country north of Cooktown, is among a growing band of indigenous leaders who believe traditional hunting is excessive and unsustainable. The elder said he was sick of seeing dead turtles and dugong piled high on the beach, barely touched for the precious meat, shot by ``outside blackfellas'' with rifles from power boats. ``It's a sham. It's time for a ban. Or there will be nothing left for future generations,'' Mr Deemal said. Mass killings of as many as 15 dugong at a time, all of them riddled with bullets from speedboats, have been reported in recent years north of Cooktown.
Some elders are calling for a system where they decide who can take turtle and dugong and punishment for those who abuse the right with traditional spearings, fines and jail time. Eastern Kuku Yalanji elder Bennett Walker has a card identification system to stop outsiders preying on his tribal waters off the world heritage-listed Daintree. Kuku Yalanji men, out of about 5000 tribal members, have self-imposed hunting regulations, are allowed to use only traditional hunting weapons, and restrict takes to one animal. Peter Guivarra, of Mapoon, north of Weipa, is among those who believe traditional hunting is out of control.
The western Cape leader says magpie geese flocks are now a fraction of what they were because of indiscriminate killing. In the Torres Strait, killing a dugong or turtle is part of the rite of passage to manhood for teenage boys. South of the Torres Strait, the Girringun people of the Cardwell area and the Woppaburra people of the Keppel islands have banned the hunting of dugong and restrict turtle catches in agreements with the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. The latest concern comes amid rumours of a blackmarket trade in dugong and turtle flesh, a highly prized delicacy, in Cairns and Kuranda. * Courier Mail
Ed Comment; Of course there is blackmarket in dugong and turtle meat, it turns up regularly at weddings and similar functions throughout Queensland.
Thinking about Wildlife?
Who’s going to watch over our wildlife when you no longer share their World? Well, we are! The Wildlife Protection Association of Australia Inc. will continue to forcefully lobby governments to do better with wildlife management, and by taking them to Court if necessary. We are currently working on developing eLearning projects, so students can become aware of the importance of our wildlife living in a safe and secure natural environment. After you have looked after your family and friends in your Will, think about wildlife. A bequest to the Wildlife Protection Association of Australia Inc. will ensure that we can continue to take a leading role in protecting and conserving our precious wildlife. None of the donations we receive are diverted to "administration". Every dollar we get through bequests or donations for wildlife hits the ground running! Talk to your solicitor, or if writing your own Will, add the words "I bequeath to The Wildlife Protection Association of Australia Inc. for the purpose of protecting wildlife in Australia (a specified sum), or (specified items including land or vehicle), or (the residue of my estate) or (percentage of my estate) free of all duties, and the receipt of the President, Secretary or other authorised WPAA officer for the time being shall be a complete and sufficient discharge for the executor(s)." You can also phone me for a confidential chat, as to how a bequest can help us work to protect our wildlife, when you are no longer able to. * Pat O’Brien, WPAA 07 54941890
Dolphins
Miles offshore in the US, a fight is raging between angry anglers armed with guns and bombs and bottlenose dolphins, the marine mammals popularized in movies and TV shows like "Flipper." Boat captains say dolphins, known for their toothy grins and playfulness, are growing increasingly aggressive in their quest for food, with some taking fish right off the hook — something that rarely happened just a few years ago. In response, fishermen are pulling out everything from pipe bombs to .357-caliber Magnum pistols to fend them off — and breaking a federal law against harming the sea mammals. The head of a national fishing organization, Bob Zales II, said the problem of bottlenose dolphins stealing fish has gotten "tremendously worse" in the last year. So have stories of retaliation by angry boat captains and ordinary anglers, who are paying hundreds of dollars for even short fishing trips because of high fuel prices. "You have people who are getting so frustrated they're shooting at them," said Zales, of Panama City, who has fished for more than four decades and is president of the National Association of Charter Boat Operators. * YahooNews. Full Story here... http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090626/ap_on_re_us/us_fighting_flipper
Wildlife Smuggling
A package from Sweden containing two live tarantulas and two live scorpions has been intercepted at Sydney's international mail centre. Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service staff made the discovery on June 14, after opening four film canisters contained in the package. Customs and Border Protection investigators, with support from AQIS and NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service officers, searched a home in Doonside, in Sydney's outer west, where a number of other specimens were found. * Herald Sun
Turtles, Wild Pigs, and Shooters
A leading turtle researcher says he is confident the flatback turtle population has not been badly affected by wild pigs which were introduced to a significant breeding site. Wildlife officers have eradicated the pests from Wild Duck Island, off Mackay, which is the major breeding ground for flatback turtles. Up to 30,000 eggs are laid on the island each year, but a large portion have been eaten by the pigs. It is believed the pigs were introduced to the island in the last couple of years. (by shooters) Doctor Col Limpus says they posed a significant threat but the problem was solved in time. "If the pigs had not been removed, if they'd been left there to cause the continuing damage that they were doing to the eggs, it would seriously threaten our capacity to maintain a sizeable population of flatback turtles on in Eastern Australia," he said. "Had it continued for decades, it would have been disastrous - in 20 years time, when the young turtles from this period are coming back to breed, we may not even be able to detect much more than a minor reduction in breeding numbers." *ABC
Bald Eagles
Bald eagles are making a comeback in the US, and are nesting at six confirmed locations in southeastern Wisconsin - compared with only two as recently as 2007 - and a steadily increasing number of people are calling state Department of Natural Resources offices to report eagles flying over their communities, department officials said. A pair of eaglets at Donges Bay gorge in Mequon are hopping around a broad nest of branches atop a white pine in a secluded area along the Lake Michigan shore. The wooded bluff at the gorge is home to the first successfully nesting bald eagles in the metropolitan area in more than 100 years. More adult eagles are joining them, said Tami Ryan, regional wildlife program manager with the DNR in Milwaukee. "This is definitely a success story for our region," Ryan said. "Bald eagle sightings are on the rise."
Golden Eagles
Ambitious plans to bring Golden Eagles back to Ireland have been guaranteed for the next two years, it was revealed today. Scottish conservationists will continue to support the project by supplying chicks despite a series of poisonings in Donegal, Kerry and Wicklow. In the last years five White-tailed Eagles, one Golden Eagle and two Red Kites have been poisoned and experts believe several more birds were also victims of killer bait and their bodies not recovered. Officials in Scotland said they will donate seven more chicks this year bringing the total number of Golden Eagles released in Donegal to 65. Dr Ciaran O’Keeffe, director of science and biodiversity for the Irish National Parks and Wildlife Service, welcomed the move. “I have been pleased to contribute to this review, and reiterate my thanks to Scotland for providing us with Golden Eagles to continue this massively important project,” he said. *IOL
Screwworm Fly
Queensland scientists have developed traps and tests aimed at wiping out a dangerous species of fly that eats living flesh. Minister for Primary Industries, Fisheries and Rural and Regional Queensland Tim Mulherin said the screw-worm fly is endemic to Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines but has not entered Australia. "This exotic pest is just a short step away from entering our country so strict measures and procedures are in place to protect our cattle, wildlife, native fauna and other animal industries," the Minister said. "Screw-worm fly infestation is considered to be one of the most serious animal disease threats facing Australia's livestock industries. "The spread of screw-worm fly into Australia would threaten the survival of the northern cattle industry and the estimated direct production losses would be in the order of $500 million per year. The Minister said the screw-worm fly could enter Australia as an adult insect in a storm front or on a boat, or as larvae (maggots) on animals or humans. *Australia TO
Frogs
Scientists think they have resolved one of the most controversial environmental issues of the past decade: the curious case of the missing frogs' legs. Around the world, frogs are found with missing or misshaped limbs, a striking deformity that many researchers believe is caused by chemical pollution. However, tests on frogs and toads have revealed a more natural, benign cause. The deformed frogs are actually victims of the predatory habits of dragonfly nymphs, which eat the legs of tadpoles. * BBC, Full Story Here.. http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8116000/8116692.stm
Meanwhile according to the BBC, a new study has shown up to one billion frogs are taken from the wild for human consumption each year. Researchers arrived at this conclusion by analysing UN trade data, although they acknowledge there is a lot of uncertainty in the figure. France and the US are the two biggest importers, with significant consumption in several East Asian nations. About one-third of all amphibians are listed as threatened species, with habitat loss the biggest factor. But hunting is acknowledged as another important extinction driver for some species, along with climate change, pollution and disease - notably the fungal condition chytridiomycosis which has brought rapid extinctions to some amphibians. Thee article also states that a large portion of the trade in amphibians for the pet trade is conducted illegally, and experts say customs officials in many countries are ill-equipped to spot and deal with illegal consignments. * BBC
Whales
The International Whaling Commission's annual conference has ended in disarray, keeping in place a ban on commercial whaling amid deep rifts between hunters and conservationists. The commission's new chairman said the IWC should now question its role, as the conference on the Portuguese island of Madeira wrapped up a day early with delegates agreeing only to extend negotiations on whaling for another year. *Herald Sun
Muttonbirds
As Tasmania's short-tailed shearwaters undertake their arduous migration across the Pacific to winter grounds off Alaska and Siberia, a new peril has emerged in recent years to dog their progress. Despite vandalism and disturbance of their breeding grounds, and overfishing of their food supply, the shearwaters and other migratory seabirds must also contend with a sea of plastic floating in our once pristine oceans. The seas of the world are awash with man's plastic waste. In particular, the northern Pacific across which the muttonbirds travel twice a year. By some accounts, this vast region of ocean holds a staggering 100 million tonnes of flotsam, most of it plastic and much of it ending in the stomachs of travelling birds.
Wildlife Cruelty
Authorities believe they are close to solving one of Queensland's worst animal cruelty cases. A shame file of at least five cases of cruelty against native animals in southeast Queensland in the past two months has led to a closer working partnership between police and the RSPCA. Investigators have a fresh lead on the brutal death of a kangaroo found at the Wolston Park Golf Club, in Brisbane's southwest, on June 18 with a metre-long hunting arrow piercing its abdomen. RSPCA spokesman Michael Beatty told The Sunday Mail: ``We have a strong lead. Information has been phoned through on offenders who might have been in the area at the time.'' Meanwhile, Broadwater MP Peta-Kaye Croft said she was saddened and angered after a baby wallaby had been found in the Coombabah Lakelands this month with wounds likely caused from a slingshot attack. Primary Industries Minister Tim Mulherin said offenders found guilty would face the maximum penalty -- a $100,000 fine. *Sunday Mail
Majura Kangaroos
The Defence Department has resume a cull of thousands of kangaroos on a site in Canberra. The ACT Government granted the Defence Department a licence to kill 7,000 kangaroos at the Majura site. Around 4,000 animals were killed before the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal put a temporary stay on the cull in May. Animal Liberation challenged the granting of the licence, arguing there was sufficient inaccuracy in the assessment of kangaroo numbers on the land. But today the tribunal ruled the cull can continue as there was evidence the kangaroos have caused substantial damage to ecological communities and threatened species. Animal Liberation was expected to appeal the decision, but has decided by teh time an appeal can be maounted, all teh kangaroos will have been killed.
Prehistoric Kangas
The Australian newspaper reports that a new study claims that humans caused the extinction of the largest kangaroo ever to hop on earth, but the results have been cahllenged by others. Weighing in at 230kg and standing 2m tall, short-faced Procoptodon goliah was wiped out by prehistoric hunters who lay in wait by water holes, according to an international team led by paleontologist Gavin Prideaux of Adelaide's Flinders University. There has been long-running scientific debate about what caused the demise of the so-called "megafauna", exotic mammals and flightless birds that roamed the Australian continent until about 46,000 years ago. Other experts will not be satisfied until Dr Prideaux and his team find hunting and butchering tools found in direct association with megafauna remains. But one has to wonder how 45,000 years ago a small population of indigenous hunters could wipe out such a large species? WPAA
Kangaroo Meat to China
After five years of negotiations, Chinese authorities have finally signed trade protocols to allow kangaroo meat into the country. The agreement was signed on the same day as protocols for allowing donkey meat into China. Queensland kangaroo processor, John Burey, says its a very big win for the industry. "Russia used to, and still would, consume 70 per cent or more kangaroo meat," he says."Now China, they could consume by far and away more kangaroo meat than we could supply." * ABC
Pythons
A python stolen from a Perth wildlife centre has been found by using the tracking device on the animal it ate. The two-metre carpet python swallowed a woylie in the Narrogin district of WA earlier this month. The snake was taken to the Department of Environment and Conservation's (DEC) research centre for treatment because the marsupial was still wearing a wristwatch-sized radio at the time it was swallowed. The snake was then stolen from the centre on Monday. The DEC used a plane to locate the radio collar and found the snake, with the collar still inside it, at a house in Heathridge. John Angus from the research centre says they were lucky to find the python. "We were able to pinpoint the location of this animal," he said. "We probably would have never of recovered it otherwise." Two men have been taken into custody. A woylie is a small marsupial also known as a brush-tailed bettong. It is listed as endangered. *WA news
NSW ...Shooting in National Parks
The NSW State Parliament has become increasingly incestuous lately with the cosy relationship with Labor, Fred Nile of the Christian Democrats and the Shooters Party passing each other’s legislation, no matter what the merits and the effect it will have on you. It all began way back when Labor allowed the Shooters into State Forests to shoot feral animals. That legislation lay there until Minister Ian MacDonald started to declare some forests open to shooters. One of the most notable was his opening up of Belanglo forest to shooting. Most of the community would have preferred the Belanglo forest be dedicated as a memory to the beautiful young people who perished there as a result of a serial killer equipped to kill. If John Howard did anything right I would commend his attempts to restrict the sale of semiautomatic guns after the Port Arthur massacre.
But to accommodate their friends in the Upper House, Labor last year passed the Firearms Amendment Bill which allowed, amongst a host of changes, the re-arming of thousands of people in contradiction of the firearms amnesty. Why would they pass such legislation? Because Labor could then rely on the Shooters to pass their evil Planning reforms, despite the Coalition’s attempt to send the Bill to a committee to evaluate just exactly what the hurried legislation meant to us. You will find out just how horrible Part 3A is becoming soon when the Regional Planning panels are stacked up to pass anything touristy over $5 million along the coast.
Last week Labor cashed in again when Lee Rhiannon’s Bill to save prime agricultural land from the coal miners was voted down by the Shooters and one other vote - that of the Reverend Fred Nile, who was described by his former Christian Democrat member, the Reverend Gordon Moyes, along with the Shooters Party as one of “Labor’s junkyard dogs”. You might wonder why the Shooters, who have a farming base, sold out the farmers. You might until you see the Shooters Bill allowing Game Council approved shooters to shoot native animals in National Parks. Yes, I know you just read that again to check.
“Native animals” including black swans, ducks, teals, corellas, three types of kangaroos and anything the Game Council can get on the list, inside our National Parks. Catherine Cusack, the Liberals and Opposition spokesperson on the environment, came out quickly, saying: “We totally reject the idea of shooting in national parks and the concept of shooting native animals in national parks is repugnant to almost anyone.” Local MP Andrew Stoner confirms the Coalition is totally against the Bill in its present form. Carmel Tebbutt’s office says the Minister for Environment and Climate Change will not support the shooting of native animals in National Parks.
This you would expect from the Environment Minister, but she has not cut out supporting the Bill which would make the provision for any future minister of whatever bent to open any national park to game hunting. The Minister’s reputation for integrity is on the line here. The definition of game hunting is unclear and there is provision in the Bill for almost anything to be included. For instance, farmers have long sought, and obtained without too much trouble, licence to kill protected animals when they threaten their livelihood. Not just kangaroos but also corellas, cockatoos, bats, wombats and dingoes. Farmers are always blaming national parks for harbouring all sorts of threats such as wild dogs, so perhaps we could see shooters hunting in Limeburners Nature Reserve.
Limeburners contains possibly the most viable pack of 100 per cent gene test dingoes on the coast, probably in the whole of NSW. How a shooter will do a gene test on a dog running away from him is a mystery. Out west we might even see Game Council-appointed shooters experiencing the thrill of taking down a charging wombat. In the past we have seen animal activists like the PETA organisation trying to save black swans shot by duck shooters with highly effective shotguns but highly defective eyesight. Minister Ian Macdonald set out an answer for that democratic protesting problem in his new legislation to remove any environmental study requirements for the Repco Rally from Tweed to Kyogle over National Park and State Forest dirt roads and the provision to prosecute any protestors. His friends in the Shooters Party took note of that and have included making it an offence for anyone to even approach a shooter to talk with him while he is hunting.
Forget about animal rights, forget about democracy. Macdonald is taking us into a brave new totalitarian world. Labor is on a hiding to nothing on this one. The environmental movement is in an uproar over this and the general public will not stand for it. But Labor needs the Shooters and the Reverend Fred to get the rest of their evil program up, so they will probably try to float a compromise of the shooting of ferals only as a conservation tool, which will help the National Parks and Wildlife Service protect their native fauna. Sounds all right to the general public perhaps, but let us take a look at this propaganda. In the published work, “A critique by ISC policy officer Dr Carol Booth of ‘Recreational hunting and its place within Australia’, an issue of the Australian Shooters Journal,” the Invasive Species Council says: “Of all conservation NGOs, the Invasive Species Council has the strongest potential reasons to support recreational hunting on public lands, for it campaigns for more effective control of feral animals.
But the council opposes recent moves to open up State Forests and National Parks to recreational hunters because evidence shows that recreational hunting usually does not provide effective feral animal control and creates a serious risk of worsening feral animal problems … Conclusion: Feral animal control is being used as a justification by some State governments to open up public lands to recreational hunters. NSW Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald, for example, told Parliament that “after habitat loss, invasive species are the single greatest threat to Australia’s unique and treasured biodiversity,” and that recreational hunting was a “sensible option” to “help to eradicate feral animals”. The Invasive Species Council agrees that feral animal control is very important, but concludes there is no evidence to support the claims that recreational hunting is an effective or low cost option. ‘Outsourcing’ control of feral animals to ineffective recreational hunters will see populations increase, particularly if governments use it as an excuse to not fund professional control efforts.
There is also the very serious risk that governments are unwittingly creating incentives for maverick hunters to move feral animals into new areas and worsen feral animal problems.” Wherever hunters have access to forests to shoot ferals the ferals do not disappear. Obviously the hunters have a vested interest in their survival. In fact they have a voluntary code of not shooting deer, male or female, in each deer species breeding season. There is an answer to the need to remove feral animals from the reserve system and that is through proper resourcing of NPWS and encouraging the work of people like Bernard Whitehead, who is already trapping humanely all sorts of ferals in the Maria-Limeburners area. The most valuable contribution though would be in keeping the shooters and the Game Council out. *Macleay Argus
Ed Comment, The Shooters Party's push to hunt native animals in National Parks is still on the backburner, still appears to be supported by Labor, and the Bill will come back later this year.
Conservation funding for critically-endangered woylies The project is part of the Government’s $3.5million allocation for six Natural Resource Management projects in line with its commitment to strong management of Western Australia’s natural resources. “The aim is to establish a secure emergency colony for the woylie,” the Minister said. “The enclosure will not only protect the woylies from feral predators but will also enable scientists to conduct vital research on the health of woylies.” Mrs Faragher said $100,000 would be used to support the further recovery of woylies, including an investigation into potential wildlife health issues related to the species’ decline and establishing a woylie captive breeding program at Perth Zoo.
“The captive breeding program is expected to involve a dedicated keeper at the zoo and woylies that remain in wild populations for breeding,” she said. “Perth Zoo’s wildlife veterinary expertise is vital in understanding the conservation needs of the woylie and I am looking forward to their ongoing contribution to these critical recovery actions.” The Minister said the woylie had bounced back from near extinction once before. “Once spread across southern Australia, the woylie was found in just three areas in South-West Western Australia by the 1970s,” she said.
“Thanks to fox control, a breeding program and the establishment of new populations, the woylie was the first Australian vertebrate to be removed from State and Federal endangered species lists in 1996, as a result of recovery actions. “However, since 2001, woylie populations have declined dramatically, with some populations shrinking by 97 per cent. “The Department of Environment and Conservation has been investigating these declines in a major collaborative research program, but has been unable to isolate the specific cause or causes.” In 2000, there were about 20,000 woylies in the Upper Warren region, and there are now estimated to be less than 1,000. Mrs Faragher said maintaining WA’s biodiversity was an important part of responsible natural resource management. “The woylie has made a spectacular recovery once before and we are taking decisive action now to give it a chance to do so once again,” she said. *AustraliaTO
Cane Toads
The discovery of an adult cane toad in a remote Kimberly community has sparked fears that the pest is closing in on WA. Kimberly Toad Buster spokeswoman Sandy Boulter said the adult toad hitchhiked on a truck from Darwin to Turkey Creek, a small settlement 858km east of Broome, on the Great Northern Highway last Tuesday. She said the toad – the first to be found in Turkey Creek – was found by Warmun General Store workers when they unloaded the truck. Turkey Creek is the only town near WA’s iconic Bungle Bungles – a major tourist attraction in the region. Students from Ngalanagnagpum School have preserved the toad ahead of an educational visit from the Toad Busters, who are working to stop the toad from reaching WA.
Under the State Government’s draft Cane Toad Strategy for West Australia 2009-19, the government plans to strengthen quarantine procedures along WA’s border to prevent the spread of cane toads. Species threatened by cane toads will be identified, quarantine procedures will be reviewed and strengthened, education campaigns will be developed and long-term biological control measures put in place as part of the plan. Members of the community have until tomorrow to comment on the draft policy. The Toad Busters are concerned their methods of killing the toads with Dettol and carbon dioxide will be banned because the Department of Environment and Conservation considered it inhumane. Ms Boulter said more violent options of killing the pests were not practical to the volunteers. “Dettol power backpacks can kill millions of toads in 10 minutes,” she said. “The main thing (we want) is to give us back our weapons.” PerthNow
Whaling
A third of the whales harpooned by Japan in the Antarctic last summer were pregnant, it was claimed yesterday. Conservation group Humane Society International (HSI) said Japan's own figures, revealed in secret documents discovered at the International Whaling Commission meeting being held this week, showed the "true, disgusting nature" of the country's whale hunting. Japan's annual hunt, which it claims is a scientific study, took a horrific toll on female whales, the HSI said. The HSI said data from Japan's 2008/2009 hunt showed of 679 whales it reported killing, 304 were female. The data showed 192 of the whales were pregnant. Four were lactating. "The four lactating females would each have had a calf that would have starved to death," HSI Australia's director Michael Kennedy said.
Mr Kennedy said the Japanese data also contained "gruesome" details of how whale foetuses were treated after being torn from their mothers on board the whaling fleet's factory ship. "They report they measure the length and weight of the foetus, they measure their eyes and take skin samples from the foetus for what they call genetic studies," Mr Kennedy said. "It is gruesome, useless information which, if it was even needed, could be found without dismembering a foetus." The details of Japan's impact on female whales was contained in what is known as a "Cruise Report", secretly sent to the IWC's scientific committee before the IWC meeting in Portugal.
During the 2007-2008 hunt Australia was shocked when newspapes published photos of a minke whale and her calf being hauled aboard a Japanese factory ship to be dismembered. HSI vice president Kitty Block said Japan's whale hunt should be condemned and was conducted in a whale sanctuary under the guise of science. "The fact is this hunt is commercial and killing pregnant females makes it all the more egregious," Ms Block said. Australian Environment Minister Peter Garrett, who is at the IWC meeting, said Japan had killed more than 13,000 whales in the name of research since a moratorium on commercial whaling was imposed in 1986.
One of Mr Garrett's tactics to try to end Japanese whaling is to bring it under the direct control of the IWC, something Japan has been vigorously opposing. Japan is also pushing hard for a "coastal whaling quota" - which would allow it to kill whales in its own waters without the pretence of scientific study - which conservation groups said was a return to commercial whaling. This week the Australian Government announced what it called the largest study of Antarctic whales. The joint Australian-New Zealand scientific expedition will steam to Antarctica this summer. No whales will be killed during the research. * Daily Telegraph
Wildlife on menu spurs smuggling
A rising appetite for wildlife and its increasing use in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) are fueling an increase in the illegal imports of endangered animals, a senior official has said. "Illegal wildlife trade used to be outbound, but domestic demand has reversed the trend," Wan Ziming, director of enforcement and training at the endangered species' office of the State Forestry Administration, told China Daily. Wild animals are mostly smuggled in at the southwestern border and coastal regions, according to figures by Customs and major border points. Because the trade is illegal, the number of smuggling cases uncovered does not reflect the full extent of the animals and plants being brought into the country, Wan said.
Last year, there were 87 criminal cases of endangered species being smuggled, up from 77 in 2005, said Wan. In 2007, there was a spike in cases to 175. "Illegal wildlife trade is alive and dynamic," said Xu Hongfa, director of the World Wildlife Fund's (WWF) TRAFFIC East Asia China Program. "We have noticed an increasing amount of trade and consumption in wildlife, including bear paws, tortoises, pangolins and monitor lizards," he said. The smuggling has severely impacted the wildlife populations in neighboring countries, particularly Southeast Asian nations, Wan said. He said the demand stems partly from a "resource dilemma" faced by the country - rich in variety, but scarce in amount. "The demand comes from a traditional culture of using wildlife for food and medicine," he said. "It is not easy to change the cultural habits of 1.3 billion people."
Chinese people have long believed in the medicinal and health benefits of wild plants and animals. The trade in TCM products has also been growing at an annual rate of 10 percent, which has seriously impacted medicinal plant and animal populations, though more than half of plants and animals being used by TCM are from artificial propagation or captive breeding. Up to 20 percent of these are now considered threatened. Eating wild animals is also a traditional practice in southern China. The consumption of wild animals, which slowed amid the SARS epidemic in 2003, has once again gained popularity, a WWF survey has found.
Profit from illegal trade can be up to 10 times the cost, with restaurant operators offering the exotic dishes usually aware of the violation but lured by the gains, Xu said. Illegal trade in tiger meat and bones is also alive, continuing to threaten the extinction of an already depleted species, he said. Alarmingly, Xu said, more wealthy people are demanding elephant ivory for decorative purposes. Of the 87 wildlife cases uncovered by the Customs last year, more than half involved ivory, Wan said. "The profit margin is as high as in drug trafficking but the punishment is too mild," he said. He Yong from the International Fund for Animal Welfare China said the demand for wildlife springs from weak links in law enforcement - the use and trade of wild animal products is banned, but artificial breeding is allowed in many instances to fulfill the needs of customers. *China Daily
15 rare Sumatran Elephants Killed
At least 15 endangered Sumatran elephants have been shot or poisoned to death with cyanide-laced fruit this year, marking a sharp rise in the rate of killing from 2008, a government conservationist said Wednesday. The giant mammals were mostly killed by poachers for their ivory, said Tony Suhartono, the director of biodiversity conservation at the Forest Ministry. The number killed in the past six months is equal to the total for the whole of 2008, he said. "It is shocking," said Syamsidar, a campaigner with the World Wildlife Fund in the western island of Sumatra.
The killing is the result of a "conflict between humans and elephants," said Syamsidar, who like many Indonesians goes by a single name. "The forest is in critical condition due to the illegal logging, slash-and-burn farming practices and plantations." Indonesia's endangered elephants, tigers, rhinos and orangutans are increasingly threatened by their shrinking habitat in the jungle, which is commonly cleared for commercial farming or felled for lumber. Only 3,000 Sumatran elephants are believed to remain in the wild. They sometimes venture into inhabited areas searching for food and destroy crops or attack humans, making them unpopular with locals. *AP
Happy hoppers damage poppy crops
The mystery of crop circles which appear from time to time in Tasmania's legal opium poppy fields may have been solved. It seems it is not aliens, but junkie wallabies hopping around in dazed circles - perhaps. Poppies are grown in Tasmania for morphine used by the pharmaceutical industry to make pain control drugs. But humans are not the only ones who have discovered that the poppies contain narcotics. Recently retired farmer Lyndley Chopping spent more than 30 years growing poppies and he has seen wallabies acting strangely in his fields. "They would come and eat some poppies and go away. They seem to know when they've had enough. Then they'd come back again and they would do hop around in circles in the paddock," he said.
"It's hard to work out. Didn't seem to be any real pattern to their behaviour." But the state's largest poppy producer, Tasmanian Alkaloids, has noticed a pattern in the wallabies' behaviour. Rick Rockliff is the company's field operations manager. "Often other forms of food are in short supply in late January/February and half their weight in poppy capsules is seed which is very nutritious. It's the seed you see on bread rolls," he said. "In the process of nibbling open the capsule it's possible they do ingest a little bit it. The capsule material contains the narcotic alkaloids. Ingested in large quantities it has a short-term effect."
Barry Wells, animal welfare officer at the University of Tasmania, isn't sure that the wallabies are getting stoned. . "It's quite possible that they are being affected by them," he said. "But we need to rule out the other things and look more closely to make sure that they are eating lots of it and it is affecting them. They could become addicted and start eating lots of them." He says if the wallabies are addicted to the poppies there would probably be signs, like bowel upsets and constipation. "We would expect them to be uncoordinated - staggering about, walking in circles," he said. "Certainly out of character from what you would expect with wild wallabies." *ABC News
Outfoxing the bats
Residents of a Territory air base being terrorised by a plague of bats have launched a noisy tirade at the "flying rats" in a bid to get rid of them. Each morning between 6.30 and 7am they have been making as much noise as possible around the bases of the flying fox-laden trees to scare them away. Some residents living in the married quarters at RAAF Base Tindal near Katherine have been cracking whips and banging pots and pans while Defence vehicles are being driven around with sirens blaring. Other tenants, who are so fed up with the screeching, smelly species that have been keeping them up at night, have even got their hoses out and attempted to spray them away from the branches.
The noise campaign followed the Northern Territory News revealing earlier this month how the residents are constantly under attack by the red and black flying fox species. The residents said they often experienced headaches, nausea and vomiting because of the stench and a 13-year-old boy had to be rushed to Katherine Hospital after he was attacked by a bat on the base in April. A resident told the NT News that most of the families on the base were at their wits end as to how to get rid of the "disease-ridden pests". And she said the noise campaign didn't seem to have worked.
"We've been out there making as much noise as possible and the bats are still here," she said. "We have tried almost everything and it is just not working." Defence has even started cutting down trees to their stumps so the bats don't have anywhere to roost. But residents are saying they should just cull the bats. "They really need to just have a cull," one woman said. "It didn't seem to be a problem to cull hundreds of wallabies so why not bats too?" Wallabies were causing problems on the air base's runway after several planes struck the mammals on take-off and landing and aero medical services were halted. * NT News
Letter to the NT News Territory Day is approaching, along with the usual noisy, pesky fireworks. As a lifetime resident of the NT, I'm long over all this silliness to do with cracker night. However, perhaps there is a silver lining to this dark, gunpowder-smoke cloud. It's well known, of course, that fireworks strike terror into animals -- both pets and wildlife . Perhaps this knowledge could be put to effective use by scaring off the flying fox plague that is so annoying the residents of Tindal near Katherine. I suggest that on Territory Day plenty of fireworks are set off near where the bats roost (under supervision, of course) in an attempt to encourage them to move on. This might need to be done over a longer period of time but it seems worth a try to see if this will help solve the problem. Letting off fireworks to frighten fruit bats is potentially a lot kinder than culling them or cutting down trees they roost in. *Alex Nelson, Alice Springs
Possums
Almost 400 brush-tailed possums have been culled by the Royal Botanic Gardens Trust since 2002, but environmentalists are now arguing that alternatives should be sought. The Trust receives a licence from the National Parks and Wildlife Service through the NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change, which allows the animals to be trapped and taken to a vet to be euthanased. Representatives of the Trust said culling was necessary to deal with overcrowding and damage caused to plants as well as injuries caused by territorial behaviour among possums. Under National Parks guidelines, it is illegal to relocate possums more than 50 metres from where they were caught, because their territorial nature makes survival rates among relocated animals very low.
Some environmentalists suggest a more humane approach to population control should be considered. One environmentalist, who did not wish to be named, said sterilisation of the animals would be a better alternative to culling. This has not been taken up by the Trust, which maintains that culling is the best option. In internal correspondence obtained by Central, a Botanic Gardens Director Mark Savio wrote: “When trapping first started in the Gardens, the possums found were in horrific condition - covered in injuries from fights with other possums and stress dermatitis from overcrowding.’’ According to Mr Savio, at the time of writing, 394 brush-tailed possums had been culled since permission was granted by National Parks in July 2002, an average of 55 a year.
Mr Savio said Botanic Garden’s staff found the overall health of the brush-tailed population improved after culling began. “Because we are managing the population at a sustainable level, such injuries and stress-related illnesses are rare in the trapped possums. Due to our trapping program, our possum population is now much healthier than it used to be,” he wrote. Animal activists have also expressed concern that there had been an increase in the culling in recent weeks. Mr Savio wrote that trapping occurred only “when horticulturalists are having problems with possums damaging plants in a particular area, but no more than once a week”.
Ed Comment; Well, why are we not surprised about this? This is the same Botanic Gardens who want to remove the flying foxes too, by frightening them away with sirens and loud noise when they come into roost. History shows these flying fox relocation attempts are a complete failure, and cause many deaths. The Melbourne Botanic Gardens relocation attempt cost 3 million dollars, and was claimed by the State government to be success...that is, unless you were a flying fox!
Claims that the Sydney Botanic Gardens possums were in poor condition have not been backed up by any experienced possum carer. But injuries occur, that's nature, and many of the Gardens possums would range into the City in search of food and shelter anyway, and would fight and mate with City possums. Where do we stop killing our native animals, in our last remnant pieces of wildlife habitat? Kangaroos, possums, flying foxes, parrots, wallabies, lorikeets, ducks, even wombats, are all under fire, and allowed to killed by State governments who seem to lost purpose and plot! Do we stop the killing when there are no wildlife species left?
Bonorong
Bureaucratic bungling scuttled a ``visionary'' plan, funded by Kathmandu clothing founder Jan Cameron, to create a world-class rescue service for orphaned and injured animals in Tasmania. Documents obtained by The Australian under Freedom of Information laws reveal Tasmania came close to securing a five-year deal with Ms Cameron's Bonorong Wildlife Centre. But the deal fell over last month, with Boronong blaming chronic red tape and a ``lack of direction'' within government. Boronong, also known as Go Wild Tasmania, is bitterly disappointed, as is Ms Cameron, whose charitable Elsie Cameron Trust purchased the wildlife park with the aim of setting up the proposed service. ``Now I've got a bloody wildlife park that I don't really want to have -- unless it can be transformed into something more to do with animal welfare, rather than just displaying animals,'' Ms Cameron said.
In late 2007, GWT offered to take over the emergency wildlife care service, now provided by 220 volunteers under government co-ordination. It offered the use of the 7.8ha Boronong, north of Hobart, for the care of native animals orphaned or wounded. The deal would have seen injured animals nursed back to health at a centre for excellence in native animal care, with special enclosures, trained keepers, administrative staff, a full-time co-ordinator -- and even an animal ambulance service. Primary Industries Minister David Llewellyn jumped at the offer and, after about a year of talks, Mr Llewellyn signed an in-principle agreement with GWT managers, Sally Bryant and Pru Cotton, on December 15. Taxpayers' only contribution to the new service would be a $7000 telephone hotline and the salary of one public servant for 12 months to aid the transition.
But a paper trail suggests Mr Llewellyn's department struggled to organise these aspects. As the months dragged on, news of some sort of deal leaked to volunteer carers, who became resentful and fearful that their role was being usurped by GWT and the cashed-up Ms Cameron. Documents suggest these perceptions were unfounded, with GWT to take over co-ordination of these volunteers, not supplant them. However, volunteers began campaigning with venom and, by last month, Volunteering Tasmania wrote to Mr Llewellyn that growing ``apprehension'' was threatening ``the volunteering sector in general''.
Mr Llewellyn was also privately under fire from GWT. ``Unnecessarily protracted negotiations and lack of direction shown by your department have created havoc and fear amongst the volunteer wildlife carers,'' Dr Bryant wrote to Mr Llewellyn on April 7. ``And the goodwill that has been garnered through our patient negotiations and recognition of the sensitivity of the surrounding issues has been lost ... The simple negotiations have become entangled in a mire of bureaucracy.'' In desperation, GWT offered to organise a transition co-ordinator. But stung by the backlash from volunteers, Mr Llewellyn reluctantly pulled out.
In an open letter to volunteers last month, the minister expressed regret and praised GWT for its ``visionary ideas''. Volunteer carers opposed to the GWT takeover are jubilant. ``We were the ones doing the hard yards and these negotiations went on for two years with us knowing almost nothing about it,'' Jude Lennox said. ``We volunteer to the government; not to private enterprise. We are all rapt that it (GWT) is not going ahead. All we ever wanted was the status quo.'' *The Australian
Traditional Hunting
"It's a sham. It's time for a ban. Or there will be nothing left for future generations'' Eddie Deemal Aborigonal elder Eddie Deemal wants an end to the ``sham'' of traditional hunting. And he is not alone. ``If they want to hunt dugong or turtle, they must do it by spear from a canoe,'' the 83-year-old said. ``That is the traditional way.'' For centuries his people have lived off the rich bounty of the Coral Sea -- hunting fish, turtles, crabs, rays and dugong -- by the coloured sands of Cape Bedford. Mr Deemal still hunts the traditional way himself. Silhouetted by the rising sun, the old man, cradling his bamboo fishing spears, strikes a timeless pose. Every morning he wades kilometres through knee-deep water over the white sand bars in front of his Elim Beach home scanning for whiting, mud crabs and barramundi. He boasts he once speared a 55kg barra in the shallows, heavier than his own body weight, taking hours to wrestle the mighty fish to shore. ``That fish, he fed my family for a month,'' he said.
The Deedar tribesman, custodian of the sea country north of Cooktown, is among a growing band of indigenous leaders who believe traditional hunting is excessive and unsustainable. The elder said he was sick of seeing dead turtles and dugong piled high on the beach, barely touched for the precious meat, shot by ``outside blackfellas'' with rifles from power boats. ``It's a sham. It's time for a ban. Or there will be nothing left for future generations,'' Mr Deemal said. Mass killings of as many as 15 dugong at a time, all of them riddled with bullets from speedboats, have been reported in recent years north of Cooktown.
Some elders are calling for a system where they decide who can take turtle and dugong and punishment for those who abuse the right with traditional spearings, fines and jail time. Eastern Kuku Yalanji elder Bennett Walker has a card identification system to stop outsiders preying on his tribal waters off the world heritage-listed Daintree. Kuku Yalanji men, out of about 5000 tribal members, have self-imposed hunting regulations, are allowed to use only traditional hunting weapons, and restrict takes to one animal. Peter Guivarra, of Mapoon, north of Weipa, is among those who believe traditional hunting is out of control.
The western Cape leader says magpie geese flocks are now a fraction of what they were because of indiscriminate killing. In the Torres Strait, killing a dugong or turtle is part of the rite of passage to manhood for teenage boys. South of the Torres Strait, the Girringun people of the Cardwell area and the Woppaburra people of the Keppel islands have banned the hunting of dugong and restrict turtle catches in agreements with the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. The latest concern comes amid rumours of a blackmarket trade in dugong and turtle flesh, a highly prized delicacy, in Cairns and Kuranda. * Courier Mail
Ed Comment; Of course there is blackmarket in dugong and turtle meat, it turns up regularly at weddings and similar functions throughout Queensland.
Thinking about Wildlife?
Who’s going to watch over our wildlife when you no longer share their World? Well, we are! The Wildlife Protection Association of Australia Inc. will continue to forcefully lobby governments to do better with wildlife management, and by taking them to Court if necessary. We are currently working on developing eLearning projects, so students can become aware of the importance of our wildlife living in a safe and secure natural environment. After you have looked after your family and friends in your Will, think about wildlife. A bequest to the Wildlife Protection Association of Australia Inc. will ensure that we can continue to take a leading role in protecting and conserving our precious wildlife. None of the donations we receive are diverted to "administration". Every dollar we get through bequests or donations for wildlife hits the ground running! Talk to your solicitor, or if writing your own Will, add the words "I bequeath to The Wildlife Protection Association of Australia Inc. for the purpose of protecting wildlife in Australia (a specified sum), or (specified items including land or vehicle), or (the residue of my estate) or (percentage of my estate) free of all duties, and the receipt of the President, Secretary or other authorised WPAA officer for the time being shall be a complete and sufficient discharge for the executor(s)." You can also phone me for a confidential chat, as to how a bequest can help us work to protect our wildlife, when you are no longer able to. * Pat O’Brien, WPAA 07 54941890
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