Wildlife MiniBytes
Kangaroo Meat
A federal MP has raised concerns about a growing movement to stop the European Union from importing kangaroo meat. Mark Coulton is shadow parliamentary secretary for regional development. He says Australian roos are culled in a humane way, and fears any move to stop the cull will hurt regional employment. "In my electorate the Kangaroo industry employs quite a few people and the economies of those towns would be affected if the legal culling of kangaroos was banned," he says. *ABC
Whaling
According to one source, in June, the World Wildlife Fund estimated that the Japanese government had spent twelve million dollars in subsidies on the 2008-2009 whaling operation—and this just so that it could break even. (Since 1988, the Japanese government appears to have poured more than a hundred and fifty million dollars into whaling subsidies.) Read more: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2010/01/sea-shepherd.html#ixzz0cXIZ6D0a
Poor Sam...now Stuffed! Why couldnt they just bury him in the Forest where he belonged? R.I.P. Sam.
Sam the koala will today become a permanent part of Victoria's history when she goes on display at the Melbourne Museum. The Herald Sun can reveal the first images of the stuffed koala, who became a symbol of hope amid the devastation of Black Saturday. Victorians took Sam to their hearts when a remarkable photo of the singed koala drinking water from CFA firefighter David Tree's drink bottle was flashed around the world. Sadly Sam died on the operating table in August after suffering chlamydiosis, a disease that has decimated the koala population. Read more http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/sam-the-koala-to-go-on-permanent-display-at-melbourne-museum-from-today/story-e6frf7jo-1225819021207
Pet Wallaby
Motorway traffic was brought to a standstill in Blackpool - as police attempted to catch an escaped wallaby. The privately-owned marsupial was seen bouncing down a road near to Junction 4 of the M55, reports the Daily Telegraph. Police slowed traffic while RSPCA inspectors attempted to catch the animal. A Lancashire Police helicopter was also at the scene. The drama began when several motorists called 999. It ended four hours later when a vet was drafted in from Blackpool Zoo to sedate the wallaby with a tranquilliser dart. The animal, which was cornered by police in a garden, is now safely back with its owner. Insp Alistair Campbell said: "Eventually we were able to usher the wallaby away from the M55. "It's fair enough to say we've never had a situation like this before. We had to consult the RSPCA to help us work out how to capture the wallaby." *Ntework Item
New Green Party
A new political party is promising to be like the Greens but without "trendy" policies to legalise gay marriage. The Ethics and Sustainability Party has made a last-minute bid to register as Tasmania's fifth political party before the March 20 state election. The party's would-be registered officer Kathleen Petrovsky, a veteran conservation campaigner, said the electorate was unhappy with Labor and the Liberals, and the Greens had "shot themselves in the foot" with "ridiculous" social policies. She said the new party shared many of the Greens' environmental views on the Gunns pulp mill and forestry. "But we feel there are people who see the Greens as too radical," she said. "We don't believe in changing a society and its rules. We believe in the mother, father, children kind of nuclear family, why change it? In sum, we are not as trendy." Australian Greens leader Bob Brown welcomed the emergence of the new party. "Good on them, give voters another choice," Senator Brown said. *Mercury Ed Comment; Trouble is, it might split the Green vote!
Camel Shoot Useless
The community of Docker River is continuing to be troubled by camels despite a massive cull, the deputy chief executive of the MacDonnell Shire in Central Australia says. Des Rogers last night returned from Docker River, where 3604 camels have been shot. The Territory Government gave a $49,000 grant to the shire for the cull. Mr Rogers says the community is very happy that so many have been culled but the feral animals remain a problem. "I must say that there's still quite a number of camels coming into the community during the night time," he said. "There was up to 1000 estimated that came in Tuesday evening. "We'll just have to monitor it. "I mean there's a couple of bores [that have] been commissioned so we're trying to get them to go to that water source." *ABC Ed Comment; We have to wonder how long it take for governments ot see the light and look at something more humane and effective than just having "a shootup." We also note that a Federal Opposition spokesperson wants to remove the camels from Australia altogether and replace them with cattle, claiming cattle don't fart as much as camels...........!!!
Cane Toads
A lung parasite in cane toads will not be effective in slowing the westward march of the pests in north Australia, a Northern Territory frog protection group says. Toad researchers in the Kimberley are hoping the lung parasite can be used to delay the progress of cane toads across Western Australia. But Frogwatch coordinator, Graeme Sawyer, says the parasite has been known for a few years and it has done nothing to stop cane toad populations booming in the Territory. "The general feeling is that parasites like that are not really all that helpful in combating cane toads and that that specific parasite has been in the cane toad population as long as cane toads have been in Australia and it hasn't managed to do anything significant," he said. "So, the fact it's a parasite and the fact that it's been here that long would tend to make us think it's not going to help much." *ABC
Crocodiles
Eight fish poachers have been killed by crocodiles at Harare’s Lake Chivero in the past two weeks while a ninth person was attacked and seriously injured yesterday. Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority spokesperson Ms Caroline Washaya-Moyo confirmed the attacks, saying the victims included both men and women. These people did not have licences that gave them the permission to fish in the lake. In the past two weeks alone, we have had eight people attacked and killed by crocodiles and all but two bodies were recovered. “These people included both men and women and all of them were poachers. Their colleague have not been deterred as they keep returning to the same site,” she said.
KI Fire Risk
Kangaroo Island’s national and conservation parks were closed on Monday for the first time under the State’s new “catastrophic” fire weather protocols. The closure disrupted the plans of hundreds of Sealink tourists and visitors and crew aboard the cruise ship The World, moored off Kingscote. Department for Environment and Heritage staff were notified on Sunday afternoon and informed commercial tour operators, the Kangaroo Island Council and Tourism Kangaroo Island by email. Roadblocks were erected at the entrances to Flinders Chase National Park, Kelly Hill Caves and Seal Bay and staff were on hand to inform visitors to Cape Willoughby and Cape Borda. * The Islander
Wildife Officer Shooting
In Florida, a death warrant was signed on Tuesday for the execution of a man convicted of killing a female state wildlife officer with her own gun in 1984. Florida State Prison warden Steven Singer set Martin Grossman's execution by lethal injection for Feb. 16 at 6 p.m. at the institution in Starke. Grossman, now 44, was convicted of shooting Wildlife Officer Margaret "Peggy" Park, 26, in a wooded area of Pinellas County. While the Officer was using her radio, Grossman hit her from behind, then shot her in the head with her own gun.
Flying foxes
Melbournes heatwave this week killed about 700 flying foxes and affected many more native animals. Wildlife carers rescued hundreds of possums and birds across Melbourne while many died before they could be rehydrated and taken into care. A colony of endangered grey-headed flying foxes at Yarra Bend was devastated by the heat and many had dropped from the trees, said Denise Garratt, president of Help for Wildlife. Joanne Ainley, of the Australian Research Centre for Urban Ecology, processed the dead bats yesterday and said about 700 had died in the heat. Wildlife Victoria received 264 calls to its rescue hotline by midday on Tuesday. It was the busiest morning on record other than during the bushfires, said Aisha Reynolds of Wildlife Victoria. There were 349 calls on the day, 100 more than average. The group set up a triage unit at its Brunswick Street facility to cope with the number of injured animals. At the South Oakleigh shelter, which normally receives one or two animals a day, Michele Phillips said more than 50 came in. ''The possums just fall out of trees in this weather,'' she said. *Age
US Cold Spell
Large sea turtles are still being rescued from the Florida cold spell, adding to about 1,000 captured at the turtle refuge during the past week. Around 400 sea turtles are believed to have been killed by the cold, several manatees, thousands of dead fish, and dozens of birds have been found dead. Iguanas have been reported to have fallen dead from the trees. * WPAA
Sharks
The death of a swimmer who was killed by "dinosaur" sized great White Shark on Cape Town beach in South Africa recently has been blamed on the greedy, irresponsible actions of dozens of tour operators, which have sprung up along a place known locally as 'shark alley', offering tourists the chance to 'swim' with these monsters of the deep. Touting for business at tourist spots such as Cape Town waterfront, they charge tourists £100 a time to be taken out by boat, placed in a cage and lowered into the water, hoping for the Great White shark of Jaws legend to circle. The methods used to entice the sharks to the paying tourists are being blamed for turning these Great Whites into man-eaters. * Mailonline
Shark Nets
New acoustic alarms designed to warn whales about shark nets could be fitted on the Gold Coast by mid-year in time for the whale migration. The alarms, known as pingers, have been developed with a stronger frequency known to be audible to whales. They differ from existing models in that they give off a louder noise at a lower pitch for a longer time and over a greater distance, in the hope whales will have more time and distance to detect the noise. Every year dozens of turtles, dugongs, dolphins and rays fall victim to the Gold Coast's shark nets, prompting opponents to call for their removal. The Queensland Government has consistently refused to remove the nets, even though they do little to prevent a shark attack, because sharks can swim around or under the nets. *
Sick' case of animal cruelty
A SouthWest (Victoria) wildlife carer fears cruelty to animals is on the rise in the region after she witnessed a horrendous attack on a possum and its joey. In 44-degree heat, the animals were found alive bundled in a stockfeed bag with rotten fruit. Neighbouring farmers discovered the brush-tailed possums by chance on a roadside near the South Purrumbete Hall. Despite resuscitation efforts by the farmers and Kolora wildlife shelter operator Kirsa Veal, the brush-tailed possums died of heat exhaustion soon after they were found. Ms Veal said it was the worst attack she had seen and predicted more sickening cases unless certain attitudes changed towards wildlife and domestic pets. "This just sickens me, it's horrible," she said.
"I don't understand how anybody could tie a possum up in a bag and just throw it on the roadside to die. "To be left there in that heat is just awful. "When the possum was found it was convulsing and in a terrible state. It is the worst case of animal cruelty I have seen." The joey, which was still in its mother's pouch, was nearing the end of its pinkie stage and just about to open its eyes. The mother died after the farmers desperately tried to cool her down at their house. Her baby died later at Ms Veal's shelter. "It's remarkable the people found them. "They noticed a stockfeed bag on the roadside but how often do you pass bags like that," Ms Veal said. "A gut feeling forced them to turn back. When they got out of the car they noticed the bag was moving."
Ms Veal said the south-west had witnessed a spate of animal attacks in the past year, including another brush-tailed possum being dragged along by a car at Mortlake, a white goshawk being gunned down at Garvoc and several wedge-tailed eagles being peppered with shotgun pellets. Ms Veal reported the latest attack to the RSPCA. "It's not just here . Cruelty to animals is on the rise across the state. "There has been crossbow attacks on kangaroos in Melbourne and a dog had its ears cut off. "I don't know what people are thinking lashing out at animals and I don't how we can change it. It's just awful. "This little pinkie probably had organ damage, brain damage. "In reality it was never going to make it." Ms Veale said it was likely possums were trapped, probably in the ceiling, before being discarded on the roadside. People who witness cruelty to animals should call the RSPCA on 9224 2222. *Victoria Standard
The mutilation of a joey which had both its ears sliced off has shocked wildlife carers. Pilbara Wildlife Carers Association (WA) kangaroo carer Joanne Waterstrom-Muller said the seven-month-old marsupial, named Elfie, was found in the front yard of a home in the Karratha suburb of Nickol on New Year's Eve. It was severely dehydrated and malnourished, with both ears hacked to scalp level. She said it was one of the worst cases of cruelty and neglect the group had seen in the Pilbara town. "There are a several conditions that can cause a kangaroo to lose its ears, but Elfie's have definitely been cut off," she said. DEC Pilbara Regional Wildlife Officer Ann Biasol said the perpetrators can be fined under the Wildlife Conservation Act a maximum of $4000 for each incident of harming or killing protected fauna.
"The perpetrator(s) also could be charged with cruelty under the Animal Welfare Act. The maximum penalty is $50,000 with a minimum of $2000 and five years imprisonment," she said. Carer Amanda Best said there had been a spate of joey dumpings in Karratha over recent weeks with all animals suffering malnourishment and dehydration, one in such poor condition he had to be euthanised. Elfie's return to the wild is uncertain. "We'll see how he copes with his injuries," Ms Best said. DEC is appealing for anyone with information that may assist with their investigation to contact Wildlife Watch 1800 449 453 or DEC Karratha office (08) 9182 2006. *The West.com.au
Penguins
Vandals have been blamed for the senseless deaths of little penguin chicks on Middle Island. It's the fourth time the penguins have been disturbed by human intruders this season and the second time chicks have been killed this month. The attack comes after wildlife carer Kirsa Veal revealed her fear that animal cruelty was on the rise in the south-west after she attended to a possum and her joey, which later died, after they were dumped in a bag on the roadside in Monday's 44-degree heat. Foxes and dog attacks were once the biggest threat to the survival of the dwindling penguin population but Warrnambool City Council's environmental officer David Williams said humans were responsible for the most recent fatalities on the island. Earlier this month two chicks were found dead after their nesting boxes were disturbed and in this latest attack four chicks were killed after their nesting boxes were upturned and their burrows trampled.
"I'm really disappointed," Mr Williams said. "We've put a lot of work into the colony in the last few years and now people have come along and ruined it for everyone." After dwindling to a dire population of just four in 2005, penguin numbers have rebounded in recent years under the success of a world-first program using trained Maremma dogs to guard the penguins from predators like dogs and foxes. Mr Williams said volunteers and council employees had put thousands of hours into ensuring the success of the project and the survival of the precious little penguin colony on the island, which is closed to the public. He said what made the attack worse was people had deliberately gone on to the island, despite signs and warnings the area was off limits to the public. "The island is closed," he said. "Not only have they accessed the island illegally but they've harassed wildlife." Mr Williams said anyone caught on the island would face a $500 fine and urged people to call police if they saw anyone illegally accessing the island. Warrnambool City Mayor Michael Neoh said it was important for people to understand any part of the rock face and stairs on the island were out of bounds. "It's disappointing because it's been such a successful program," he said. "I think it's fairly premeditated.There is signage indicating the project.'' "I hope people are more aware and refrain from going over to the island." * The Standard
Penguins 'kidnapped' by DEH. When John Ayliffe and wife Jenny Clapson rescued five abandoned penguin chicks on Kangaroo Island, the birds were close to death. Three weeks later and now nursed back to health, the fledglings are at the centre of a tug-of-war between the couple and the Department of Environment and Heritage after being seized by DEH officers. Mr Ayliffe, who for 10 years has run the Kangaroo Island penguin centre with Ms Clapson, said his staff were “shocked and gutted” when DEH turned up to take the penguins to Adelaide Zoo. “This is bureaucracy gone mad,” he said. “They were on death’s door and we brought them back to life. When we rescued them, they weighed between 600 and 800 grams. 12,000g to 15,000g is normal weight for a fledgling. “It’s not as if we are taking healthy penguins and putting them in a zoo situation. They were going to be released.”
The chicks were about seven weeks old when they were rescued from the Kingscote penguin colony. Mr Ayliffe said they had been abandoned by their mother and their burrow appeared to have been vandalised. A DEH spokesperson said the penguin centre was issued with a permit to care for the chicks subject to certain conditions. “Reports to DEH raised concerns about the welfare of the chicks and indicated that Mr Ayliffe was in breach of these conditions,” she said. “As such, the matter is now under formal investigation. “DEH's aim is to rehabilitate the animals and release them into the wild wherever possible.” However, Mr Ayliffe claims the chicks were progressing well at the penguin centre, and he is now concerned about what will happen to them. He said penguins from Kingscote have a unique DNA, so should not be released into any other colony. He is calling for a mediator to be brought in to manage negotiations between the centre and DEH, with shadow environment minister Michelle Lensink taking up his cause with the department. *Independent Weekly
Kangaroos
IF you look at a map of southeast NSW where grazier John Alcock and his children run three properties on the edge of the Snowy Mountains, you'll see that national parks and state forests cover at least the same area as private grazing country. Out of the national parks come mobs of kangaroos that know their way into Alcock's drought-hit land when he plants improved pasture and fodder crops for cattle and fine-wool Merinos. "Good heavens, if we sow something, they just invade us," Alcock tells The Australian. "Kangaroos will travel for miles to get a crop." Some culling of kangaroos is permitted on some private grazing land. But shooters are not allowed into the parks and park authorities do not allow any kangaroo harvesting. The kangaroo situation does not make Alcock and many other graziers particularly well-inclined towards those in the climate change debate who brand their sheep and cattle as villains in global warming. Read more http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/features/animals-under-fire-in-methane-blame-game/story-e6frg6z6-1225818573869
Ed Comment, This is just another attack on kangaroos by the Australian.
’Roo Plague at Pambula Beach. Tourists may think it’s cute to see kangaroos sitting on front lawns, but some residents of Pambula Beach believe kangaroo numbers are getting out of control and it’s time to cull their numbers. Max and Ailsa Sinclair’s property backs onto Ben Boyd National Park and they also live close to the caravan park, a popular spot for the kangaroos. Mr Sinclair said: “When we moved down here 28 years ago it was quite a novelty to see three or four kangaroos but now it’s reached plaque proportions. With the dry weather, they’ve been struggling, they’re hungry.” He said that many people at Pambula Beach would like to see something done and believes that culling could be an option. Mr Sinclair is also concerned for the safety of local children after his wife was badly scratched by a kangaroo last year, while going out to the recycling bin in the Sinclair’s garden.
Stephen Dovey, National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) area manager, said that numbers had increased and that NPWS had issued a number of licences to cull kangaroos on rural properties along the coast. Mr Dovey said: “As the drought impacts, numbers will start to come down. It’s a natural cycle, kangaroos are a boom and bust species. Kangaroo numbers increase and decrease depending on conditions.” Mr Sinclair is concerned that animals will suffer as the hot and dry weather continues. He said that it was not unusual to see a mother with a young joey at her side and another in the pouch and said they were getting hungry.
But Mr Dovey said that while it was very sad to see animals dying, it was a natural cycle and it was rare to see them dying in front of us. The increase in numbers, Mr Dovey said, was also due to the seasonal disruption as more people came into the area and the kangaroos moved around but he warned that as the drought takes hold, kangaroos will become more of an annoyance to property owners as they try to set up home in people’s gardens. “Don’t feed them and don’t allow them to set up in your garden. Use a hose from a distance to dissuade them but don’t approach a large male because it can be territorial and cause quite a bit of injury,” Mr Dovey cautioned.
The movement in kangaroos during the lengthy dry weather is also causing problems for road users. Janine Green, president of WIRES (the NSW Wildlife Information Rescue and Education Service) said: “Because of the drought, more kangaroos are coming to the roadside to get at the grass along the edge of the road. We’re seeing more injured animals with broken legs after being hit by cars.” Ms Green said that during 2009 the WIRES attended 180 kangaroos of which 55 had to be euthanased. This though did not reach the epic proportions of 2008 when 119 were euthanased out of a total of 241 kangaroos seen by the service. Mr Dovey urged people to take care particularly when driving at dawn or dust and especially when driving through the forested areas along Sapphire Coast Drive, Pambula Beach Road and Mount Darragh Road which have all become hot spots for accidents involving kangaroos. *Merimbula News
Trading meat from kangaroos with body shots is now outlawed and will carry hefty fines in a move that will further stamp Queensland's reputation as a producer of safe, high quality meat. Acting Climate Change and Sustainability Minister Andrew Fraser said he expected new regulations, which took effect on January 1 this year, to help re-open the lucrative Russian market which was temporarily suspended in August last year. "This new requirement will not only help improve the treatment of one of our native icons by minimising any suffering, but it will show the world that Queensland has the highest standards in meat production," Mr Fraser said. Read more and make a comment ......
http://www.mysunshinecoast.com.au/articles/article-display/bligh-govt-moves-to-improve-roo-industry-image,16052
Word for word, this is a Qld government press release, listed on a commercial advertising website, and the Release rated only couple of paragraphs in the Courier Mail, because even the journalists know it is nonsense. Its always been illegal (and shooters could lose their Permit) to present body shot kangaroos to be sold, but the processing plants received the bodies anyway, and pay the shooters half price. And noone worried about it until we put photos of body shot kangaroos on websites all over the world. As some commenters have suggested, if the processing plants now refuse to take them, (unlikely, because inspection is minimal) the body shot kangaroos will just be left in the paddock. A link showing details of the Qld commercial kangaroo kill "plan"can be found below, its a bit hard to find, because they dont want too many people to see it. The "plan" is available on DERM's website at http://www.derm.qld.gov.au, see Home > Topics > Wildlife and ecosystems > Animals > Wildlife permits and licences > Kangaroo harvesting.
Frogs
A deadly frog fungus that was discovered in Tasmania five years ago is spreading rapidly. Interstate, four species of frogs are presumed extinct from Chytridiomycosis, which breaks down their skin. There are fears the Tasmania's native frogs may soon be wiped out by the deadly fungus. Tasmania has 11 species of frogs but since Chytridiomycosis was discovered in the state, their numbers have been declining rapidly. For the last nine months the Department of Environment and NRM North have been monitoring its spread. Researchers have been swabbing the mouths of tadpoles, which is an accurate way of checking the areas affected. NRM North's James McKee says the disease poses a significant threat to the food chains of Tasmanian eco-systems.
"We're still working out exactly how widespread it is and exactly which frogs are effected but we do know that it's pretty much through the whole of Tasmania," he said. "It's actually threatening particularly our green and golden frog, which is one of our threatened species." Researcher Annie Phillips says the remote south-west seems to be the only part of state fungus-free. "It's very probable that this disease and a number of other diseases are spread by the movement of water and mud from site to site," she said. She says the fungus is spread by mud transported on camping and hiking gear. "The really important thing is before going into a remote area or when going between sites in a remote area, to clean mud off equipment and gear," she said.
Meanwhile another ABC report says Researchers have been heartened by their census of the threatened southern bell frog in the lower lakes region at the mouth of the Murray in South Australia. For three months, the researchers working for the Murray-Darling Basin authority have listened in the darkness for the frog's calls. Researcher Pip Taylor was among them. "We'd record on a hand-held digital recorder for five minutes any of the frogs that were calling," she said. The frogs were heard at Clayton Bay, the upper Finniss River and Mundoo Island. Ms Taylor says researchers had expected little success because of the ongoing drought's effect on the habitat. But she says water regulators on the lower Murray may be boosting the health of some areas. The researchers will now check for tadpoles in the lower lakes region to work out if the frogs have been breeding. *ABC
Rock Wallabies
Despite being only about 30cm tall, the newest members at Waterfall Springs Wildlife Sanctuary are helping to save a whole species. The yellow-footed rock-wallaby joeys will play an important role in the long-term survival of the closely related and endangered brush-tailed rock-wallaby. Themselves in serious danger of extinction, a group of 30 yellow-footed rock-wallabies are being kept at the Kulnura sanctuary to be used in a surrogate breeding program. The aim of the program is to accelerate the breeding cycle of the female brush-tailed rock-wallaby by removing a 20-day-old joey from her pouch and implanting it into the pouch of a surrogate yellow-foot female. This will allow the brush-tail female to rapidly increase her breeding output from one up to eight pouch young every year.
The breeding method was initially controversial but is now recognised by scientific experts as the only means to save the last remaining brush-tailed rock-wallabies in Victoria where the number left in the wild slumped to about five. Playing a lead role in the ambitious breeding program is Sanctuary Curator Celia Thomson. “To be part of this Australian first conservation program is an absolute thrill,” she said. “I’m working alongside some of the country’s most highly trained scientists to help save one of our critically threatened species.” *Express Advocate
Ed Comment; We know many readers will have reservations about the worth of this program.
Wildlife Trade
Illegal wildlife traders are using the Internet to pull in more customers, avoid laws and evade authorities, according to animal rights activists at the Asia for Animals 2010 conference on Sunday. Everything from rhinoceros horns to live tiger cubs are being marketed on public websites and in online advertisements, said Grace Ge, Asian regional director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). The Internet provides illegal traders an anonymous way to market their goods and offers quick and untraceable sales. While inadequate governing of online companies continues, these black market traders can and will continue to flourish, according to AFP. “The Internet has facilitated the trading of wildlife, which is having a devastating effect on animals and ecosystems worldwide,” Ge said. Referring to a study on the illegal online wildlife trade in 2008, Ge said there continued to be a “huge volume of wildlife and their products traded online on a daily basis.”
The research was conducted over a three-month period in 11 countries including the U.S., China and Australia. The study found more than 7,000 online ads selling illegal wildlife products. 70.5 percent of the ad base came from the United States, while Britain and China were only at about 8 percent each, according to the study. Estimated values of the final sales on these websites accounted for more than 457,000 dollars, but the actual figure was likely much higher as most sites did not advertise prices. Animal rights activists said at the conference that, in the case of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) practitioners, cooperation rather than conflict was more effective in protecting wildlife from poachers. Louis Ng, executive director of the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES), said that the previous approach of confrontation was no where nearly as effective. Ng cited a joint proposal by ACRES and Singapore TCM practitioners to adopt a labeling scheme to discourage local TCM shops from selling products made from endangered animals. To date, more than 20 percent of all TCM shops were following the initiative, Ng said. TCM shops sell medicinal products made from animals such as bears and tigers. *Red Orbit
Bird Trapper
A cockatoo can sit in a tree all day and rip the bark off just to pass the time, says Les Dixon-Flint. A galah, a member of the family, will ringbark the tree it nests in, perhaps for food, perhaps to make it harder for goannas to steal its eggs. Either way, it's no good for the tree. Mr Dixon-Flint has the slow gait and weather-worn face of a man used to hard work outdoors. He is one of two licensed bird trappers left in NSW, a trade he picked up in 1967 when he inherited the licence of his boss. From his rambling farmhouse in the tiny hamlet of Beelbangera just outside Griffith, Mr Dixon-Flint roams the southern region capturing native birds from farms, airfields and golf courses. But unlike other trappers he cannot bring himself to kill the animals he takes. "'I'm not in the game to destroy them,'' he says. ''I've always been a bird lover.'' Sometimes Mr Dixon-Flint will scatter seed to attract a flock, capture them under a huge swing net and leave them clawing for freedom for 15 minutes or so before releasing them.
''You put what you call the scare of man into them and they don't come back,'' he says. Other birds he sells to a pet supplier in Sydney, although changing regulations keep making the job harder. Young cockatoos in NSW may not be sold until January in order to stop people from raiding nests in the spring, but since such laws do not exist in Victoria, which has 15 trappers at work, Sydney pet shops are often full before Mr Dixon-Flint can sell his birds. And, he says, neighbours are making things harder, too. ''You can't have a cocky squawking in your backyard these days without getting sent to jail,'' he grumbles. Often, reluctantly, Mr Dixon-Flint turns his cages over to farmers to fumigate the catch. Sometimes he will run a cull himself. Recently he drove with two shooters nine hours to a farm near Bourke to supervise a cull of 2500 from a flock of 30,000 corellas. Even then Mr Dixon-Flint pulled the trigger only to destroy wounded animals.
Over the years he has lobbied the Federal Government to allow an international trade in native birds. ''There's a good market for them overseas and it would stop a lot of the black market. They would go out of the country the right way instead of being smuggled out in tubes and little containers.'' In his back garden Mr Dixon-Flint introduces the birds that have found their way into his family. ''This is Les, he's always been savage,'' says Mr Dixon-Flint, offering an almond to a weathered old corella who cheerfully shrieks, ''Hello Les, hello Les, la la la la Les,'' as he takes the nut. Les is 37. On the other side of the yard a galah noisily accuses Mr Dixon-Flint of being a ''little prick'' before seizing his almond and ducking back into the depths of the cage muttering even darker obscenities under his breath. Big Boy, a gentle long-billed corella with a savage-looking beak, takes his almond daintily by the claw, but has nothing to say. Another corella, Little Squawk, and a sulphur-crested cockatoo - also Big Boy - laugh and dance, spinning first one way then the other as Mr Dixon-Flint taps the cage and sings to them. *Sydney Morning Herald
Snakes
He's never had a nose for trouble before but black labrador Bronson sure knows how to turn heads with his retrieving tricks. The champion obedience dog stunned his Victorian owners when he returned to them with his latest find. Locked firmly in his jaws and coiled around his snout was a live snake, believed to be a copperhead. "He's an excellent duck dog but he'll pick up absolutely anything and return to us, hanging on to it until we say 'Give'," owner Deborah Allen said. "Recently my husband didn't know he'd lost his mobile phone out in a paddock until Bronson returned with it in his mouth." The couple were on their property at Yarragon when Mr Allen saw Bronson with the snake hanging out of his mouth and the snake's body wrapped around his nose. "We weren't sure if it was alive or not," Mrs Allen said. "When we poked its head, which was hanging down at ground level, it moved. It appeared slightly stunned." As they planned how best to deal with the snake, Mr Allen told his wife to take a photo. "He didn't reckon anyone would believe us," she said.
Mrs Allen captured the stunning sight as the perfectly obedient Bronson remained totally rigid, trained not to move his head while carrying anything he had retrieved. "But he had a real forlorn look on his face like he was saying 'Hurry up and take this thing'," Ms Allen said. Mr. Allen found a chaff bag, lowered it to the ground then pulled the bag up and over the snake while at the same time releasing its body that remained wrapped around Bronson's snout. "And as soon I said 'Give' he dropped it right into the bag and we sealed up the ends." With the snake safely stored, the pair rushed Bronson to the West Gippsland Veterinary Centre where a blood test confirmed Bronson had copped a bite. Four days in hospital on a drip followed, but Bronson is now happily at home.
Australian Veterinary Association president Peter Gibbs said because of the hot weather an alarming number of pets had been brought to clinics for treatment of snake bites. "Snakes tend to be at their most active towards the end of day, with snake bites usually happening in late afternoon or early evening," Dr Gibbs said. "Dog owners should avoid snake-prone areas." Symptoms of snakebite include seizures, vomiting, bleeding around the bite, weakness in the limb and paralysis. The animal will collapse with laboured breathing. Urgent treatment is needed but always call ahead so vets can have anti-venene on standby. * HeraldSun
The Fair Dinkum Characters
The new Summer range of toddlers wildlife shirts, shorts, and singlets are now avaliable on the Fair Dinkum Characters website at http://www.fairdinkum-characters.com too late for Christmas unfortuntely. The Dinkums are Ambassadors for the Wildlife Protection Association of Australia Inc. Watch for them playing in a Shopping Centre near you!
New political party, Animal Justice Party The time has come for animals to have a voice in the political arena. Animal Rights/Welfare is the next social justice movement and everyone can be a part of it. Please go to this website below to see how you can make a difference. Help end the suffering and become a voice for those without one. http://www.animaljusticeparty.org/About_the_AJP.html There you will find forms for both NSW and Federal memebrship. At this point no memebership fee is payable, and its important to get 750 members for the ANIMAL JUSTICE PARTY to be registered as a political party. Other States will follow. It is important you fill in your name exactly as it appears on the Electoral Roll, otherwise your application will be invalid. You can download membership forms from the website. Please post to this address only... Animal Justice Party, P.O. Box 3126, Blakehurst 2221, Sydney NSW http://www.animaljusticeparty.org/About_the_AJP.html The animals need you......
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! (We recently ran out od stock of this very popular magical DVD, but now have new supplies in! Buy Now! Buy Now!....before we run out again!)
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!
Fraser Island
We have been sent some links to video footage of the Fraser Island dingoes. It's the best Fraser Island dingo footage we have ever seen, and should be seen by everyone. All dingoes in this footage have since been killed by DERM. All places in this footage were burnt out by DERM. There is nothing but this footage, and the memories of these dingoes left. Please spread the links to all your mailing lists, and place comments. Before it’s too late, and there are no dingoes left. The Queensland Government's Fraser Island Dingo Management Plan is the worst wildlife management blunder ever committed in Queensland....and there have been some bad ones! This footage was taken by Jennifer Parkhurst, who had her house raided by police and DERM rangers early one morning last year. Her photos, documents, computer hard drives were seized and taken, even framed photoes were removed and taken from the wall of her house. The search warrant claimed they were looking for dog food. These are the actions of the Queensland Labor Government, and even Jo Beilke-Peterson, for all the criticism he received, never sank so low as to send a bunch of thugs early one morning to terrorise a woman in her own home.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cR1EtbNiNs Dingoes howling, if you've never seen or heard a dingo this is "must-watch" footage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPnIZtgvCaQ Dingoes approaching a beach walker wanting to play.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehX8LwCrWqE A group of dingoes playing. All these dingoes in this footage above have since been killed by the Queensland Government.
May the dingoes Rest In Peace.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Monday, January 18, 2010
Wildlife Bytes 12/1/10
Fraser Island
We have been sent some links to video footage of the Fraser Island dingoes. It's the best Fraser Island dingo footage we have ever seen, and should be seen by everyone. All dingoes in this footage have since been killed by DERM. All places in this footage were burnt out by DERM. There is nothing but this footage, and the memories of these dingoes left. Please spread the links to all your mailing lists, and place comments. Before it’s too late, and there are no dingoes left. The Queensland Government's Fraser Island Dingo Management Plan is the worst wildlife management blunder ever committed in Queensland....and there have been some bad ones! This footage was taken by Jennifer Parkhurst, who had her house raided by police and DERM rangers early one morning last year. Her photos, documents, computer hard drives were seized and taken, even framed photoes were removed and taken from the wall of her house. The search warrant claimed they were looking for dog food. These are the actions of the Queensland Labor Government, and even Jo Beilke-Peterson, for all the criticism he received, never sank so low as to send a bunch of thugs early one morning to terrorise a woman in her own home.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cR1EtbNiNs Dingoes howling, if you've never seen or heard a dingo this is "must-watch" footage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPnIZtgvCaQ Dingoes approaching a beach walker wanting to play.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehX8LwCrWqE A group of dingoes playing. All these dingoes in this footage above have since been killed by the Queensland Government.
May the dingoes Rest In Peace.
Wildlife MiniBytes
Wildlife Deaths
Police in the Macedon Ranges have arrested two teenage boys over the deaths of four native animals. Two brush-tailed possums and two sulfur-crested cockatoos were found dead this week. Police believe they were shot with arrows a few weeks ago. Police have arrested a 14-year-old and a 16-year-old from Gisborne. Detective Senior Constable Paul Philby says police will lay charges of aggravated cruelty against the boys. "All appear to have been killed with a bow and arrow," he said. "Those four animals are classified as protected wildlife in Australia, and that constitutes the offence of aggravated cruelty." *ABC
Flying Foxes
A colony of flying foxes have left thousands without power on the state's far north coast tonight, after they caused havoc on a supply line by all taking off at once. Country Energy regional general manager for the far North Coast, Richard Wake, said that power was lost to 10,500 homes, shops, and businesses in Yamba, Maclean, Iluka, and Angourie, around 8.40pm but should be restored later tonight. "Where the supply comes into Maclean we've had a mob of flying foxes that have basically been hanging on the power line, and it looks like a large number of them have decided to take off at once. That's shorted things out, caused a bit of an explosion," he said. Safety responses were immediately put in place, and staff are on scene. Mr Wake confirmed some flying foxes had died as a result. The flying fox problem is something Country Energy have known about for some time, he said, and they have already committed, for various other reasons, to an extensive upgrade of that part of the network, including putting the powerlines underground. *SMH
Three men have been attacked by a bat carrying the deadly lyssavirus while holidaying separately near the Town of 1770, on Queensland's central coast. The men have all been offered preventative treatment by Queensland Health after the bat was killed and it tested positive to the "rabies-like virus". They were all attacked around the head within three hours of each other while walking in the Joseph Banks Conservation Park on Tuesday. Two Queenslanders have previously died after contracting lyssavirus from bats – a mother-of-two, Monique Todhunter, in 1998 and Rockhampton bat handler Patricia Padger in 1996. Acting Queensland Premier Paul Lucas dismissed the idea of a cull, saying it was neither sensible nor practical. "The solution is good public education in terms of people coming across sick bats, and top medical treatment," he said. "But the last thing we want is people trying to shoot bats out of trees when there are hundreds of millions of bats probably in Queensland." *Courier Mail
Elephants
An American tourist and her one-year-old daughter have been trampled to death by an elephant in Kenya, while others with them managed to escape, police say.v"The woman was with the rest of her family walking in a forest near the hotel where they were staying when an elephant attacked them. The woman and her daughter died on the spot but the others escaped unhurt because they were able to run for their safety," a senior police officer said on Wednesday. The accident happened in Mount Kenya Forest, located in the country's centre. Police said the woman was aged 39 but gave no details about where she was from. Among those who escaped is the deceased woman's husband and three other people who were with her at the time, they said. The bodies of the deceased have been transferred to Nairobi. *TheWest.com
Dead Birds
Tasmania's Environmental Protection Authority is analysing samples of dead seabirds found on a Burnie beach at the weekend. Police closed South Burnie Beach on Saturday after 15 dead birds were found. The EPA has sent bird samples to an animal health laboratory at Launceston and nearby stormwater samples will be tested in Hobart. An EPA spokeswoman says they hope to know the cause of the deaths later in the week. Manwhile in WA, The Department of Environment and Conservation has not ruled out poison as the cause of death of more than 190 birds on the South Coast. The birds were discovered in Hopetoun and Munglinup last week after the region experienced extreme temperatures. Most of the birds are believed to be the endangered Carnaby's Cockatoo. Other species discovered include regent parrots, galahs, mudlarks, ravens, and yellow throated miners. The heat is believed to have contributed to the deaths, however, the birds have been transported to Perth and will be examined today to confirm the cause. *ABC
Eels
An endangered fish is on sale in Auckland's popular seafood markets, prompting calls for a ban on trade in the species. The longfin eel may not be as cuddly and endearing as the kiwi, but it is critical to New Zealand's biodiversity, Maori regard it as a taonga, and now experts fear it is being overfished to the point of extinction. The freshwater fish, known to Maori as tuna, were once plentiful. But because of damage to their habitats through deforestation, pollution and the damming of rivers they are in serious decline. The Department of Conservation has classified them as endangered. Yet, with the blessing of the Ministry of Fisheries, commercial fishing of the eel continues - a situation freshwater ecologist Dr Mike Joy described as a "travesty". "The final nail in the coffin is to have them commercially fished," said Joy. FishMart at the Auckland fish market sells live eels for $19.95/kg. When the Herald on Sunday visited last week, the eel tank was empty but a staff member said the 40kg of eels that were delivered the day before had sold out. *NZ Herald
Plovers
NT Parliament House staff have been warned to stay away from the Old Supreme Court site because of a swarm of swooping plovers. Business Minister Rob Knight was attacked by the protective birds when he tried to run the gauntlet yesterday. Legislative Assembly technical services manager Errol Edwards sent an email to all staff yesterday reminding them to steer clear of the grassed area bordered by Herbert and Mitchell streets. "Despite efforts from our landscape contractor to make this area undesirable to the plovers as a nesting site, the persistent creatures have nested and henceforth dive bombing of the Old Supreme Court site has started," the email said. The dive bombing plovers are a threat to Territorians in the wet season as they try to nest. A Larrakeyah man said he was forced to dive for cover after he was swooped at Cullen Bay last week. The man said he was walking his dog when the birds started flying straight at his head. "I had to dive into the sand to take cover and the bastards still got me," he said. "There were people driving past laughing their heads off." NT news
Seal Hunting
A beauty pageant winner from Canada's east coast says she will join this year's seal hunt after an anti-hunting group altered photos of her wearing sealskin. Miss Newfoundland and Labrador, Sara Green, 19, says her jaw dropped when she saw the altered pictures on the internet. Ms Green had worn a sealskin coat for her appearance in the Santa Claus parade in St John's. But the altered photos showed her blood-spattered, surrounded by bloodied seal carcasses and holding a hakapik - a spiked club used for killing seals. Ms Green says she will take advantage of the negative publicity. She says she was raised in a family that goes seal hunting and she has a hunting licence and will join the hunt this year. She says while animal rights groups might go after her, she grew up in Newfoundland and the seal hunt is something she believes in. *ABC
Jellyfish move South
Southern Queensland will be in a "world of hurt" as irukandji jellyfish move further south, an expert has said following a bizarre "flying irukandji" attack, and several other incidents. James Cook University irukandji expert Jamie Seymour made the comments after the irukandji jellyfish stung a man fishing off a bulk carrier, 25m above sea level. The Singaporean-registered ship was at Abbot Point, north of Bowen, when the 45-year-old crewman was stung in the face while reeling in his line late Sunday afternoon. The RACQ CQ-Rescue helicopter was sent to retrieve the patient who was in "extreme pain and great distress". Dr Seymour was not particularly surprised by the unusual circumstances of the sting. "The guy's unlucky, there's no doubt about it, but the waters are teeming with them at the moment," he said. "In just one hour off Cairns the other night we got 70 odd (irukandji) in the one spot." He said rising water temperatures would only make the problem worse in the future. "They're only going to get further south," Dr Seymour said. "We have already caught them at Fraser Island and places like the Sunshine Coast are going to be in a world of hurt in about five or 10 years." *Courier Mail
Snakebite
Paramedics are treating a man bitten by a snake at a venom supply company. It is believed the man was milking the reptile at Venom Supplies, on Stonewall Rd at Tanunda, when he was bitten at about 12.15pm. It is not known what type of snake was involved. *SA News
Sharks
Surf lifesavers have called for a ban on shark fishing from suburban jetties, saying luring the man-eaters to shore is dangerous for swimmers. They say recreational fishermen are throwing bait and offal into the water and often use heavy-duty rods and hooks to bring in sharks at popular swimming beaches. Henley Surf Life Saving Club president Neville Fielder called on authorities to ban the practice. "It ought to be banned," he said. "I believe at the moment there are restrictions on wire traces and hook sizes but I think even that is being flouted." Mr Fielder said the fishermen made it difficult for lifesavers to provide the safest possible environment for swimmers. "I know people have been fishing off Henley jetty recently using illegal equipment," he said. "You see them walking up there to go fishing with heavy-duty gear. "Fisheries needs to get down here and do a blitz. Police it heavily until people learn." Mr Fielder said sharks were also attracted by meat left in crab nets. It is illegal to use non-fish products as bait when catching crabs. "I saw chicken being used in crab nets on Saturday," he said. *Adelaide Now
Kangaroos
Hefty fines of up to $16.500 await those found trading in kangaroo meat killed inhumanely. Queensland State government is targeting hunters and dealers found with meat from kangaroos shot in the body, rather than a clean shot to the head with a suitable firearm. It is one of number of regulations to have taken force on January the 1st in an effort to lift the States reputation as a producer of high quality kangaroo meat after a ban in Russia over hygeine fears. The ban sparked a downturn in the Industry as Russia is normally the countries biggest export market. But acting State Climate and Sustanability Minister Andrew Fraser siad he expected teh new regulations would help reopen that market. "We've been looking at a number of measures to speed up the lifting of the ban, including this. *Courier Mail
Whaling
Everyone is aware of the sinking of the Ady Gil in the Southern Ocean, and the Australian Governmen's weak response to this outrage. They have stated that if the Japanese whalers dont desist by June this year, they will go to Court. Big deal. The whaling season will be over then anyway. A number of journalists have made profound (to them) statements about the incident, and several made the claim that killing kangaroos and whales are different...that there are plagues of kangaroos and they need to be killed anyway, just reinforcing everyones belief that journalists know little about anything important. When reviewing comments and readers opinions about the incident, it's surprising how many redneck gungho comments were made supporting the whalers...and the whalers rights...as if they had any. We know that many Australians have boycotted Japanese products for years over the whaling, and not surprisingly there are now calls for more boycotts. It certainly looks as though any cessation of the whaling in the Southern Ocean will depend on consumer resistance to Japanese products, and people power action, rather than the actions of our incompetent and hopeless politicians. * WPAA
Sea Shepherd member Megan Jolley, whose partner Laurens de Groot was aboard the Ady Gil when it was hit by Japanese whaling ship Shonan Maru 2, said 180 people already had signed up via a Facebook group to attend the rally. "It's for anyone who supports Sea Shepherd or who wants to know more about whaling and we're going to invite the Japanese consul-general," she said. The demonstration will take place at 11.30am on Parliament House lawns and will be addressed by Greens leader Bob Brown. Ms Jolley said she hoped the rally would be followed in mid-February by a welcome-home flotilla. *Mercury
Meanwhile according to the ABC, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has seemingly contradicted his environment spokesman over the Coalition's whaling policy. Greg Hunt has on several occasions called for the Government to follow through on a threat to take Japan to court over its whaling activities. But Mr Abbott has told Macquarie Radio that Australia should be wary of upsetting a key trading partner. "This is Kevin Rudd's policy, not the Coalition's policy. We don't like whaling. We would like the Japanese to stop," Mr Abbott said. "On the other hand, we don't want to needlessly antagonise our most important trading partner, a fellow democracy, an ally." *
Australia Zoo wildlife warrior Terri Irwin says commercial whaling should be likened to cannibalism or slavery and yesterday gave her approval to violent protests to stop the hunt. Ms Irwin condemned the federal government for failing to “stand up to Japanese whalers” in the wake of the sinking of a Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ship. On Wednesday, six crew were rescued from Sea Shepherd trimaran Ady Gil after it was involved in a collision with a security ship shadowing the Japanese whaling fleet about 2300km south of Tasmania. Ady Gil had its bow sheared off in the incident, which Sea Shepherd captain Paul Watson said was deliberate. Ms Irwin has had a long-running and close association with the conservation group, which named one of its ships after her late husband Steve Irwin, and described its members as “incredible heroes”.
“This has become an international incident and it shows the extent of Japanese retaliation is going to continue to escalate,” Ms Irwin said. “It’s a democratic right to protest, which is what Sea Shepherd does, and not all protest can be non-violent. “I’m so proud of what Paul Watson and the Sea Shepherd crew is doing ... if it wasn’t for them we wouldn’t be seeing what’s happening to the whales.” Ms Irwin said the federal government had taken a weak stance on Japanese whaling in Australian waters because confrontation could jeopardise trade relations. As a whale researcher, Ms Irwin said it was ludicrous that the government heavily regulated her whale work while allowing Japanese to slaughter whales for “research purposes”. “The government is elected by the people to represent the people, not to make decisions that go against the majority opinion,” she said.
“Until this is resolved, all lethal whale research needs to cease so a decision can be made in the courts regarding Japanese whaling. “We need to stop all commercial whaling and make sure it’s as accepted as cannibalism or slavery – not at all.” However, Dr Donna Weeks, a specialist in Australia-Japan relations from the University of the Sunshine Coast, believes Sea Shepherd’s brand of protest will do more harm than good. Dr Weeks said despite the Sea Shepherd crew practising confrontational protest for years, Japanese whaling had not stopped. She said a diplomatic path had to be taken to “help Japan realise whaling is not acceptable”. “The group pushing whaling in Japan is a small but robust group of bureaucrats and whalers ,” she said.
“By partaking in violent protest, Sea Shepherd are making all Japanese people feel targeted and angry. “I don’t support violent protest ... I believe it has inflamed this situation and it could become serious.” Environment minister Peter Garrett said the collision was concerning. “We repeat our call for restraint to all parties.” Deputy prime minister Julia Gillard said the Australian Maritime Safety Authority had been directed to investigate the incident. The results would be made public. However, the federal government would not be sending a boat to monitor activities in the Southern Ocean. * Sunsine Coast Daily
Crocodiles
Freshwater crocodiles are being driven out of parts of the Northern Territory by their larger, more aggressive saltwater cousins. A proposed new crocodile management plan has found that numbers of freshwater crocs have fallen in some Top End rivers since the late 1990s. Territory Government scientist Robyn Delaney says increasing numbers of large salties have moved into the Daly River, pushing out their smaller counterparts. "Freshies used to be found well downstream of the main crossing to Wadeye but now it's only in those few kilometres around the crossing where we find freshwater crocodiles in any big numbers," Dr Delaney said. "This is the way nature is: something new comes in - whether it be cane toads or an increase in saltwater crocodiles - and nature just kind of shifts and adapts in one way, shape or form. "So we've still got very healthy populations of freshwater crocodiles and perhaps it's even getting back to pre-hunting times. We don't know."
Territory crocodile expert Graeme Webb says he is worried about the future of freshwater crocs. "There's only three to four weeks left in the year when they can nest so they're probably a species that's on the way out," he said. "There's issues like climate change maybe with freshies that have an effect. "Like if the wet season starts two weeks earlier and the cold period extends two weeks - well it's see you later freshies." Mr Webb says more research is needed into the impact of saltwater crocodiles and cane toads on freshwater crocs. "Freshwater crocodiles were incredibly well-studied up here in the late 70s and early 80s," he said. "Some of that work has continued but there doesn't seem to be the interest in it; it doesn't seem to be a priority for anybody. "So I don't think we're really going to get these answers about what's happening with freshwater crocodiles."
Under the proposed new management plan, the number of freshwater crocodiles that can be taken from the wild has been slashed. Territory crocodile farmers will only be allowed to take 300 freshwater crocodile eggs instead of 4,000 and 1,000 hatchlings instead of 6,000. Dr Delaney says the quota has been reduced because only a small part of the crocodile industry is interested in freshwater crocs for their skins. "From about the last 10 years, there's been a total of probably about 50 animals or eggs taken per year, which is very, very small," she said. "The freshwater crocodile skins really don't make good handbags and the reason behind that, and the reason why saltwater crocodiles are chosen, is that in the belly scales of freshwater crocodiles there's a small amount of bone." Mr Webb says the higher quotas should stay because business opportunities may develop in the future. "Quotas are supposed to be a biologically significant figure so I don't think it's necessary," he said. "Maybe some groups of landowners will be encouraged to look at ways to use this species for economic development in remote areas. If you close something down it's hard to get it open again." The Government has released the draft plan for public comment until February 12. *ABC
Sharks
Rogue sharks that attack beach goers in WA this summer will be hunted down, shot in the head and sawed apart until their spines are severed. The Perth Sunday Times revealed the graphic methods put in place this year by the government's Shark Hazard Committee for dealing with man-eaters. WA Department of Fisheries strategic compliance manager and shark committee member Tina Thorne said a rogue shark that attacked a swimmer would be slaughtered if it continued to pose a significant threat to beachgoers. But the kill order would only be given in "extreme circumstances" as a last resort where there was an immediate danger to the public. Thorne said fisheries officers would first use a baited drumline and put "attractant" in the water to try to hook the shark. Then the creature would be hauled aboard a boat where officers would "have to use a large firearm to dispatch the animal." "That is not an easy task, as sharks have very small brains," she said. Once shot through the head, fisheries personnel would take a final step to ensure the creature was dead by "severing the spinal cord and bleeding it out." "Even if you hook it, you can't just fly over in a chopper and shoot it because of refraction (of the bullets) in the water," Ms Thorne said. However great whites, the species responsible for most fatal attacks, were protected and a special exemption from the law was required to kill one. *News.com.au
Biodiversity Loss
The UN launches the International Year of Biodiversity today, warning that the on-going loss of species affects human well-being around the world. Eight years ago, governments pledged to reduce the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010, but already it is clear that the pledge will not be met. The expansion of human cities, farming and infrastructure is the main reason. UN chief Ban Ki-moon and German premier Angela Merkel will speak at the launch in Berlin. Mr Ban says that human expansion is wiping out species at about 1,000 times the "natural" or "background" rate, and that "business as usual is not an option". The Secretary-General states that the failure to protect biodiversity "should be a wake-up call", leading to effective ways of protecting forests, watersheds, coral reefs and other ecosystems. The UN argues that as natural systems such as forests and wetlands disappear, humanity loses the services they currently provide for free, such as the purification of air and water, protection from extreme weather events and the provision of materials for shelter and fire. The rate of species loss leads some biologists to say that we are in the middle of the Earth's sixth great extinction, the previous five stemming from natural events as asteroid impacts.
The UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was agreed at the Rio Earth Summit of 1992, alongside the climate change convention. But it acquired its key global pledge during the Johannesburg summit of 2002, when governments agreed to achieve a "significant reduction" in the rate of biological diversity by 2010. Conservation organisations acknowledge that despite some regional successes, the target is not going to be met; and analyses suggest that nature loss is accelerating rather than decelerating. "We are facing an extinction crisis," said Jane Smart, director of the biodiversity conservation group with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). "The loss of this beautiful and complex natural diversity that underpins all life on the planet is a serious threat to humankind now and in the future."
A large on-going UN-sponsored study into the economics of biodiversity found that deforestation alone costs the global economy $2-5 trillion each year. In his speech, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) executive director Achim Steiner is due to highlight problems caused by invasive species, and the potential for ecosystems such as forests and wetlands to absorb and store carbon from the air. The UN hopes some kind of legally-binding treaty to the loss of curb biodiversity can be agreed at the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) summit, to be held in Japan in October. One element is due to be a long-awaited protocol under which the genetic resources of financially-poor but biodiversity-rich nations can be exploited in a way that brings benefits to all. However, given the failure to adopt legally-binding environmental agreements that key countries displayed at last month's climate summit in Copenhagen, it is unclear just what deal might materialise on biodiversity.
The UN has been pursuing new ways of raising public awareness on the issue. Many environment organisations will be running special programmes and mounting events during the year. "The big opportunity during the International Year of Biodiversity is for governments to do for biodiversity what they failed to do for climate change in Copenhagen," said Simon Stuart, a senior science advisor to Conservation International and chair of IUCN's Species Survival Commission. "They have the chance to make a major difference; and key to this will be halting species extinctions, the most irreversible aspect of biodiversity loss." WWF is highlighting 10 species it considers especially threatened, ranging from commercially significant ones such as bluefin tuna to the Pacific walrus and the monarch butterfly. In the UK, the Natural History Museum asks every citizen to "do one thing for biodiversity" in 2010. BBC
Ed Comment; it seems to us that it's the "not-yet-threatened" species we need to focus more on....before they become "threatened". But Government funding is available for the threatened ones, so thats where the focus is.......
The Fair Dinkum Characters
The new Summer range of toddlers wildlife shirts, shorts, and singlets are now avaliable on the Fair Dinkum Characters website at http://www.fairdinkum-characters.com too late for Christmas unfortuntely. The Dinkums are Ambassadors for the Wildlife Protection Association of Australia Inc. Watch for them playing in a Shopping Centre near you!
New political party, Animal Justice Party The time has come for animals to have a voice in the political arena. Animal Rights/Welfare is the next social justice movement and everyone can be a part of it. Please go to this website below to see how you can make a difference. Help end the suffering and become a voice for those without one. http://www.animaljusticeparty.org/About_the_AJP.html There you will find forms for both NSW and Federal memebrship. At this point no memebership fee is payable, and its important to get 750 members for the ANIMAL JUSTICE PARTY to be registered as a political party. Other States will follow. It is important you fill in your name exactly as it appears on the Electoral Roll, otherwise your application will be invalid. You can download membership forms from the website. Please post to this address only... Animal Justice Party, P.O. Box 3126, Blakehurst 2221, Sydney NSW http://www.animaljusticeparty.org/About_the_AJP.html The animals need you......
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! (We recently ran out od stock of this very popular magical DVD, but now have new supplies in! Buy Now! Buy Now!....before we run out again!)
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!
We have been sent some links to video footage of the Fraser Island dingoes. It's the best Fraser Island dingo footage we have ever seen, and should be seen by everyone. All dingoes in this footage have since been killed by DERM. All places in this footage were burnt out by DERM. There is nothing but this footage, and the memories of these dingoes left. Please spread the links to all your mailing lists, and place comments. Before it’s too late, and there are no dingoes left. The Queensland Government's Fraser Island Dingo Management Plan is the worst wildlife management blunder ever committed in Queensland....and there have been some bad ones! This footage was taken by Jennifer Parkhurst, who had her house raided by police and DERM rangers early one morning last year. Her photos, documents, computer hard drives were seized and taken, even framed photoes were removed and taken from the wall of her house. The search warrant claimed they were looking for dog food. These are the actions of the Queensland Labor Government, and even Jo Beilke-Peterson, for all the criticism he received, never sank so low as to send a bunch of thugs early one morning to terrorise a woman in her own home.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cR1EtbNiNs Dingoes howling, if you've never seen or heard a dingo this is "must-watch" footage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPnIZtgvCaQ Dingoes approaching a beach walker wanting to play.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehX8LwCrWqE A group of dingoes playing. All these dingoes in this footage above have since been killed by the Queensland Government.
May the dingoes Rest In Peace.
Wildlife MiniBytes
Wildlife Deaths
Police in the Macedon Ranges have arrested two teenage boys over the deaths of four native animals. Two brush-tailed possums and two sulfur-crested cockatoos were found dead this week. Police believe they were shot with arrows a few weeks ago. Police have arrested a 14-year-old and a 16-year-old from Gisborne. Detective Senior Constable Paul Philby says police will lay charges of aggravated cruelty against the boys. "All appear to have been killed with a bow and arrow," he said. "Those four animals are classified as protected wildlife in Australia, and that constitutes the offence of aggravated cruelty." *ABC
Flying Foxes
A colony of flying foxes have left thousands without power on the state's far north coast tonight, after they caused havoc on a supply line by all taking off at once. Country Energy regional general manager for the far North Coast, Richard Wake, said that power was lost to 10,500 homes, shops, and businesses in Yamba, Maclean, Iluka, and Angourie, around 8.40pm but should be restored later tonight. "Where the supply comes into Maclean we've had a mob of flying foxes that have basically been hanging on the power line, and it looks like a large number of them have decided to take off at once. That's shorted things out, caused a bit of an explosion," he said. Safety responses were immediately put in place, and staff are on scene. Mr Wake confirmed some flying foxes had died as a result. The flying fox problem is something Country Energy have known about for some time, he said, and they have already committed, for various other reasons, to an extensive upgrade of that part of the network, including putting the powerlines underground. *SMH
Three men have been attacked by a bat carrying the deadly lyssavirus while holidaying separately near the Town of 1770, on Queensland's central coast. The men have all been offered preventative treatment by Queensland Health after the bat was killed and it tested positive to the "rabies-like virus". They were all attacked around the head within three hours of each other while walking in the Joseph Banks Conservation Park on Tuesday. Two Queenslanders have previously died after contracting lyssavirus from bats – a mother-of-two, Monique Todhunter, in 1998 and Rockhampton bat handler Patricia Padger in 1996. Acting Queensland Premier Paul Lucas dismissed the idea of a cull, saying it was neither sensible nor practical. "The solution is good public education in terms of people coming across sick bats, and top medical treatment," he said. "But the last thing we want is people trying to shoot bats out of trees when there are hundreds of millions of bats probably in Queensland." *Courier Mail
Elephants
An American tourist and her one-year-old daughter have been trampled to death by an elephant in Kenya, while others with them managed to escape, police say.v"The woman was with the rest of her family walking in a forest near the hotel where they were staying when an elephant attacked them. The woman and her daughter died on the spot but the others escaped unhurt because they were able to run for their safety," a senior police officer said on Wednesday. The accident happened in Mount Kenya Forest, located in the country's centre. Police said the woman was aged 39 but gave no details about where she was from. Among those who escaped is the deceased woman's husband and three other people who were with her at the time, they said. The bodies of the deceased have been transferred to Nairobi. *TheWest.com
Dead Birds
Tasmania's Environmental Protection Authority is analysing samples of dead seabirds found on a Burnie beach at the weekend. Police closed South Burnie Beach on Saturday after 15 dead birds were found. The EPA has sent bird samples to an animal health laboratory at Launceston and nearby stormwater samples will be tested in Hobart. An EPA spokeswoman says they hope to know the cause of the deaths later in the week. Manwhile in WA, The Department of Environment and Conservation has not ruled out poison as the cause of death of more than 190 birds on the South Coast. The birds were discovered in Hopetoun and Munglinup last week after the region experienced extreme temperatures. Most of the birds are believed to be the endangered Carnaby's Cockatoo. Other species discovered include regent parrots, galahs, mudlarks, ravens, and yellow throated miners. The heat is believed to have contributed to the deaths, however, the birds have been transported to Perth and will be examined today to confirm the cause. *ABC
Eels
An endangered fish is on sale in Auckland's popular seafood markets, prompting calls for a ban on trade in the species. The longfin eel may not be as cuddly and endearing as the kiwi, but it is critical to New Zealand's biodiversity, Maori regard it as a taonga, and now experts fear it is being overfished to the point of extinction. The freshwater fish, known to Maori as tuna, were once plentiful. But because of damage to their habitats through deforestation, pollution and the damming of rivers they are in serious decline. The Department of Conservation has classified them as endangered. Yet, with the blessing of the Ministry of Fisheries, commercial fishing of the eel continues - a situation freshwater ecologist Dr Mike Joy described as a "travesty". "The final nail in the coffin is to have them commercially fished," said Joy. FishMart at the Auckland fish market sells live eels for $19.95/kg. When the Herald on Sunday visited last week, the eel tank was empty but a staff member said the 40kg of eels that were delivered the day before had sold out. *NZ Herald
Plovers
NT Parliament House staff have been warned to stay away from the Old Supreme Court site because of a swarm of swooping plovers. Business Minister Rob Knight was attacked by the protective birds when he tried to run the gauntlet yesterday. Legislative Assembly technical services manager Errol Edwards sent an email to all staff yesterday reminding them to steer clear of the grassed area bordered by Herbert and Mitchell streets. "Despite efforts from our landscape contractor to make this area undesirable to the plovers as a nesting site, the persistent creatures have nested and henceforth dive bombing of the Old Supreme Court site has started," the email said. The dive bombing plovers are a threat to Territorians in the wet season as they try to nest. A Larrakeyah man said he was forced to dive for cover after he was swooped at Cullen Bay last week. The man said he was walking his dog when the birds started flying straight at his head. "I had to dive into the sand to take cover and the bastards still got me," he said. "There were people driving past laughing their heads off." NT news
Seal Hunting
A beauty pageant winner from Canada's east coast says she will join this year's seal hunt after an anti-hunting group altered photos of her wearing sealskin. Miss Newfoundland and Labrador, Sara Green, 19, says her jaw dropped when she saw the altered pictures on the internet. Ms Green had worn a sealskin coat for her appearance in the Santa Claus parade in St John's. But the altered photos showed her blood-spattered, surrounded by bloodied seal carcasses and holding a hakapik - a spiked club used for killing seals. Ms Green says she will take advantage of the negative publicity. She says she was raised in a family that goes seal hunting and she has a hunting licence and will join the hunt this year. She says while animal rights groups might go after her, she grew up in Newfoundland and the seal hunt is something she believes in. *ABC
Jellyfish move South
Southern Queensland will be in a "world of hurt" as irukandji jellyfish move further south, an expert has said following a bizarre "flying irukandji" attack, and several other incidents. James Cook University irukandji expert Jamie Seymour made the comments after the irukandji jellyfish stung a man fishing off a bulk carrier, 25m above sea level. The Singaporean-registered ship was at Abbot Point, north of Bowen, when the 45-year-old crewman was stung in the face while reeling in his line late Sunday afternoon. The RACQ CQ-Rescue helicopter was sent to retrieve the patient who was in "extreme pain and great distress". Dr Seymour was not particularly surprised by the unusual circumstances of the sting. "The guy's unlucky, there's no doubt about it, but the waters are teeming with them at the moment," he said. "In just one hour off Cairns the other night we got 70 odd (irukandji) in the one spot." He said rising water temperatures would only make the problem worse in the future. "They're only going to get further south," Dr Seymour said. "We have already caught them at Fraser Island and places like the Sunshine Coast are going to be in a world of hurt in about five or 10 years." *Courier Mail
Snakebite
Paramedics are treating a man bitten by a snake at a venom supply company. It is believed the man was milking the reptile at Venom Supplies, on Stonewall Rd at Tanunda, when he was bitten at about 12.15pm. It is not known what type of snake was involved. *SA News
Sharks
Surf lifesavers have called for a ban on shark fishing from suburban jetties, saying luring the man-eaters to shore is dangerous for swimmers. They say recreational fishermen are throwing bait and offal into the water and often use heavy-duty rods and hooks to bring in sharks at popular swimming beaches. Henley Surf Life Saving Club president Neville Fielder called on authorities to ban the practice. "It ought to be banned," he said. "I believe at the moment there are restrictions on wire traces and hook sizes but I think even that is being flouted." Mr Fielder said the fishermen made it difficult for lifesavers to provide the safest possible environment for swimmers. "I know people have been fishing off Henley jetty recently using illegal equipment," he said. "You see them walking up there to go fishing with heavy-duty gear. "Fisheries needs to get down here and do a blitz. Police it heavily until people learn." Mr Fielder said sharks were also attracted by meat left in crab nets. It is illegal to use non-fish products as bait when catching crabs. "I saw chicken being used in crab nets on Saturday," he said. *Adelaide Now
Kangaroos
Hefty fines of up to $16.500 await those found trading in kangaroo meat killed inhumanely. Queensland State government is targeting hunters and dealers found with meat from kangaroos shot in the body, rather than a clean shot to the head with a suitable firearm. It is one of number of regulations to have taken force on January the 1st in an effort to lift the States reputation as a producer of high quality kangaroo meat after a ban in Russia over hygeine fears. The ban sparked a downturn in the Industry as Russia is normally the countries biggest export market. But acting State Climate and Sustanability Minister Andrew Fraser siad he expected teh new regulations would help reopen that market. "We've been looking at a number of measures to speed up the lifting of the ban, including this. *Courier Mail
Whaling
Everyone is aware of the sinking of the Ady Gil in the Southern Ocean, and the Australian Governmen's weak response to this outrage. They have stated that if the Japanese whalers dont desist by June this year, they will go to Court. Big deal. The whaling season will be over then anyway. A number of journalists have made profound (to them) statements about the incident, and several made the claim that killing kangaroos and whales are different...that there are plagues of kangaroos and they need to be killed anyway, just reinforcing everyones belief that journalists know little about anything important. When reviewing comments and readers opinions about the incident, it's surprising how many redneck gungho comments were made supporting the whalers...and the whalers rights...as if they had any. We know that many Australians have boycotted Japanese products for years over the whaling, and not surprisingly there are now calls for more boycotts. It certainly looks as though any cessation of the whaling in the Southern Ocean will depend on consumer resistance to Japanese products, and people power action, rather than the actions of our incompetent and hopeless politicians. * WPAA
Sea Shepherd member Megan Jolley, whose partner Laurens de Groot was aboard the Ady Gil when it was hit by Japanese whaling ship Shonan Maru 2, said 180 people already had signed up via a Facebook group to attend the rally. "It's for anyone who supports Sea Shepherd or who wants to know more about whaling and we're going to invite the Japanese consul-general," she said. The demonstration will take place at 11.30am on Parliament House lawns and will be addressed by Greens leader Bob Brown. Ms Jolley said she hoped the rally would be followed in mid-February by a welcome-home flotilla. *Mercury
Meanwhile according to the ABC, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has seemingly contradicted his environment spokesman over the Coalition's whaling policy. Greg Hunt has on several occasions called for the Government to follow through on a threat to take Japan to court over its whaling activities. But Mr Abbott has told Macquarie Radio that Australia should be wary of upsetting a key trading partner. "This is Kevin Rudd's policy, not the Coalition's policy. We don't like whaling. We would like the Japanese to stop," Mr Abbott said. "On the other hand, we don't want to needlessly antagonise our most important trading partner, a fellow democracy, an ally." *
Australia Zoo wildlife warrior Terri Irwin says commercial whaling should be likened to cannibalism or slavery and yesterday gave her approval to violent protests to stop the hunt. Ms Irwin condemned the federal government for failing to “stand up to Japanese whalers” in the wake of the sinking of a Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ship. On Wednesday, six crew were rescued from Sea Shepherd trimaran Ady Gil after it was involved in a collision with a security ship shadowing the Japanese whaling fleet about 2300km south of Tasmania. Ady Gil had its bow sheared off in the incident, which Sea Shepherd captain Paul Watson said was deliberate. Ms Irwin has had a long-running and close association with the conservation group, which named one of its ships after her late husband Steve Irwin, and described its members as “incredible heroes”.
“This has become an international incident and it shows the extent of Japanese retaliation is going to continue to escalate,” Ms Irwin said. “It’s a democratic right to protest, which is what Sea Shepherd does, and not all protest can be non-violent. “I’m so proud of what Paul Watson and the Sea Shepherd crew is doing ... if it wasn’t for them we wouldn’t be seeing what’s happening to the whales.” Ms Irwin said the federal government had taken a weak stance on Japanese whaling in Australian waters because confrontation could jeopardise trade relations. As a whale researcher, Ms Irwin said it was ludicrous that the government heavily regulated her whale work while allowing Japanese to slaughter whales for “research purposes”. “The government is elected by the people to represent the people, not to make decisions that go against the majority opinion,” she said.
“Until this is resolved, all lethal whale research needs to cease so a decision can be made in the courts regarding Japanese whaling. “We need to stop all commercial whaling and make sure it’s as accepted as cannibalism or slavery – not at all.” However, Dr Donna Weeks, a specialist in Australia-Japan relations from the University of the Sunshine Coast, believes Sea Shepherd’s brand of protest will do more harm than good. Dr Weeks said despite the Sea Shepherd crew practising confrontational protest for years, Japanese whaling had not stopped. She said a diplomatic path had to be taken to “help Japan realise whaling is not acceptable”. “The group pushing whaling in Japan is a small but robust group of bureaucrats and whalers ,” she said.
“By partaking in violent protest, Sea Shepherd are making all Japanese people feel targeted and angry. “I don’t support violent protest ... I believe it has inflamed this situation and it could become serious.” Environment minister Peter Garrett said the collision was concerning. “We repeat our call for restraint to all parties.” Deputy prime minister Julia Gillard said the Australian Maritime Safety Authority had been directed to investigate the incident. The results would be made public. However, the federal government would not be sending a boat to monitor activities in the Southern Ocean. * Sunsine Coast Daily
Crocodiles
Freshwater crocodiles are being driven out of parts of the Northern Territory by their larger, more aggressive saltwater cousins. A proposed new crocodile management plan has found that numbers of freshwater crocs have fallen in some Top End rivers since the late 1990s. Territory Government scientist Robyn Delaney says increasing numbers of large salties have moved into the Daly River, pushing out their smaller counterparts. "Freshies used to be found well downstream of the main crossing to Wadeye but now it's only in those few kilometres around the crossing where we find freshwater crocodiles in any big numbers," Dr Delaney said. "This is the way nature is: something new comes in - whether it be cane toads or an increase in saltwater crocodiles - and nature just kind of shifts and adapts in one way, shape or form. "So we've still got very healthy populations of freshwater crocodiles and perhaps it's even getting back to pre-hunting times. We don't know."
Territory crocodile expert Graeme Webb says he is worried about the future of freshwater crocs. "There's only three to four weeks left in the year when they can nest so they're probably a species that's on the way out," he said. "There's issues like climate change maybe with freshies that have an effect. "Like if the wet season starts two weeks earlier and the cold period extends two weeks - well it's see you later freshies." Mr Webb says more research is needed into the impact of saltwater crocodiles and cane toads on freshwater crocs. "Freshwater crocodiles were incredibly well-studied up here in the late 70s and early 80s," he said. "Some of that work has continued but there doesn't seem to be the interest in it; it doesn't seem to be a priority for anybody. "So I don't think we're really going to get these answers about what's happening with freshwater crocodiles."
Under the proposed new management plan, the number of freshwater crocodiles that can be taken from the wild has been slashed. Territory crocodile farmers will only be allowed to take 300 freshwater crocodile eggs instead of 4,000 and 1,000 hatchlings instead of 6,000. Dr Delaney says the quota has been reduced because only a small part of the crocodile industry is interested in freshwater crocs for their skins. "From about the last 10 years, there's been a total of probably about 50 animals or eggs taken per year, which is very, very small," she said. "The freshwater crocodile skins really don't make good handbags and the reason behind that, and the reason why saltwater crocodiles are chosen, is that in the belly scales of freshwater crocodiles there's a small amount of bone." Mr Webb says the higher quotas should stay because business opportunities may develop in the future. "Quotas are supposed to be a biologically significant figure so I don't think it's necessary," he said. "Maybe some groups of landowners will be encouraged to look at ways to use this species for economic development in remote areas. If you close something down it's hard to get it open again." The Government has released the draft plan for public comment until February 12. *ABC
Sharks
Rogue sharks that attack beach goers in WA this summer will be hunted down, shot in the head and sawed apart until their spines are severed. The Perth Sunday Times revealed the graphic methods put in place this year by the government's Shark Hazard Committee for dealing with man-eaters. WA Department of Fisheries strategic compliance manager and shark committee member Tina Thorne said a rogue shark that attacked a swimmer would be slaughtered if it continued to pose a significant threat to beachgoers. But the kill order would only be given in "extreme circumstances" as a last resort where there was an immediate danger to the public. Thorne said fisheries officers would first use a baited drumline and put "attractant" in the water to try to hook the shark. Then the creature would be hauled aboard a boat where officers would "have to use a large firearm to dispatch the animal." "That is not an easy task, as sharks have very small brains," she said. Once shot through the head, fisheries personnel would take a final step to ensure the creature was dead by "severing the spinal cord and bleeding it out." "Even if you hook it, you can't just fly over in a chopper and shoot it because of refraction (of the bullets) in the water," Ms Thorne said. However great whites, the species responsible for most fatal attacks, were protected and a special exemption from the law was required to kill one. *News.com.au
Biodiversity Loss
The UN launches the International Year of Biodiversity today, warning that the on-going loss of species affects human well-being around the world. Eight years ago, governments pledged to reduce the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010, but already it is clear that the pledge will not be met. The expansion of human cities, farming and infrastructure is the main reason. UN chief Ban Ki-moon and German premier Angela Merkel will speak at the launch in Berlin. Mr Ban says that human expansion is wiping out species at about 1,000 times the "natural" or "background" rate, and that "business as usual is not an option". The Secretary-General states that the failure to protect biodiversity "should be a wake-up call", leading to effective ways of protecting forests, watersheds, coral reefs and other ecosystems. The UN argues that as natural systems such as forests and wetlands disappear, humanity loses the services they currently provide for free, such as the purification of air and water, protection from extreme weather events and the provision of materials for shelter and fire. The rate of species loss leads some biologists to say that we are in the middle of the Earth's sixth great extinction, the previous five stemming from natural events as asteroid impacts.
The UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was agreed at the Rio Earth Summit of 1992, alongside the climate change convention. But it acquired its key global pledge during the Johannesburg summit of 2002, when governments agreed to achieve a "significant reduction" in the rate of biological diversity by 2010. Conservation organisations acknowledge that despite some regional successes, the target is not going to be met; and analyses suggest that nature loss is accelerating rather than decelerating. "We are facing an extinction crisis," said Jane Smart, director of the biodiversity conservation group with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). "The loss of this beautiful and complex natural diversity that underpins all life on the planet is a serious threat to humankind now and in the future."
A large on-going UN-sponsored study into the economics of biodiversity found that deforestation alone costs the global economy $2-5 trillion each year. In his speech, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) executive director Achim Steiner is due to highlight problems caused by invasive species, and the potential for ecosystems such as forests and wetlands to absorb and store carbon from the air. The UN hopes some kind of legally-binding treaty to the loss of curb biodiversity can be agreed at the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) summit, to be held in Japan in October. One element is due to be a long-awaited protocol under which the genetic resources of financially-poor but biodiversity-rich nations can be exploited in a way that brings benefits to all. However, given the failure to adopt legally-binding environmental agreements that key countries displayed at last month's climate summit in Copenhagen, it is unclear just what deal might materialise on biodiversity.
The UN has been pursuing new ways of raising public awareness on the issue. Many environment organisations will be running special programmes and mounting events during the year. "The big opportunity during the International Year of Biodiversity is for governments to do for biodiversity what they failed to do for climate change in Copenhagen," said Simon Stuart, a senior science advisor to Conservation International and chair of IUCN's Species Survival Commission. "They have the chance to make a major difference; and key to this will be halting species extinctions, the most irreversible aspect of biodiversity loss." WWF is highlighting 10 species it considers especially threatened, ranging from commercially significant ones such as bluefin tuna to the Pacific walrus and the monarch butterfly. In the UK, the Natural History Museum asks every citizen to "do one thing for biodiversity" in 2010. BBC
Ed Comment; it seems to us that it's the "not-yet-threatened" species we need to focus more on....before they become "threatened". But Government funding is available for the threatened ones, so thats where the focus is.......
The Fair Dinkum Characters
The new Summer range of toddlers wildlife shirts, shorts, and singlets are now avaliable on the Fair Dinkum Characters website at http://www.fairdinkum-characters.com too late for Christmas unfortuntely. The Dinkums are Ambassadors for the Wildlife Protection Association of Australia Inc. Watch for them playing in a Shopping Centre near you!
New political party, Animal Justice Party The time has come for animals to have a voice in the political arena. Animal Rights/Welfare is the next social justice movement and everyone can be a part of it. Please go to this website below to see how you can make a difference. Help end the suffering and become a voice for those without one. http://www.animaljusticeparty.org/About_the_AJP.html There you will find forms for both NSW and Federal memebrship. At this point no memebership fee is payable, and its important to get 750 members for the ANIMAL JUSTICE PARTY to be registered as a political party. Other States will follow. It is important you fill in your name exactly as it appears on the Electoral Roll, otherwise your application will be invalid. You can download membership forms from the website. Please post to this address only... Animal Justice Party, P.O. Box 3126, Blakehurst 2221, Sydney NSW http://www.animaljusticeparty.org/About_the_AJP.html The animals need you......
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! (We recently ran out od stock of this very popular magical DVD, but now have new supplies in! Buy Now! Buy Now!....before we run out again!)
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!
Monday, January 11, 2010
Wildlfie Bytes 5/01/2010
Charities Act Review
In the wake of couple of instances of shonky charity organisation mismanagement, the Federal government is currently undertaking an inquiry into charitable organisations and incorporations. As yet noone knows what changes will be made, but like death and taxes, changes are certainly coming. These changes are sure to make running a small incorporated organisation even more onerous. Many groups already find it difficult to get executive members to take on roles such as Treasurer, and many find it even more difficult to find funding for compulsory audits etc. It's going to get worse, we suspect. It's always been mystery to us why any small community-based incorporated organisation with under a $100,000 turnover has to follow virtually the same Rules as a multimillion dollar organisation like a large RSL club, which is often just a defacto gambling den. We suggest that the government will probably throw out the baby with the bathwater, as it usually does, so if your organisation is having trouble keeping up with the charitable reporting requirements now, it can only get worse. We suggest that you keep up to date with all receipt keeping, and tighten up your processes now so that you minimise any extra onerous activities the Feds may demand. *WPAA
Whaling
There is mounting pressure on the Federal Government to take legal action against Japanese whalers. The Federal Opposition is giving the Government until the end of January to submit documents for a case against Japanese whalers in the international court. Opposition spokesman Greg Hunt has written to Environment Minister Peter Garrett expressing "extreme frustration and disappointment" over the Government's failure to send a ship to monitor whaling activities in the Southern Ocean. Mr Hunt says the Government pledged to take legal action three years ago. "We want the whaling stopped, and if the Government will not send a ship then they must submit court action papers and give Japan until June 30 to end whaling," he said. Mr Hunt says the Japanese Government has abandoned the pretext for scientific whaling, and is slaughtering whales for food. *ABC
Ed Comment; We note the Howard Government was pretty ineffective in stopping whaling in the Southern Ocean either........
Hunting in NSW
Authorities want public help to learn who has shot 150 brumbies, including a number of foals, in the past 18 months in southern New South Wales. Ten brumbies were shot in state forests near Tumbarumba last weekend with what appeared to be a high-powered rifle. Forests New South Wales says the horses were shot in the body several times, sometimes at close range. Planning manager Kevin Peddy says officers have been shocked by the inhumane nature of the shootings. "In this latest round, it appears that a domestic palomino mare who had escaped from a nearby property had also been shot." he said. "Also included were some foals, so it is quite upsetting and the fact that they're being shot in a sort of appalling way doesn't make it any better." * ABC
Ed Comment; Hunting is legal in most NSW State Forests, but when something like this becomes public, the authorities get offended. We have to wonder how many of these incidents never come to light?
Magpie Geese Hunting
The shooting season for NT ducks and geese ended on the 31st December. More than 30,000 magpie geese and about 2000 ducks are believed to have been shot by 1850 hunters during the four-month season. There about two million geese in the NT, the Government claims. The Natural Resources Department said hunters now had to lodge their permit returns on how many birds were shot. The Government claims a "sustainable harvest" limit was between 10 and 14 per cent of the goose population. *WPAA
Traveston Dam
Only 30 people from 494 properties acquired for the failed $1.8 billion Traveston Dam have so far expressed interest in buying back. While bought-out owners have until May 31 to let the State Government know they want to buy back at the same prices at which they sold, anti-dam campaigners testing the waters say hardly anyone will. This means the Government will have to put hundreds of properties near Gympie on the open market to recoup some of the more than $500 million spent buying about 80 per cent of land within the proposed dam footprint. Treasurer Andrew Fraser has already said about $265 million of Queensland Water Infrastructure's dam costs would be "non-recoverable". *Courier Mail
Hunting Wolves
Sweden is to launch its first wolf cull in 45 years following a decision by the country's parliament to control the species' numbers. Around 10,000 hunters are reported to be planning to take part, hoping to get a rare opportunity to bag a wolf. But it is thought there are only between 180 and 220 wolves in Sweden and the Environmental Protection Agency says only 27 can be shot. Hunters insist there are measures to prevent them shooting too many. The hunt will end before the mating season begins in mid-February. *BBC
Albatross
These photographs of albatross chicks oon this website below were taken on Midway Atoll, a tiny stretch of sand and coral near the middle of the North Pacific. The nesting babies are fed bellies-full of plastic by their parents, who soar out over the vast polluted ocean collecting what looks to them like food to bring back to their young. On this diet of human trash, every year tens of thousands of albatross chicks die on Midway from starvation, toxicity, and choking. See photos here.......
http://www.chrisjordan.com/current_set2.php?id=11To document this phenomenon as faithfully as possible, none of the plastic in any of these photographs was moved, placed, manipulated, arranged, or altered in any way. These images depict the untouched stomach contents of baby birds in one of the world’s most remote marine sanctuaries, more than 2000 miles from the nearest continent. *Network Item
Tassie Devils
A team of international scientists has made a major breakthrough in the fight to save tasmanian devils from extinction. The team says it has worked out exactly what kind of cancer is killing the animals, finding that the deadly facial tumour disease is growing in the devils' nerve cells. Until now, the contagious cancer has been as mysterious as it is deadly. The scientists have published their findings in today's edition of the journal Science. *
Dingoes
The Fraser Island Association says part of the Eurong dingo fence has been breached and the animals could come into the island township. Association's president David Anderson, who lives in Eurong, says a dingo grid has been filled with sand for two months. He says the breach has allowed a domestic cattle dog that was illegally brought onto the island to escape into the surrounding area. "There's potential for dingos to walk inside the perimeter by walking across the grid, stepping over the wires that are electrified and getting into the compound," Mr Anderson said. "It's demonstrated by the fact that this cattle dog got loose from a house inside the fence and was able to walk across the grid into the outside." The Parks and Wildlife service says the electrified grid is still a deterrent to dingoes and there have been no recent confirmed reports of dingoes inside the fence. Regional manager Rob Allan says rangers are aware of the escaped cattle dog. *ABC
Sharks
Three endangered speartooth sharks have made their home at the Melbourne Aquarium. It is the only collection of the freshwater sharks in an aquarium anywhere in the world. They have been joined by a trio of freshwater sawfish. The Aquarium's curator, Nick Kirby, says both species are extremely scarce in the wild. "The animals are found in remote areas, it's really warm, your water temperatures are 30 degrees [Celsius], maybe even higher, so they really are an unusual place to find animals and most people are not aware that they are seen," he said. *ABC
Ed Comment; There are no Management Plans in place for rare fish taken from locations around the World specifically for the aquarium trade. Aquariums are noted for high fish mortality, it may be these animals would be better off left in the wild.
Dolphins
Dolphins have been declared the world’s second most intelligent creatures after humans, with scientists suggesting they are so bright that they should be treated as “non-human persons”. Studies into dolphin behaviour have highlighted how similar their communications are to those of humans and that they are brighter than chimpanzees. These have been backed up by anatomical research showing that dolphin brains have many key features associated with high intelligence. The researchers argue that their work shows it is morally unacceptable to keep such intelligent animals in amusement parks or to kill them for food or by accident when fishing. Some 300,000 whales, dolphins and porpoises die in this way each year. *Times on Line
Kangaroo Meat
David Oldfield, former adviser to Pauline Hanson turned 2GB radio host, was nearly sidelined from his first day in the chair as host of the 2GB drive shift yesterday after making himself a breakfast fit for a king - a king cavalier that is. Oldfield has been moved from nights to the drive shift at 2GB over summer and, excited at the prospect of enjoying a higher profile, he yesterday decided he would make himself a hearty breakfast to kick start his first day in the chair - rissoles on toast. But the rissoles he pulled from the freezer were not your regular minced beef and onion variety and were certainly not intended for humans. His wife Lisa had put them aside for the couple's cross-dressing jack russells Dinky and Lulu. So, although free of heartworm for the next month, Oldfield reckons he may never acquire a taste for the Allwormer stuffed kangaroo meatball and was crook as a dog before struggling into the station yesterday. *ABC
Kangaroos
A kangaroo has been left to fend for itself in the wild after its mother was euthanased after another crossbow attack in Mandurah. The attack brings to 5 the number of kangaroos shot in the past two weeks, with three put down. The RSPCA has launched a hunt for those responsible and are appealing for help from the public. RSPCA inspectors tracked the kangaroo at the Parklands locality in Mandurah yesterday morning after it was spotted on Tuesday night with a pink crossbow bolt lodged deep in its hind quarters. The animals's hindquarters were badly infected and riddled with maggots, meaning that it was shot a few days ago. It also showed signs of secondary infection. "It must have been in awful pain,' RSPCA inspector Richard Barry said. 'Our inspector was forced to euthanise the animal on humanitarian grounds. He said that as the inspectors were preparing to shoot the kangaroo, a small joey emerged from its pouch. Mr Barry said the joey was released when it was determined that it could fend for itself. RSPCA inspectors spotted two other kangaroos with arrows in them. Last week Mandurah rangers were forced to euthanaise two kangaroos that had been shot with arrows. Both animals' wounds were badly infected. People with information should call the RSPCA on 9209 9300 or Crime stoppers on 1800 333 000. WA News
Duck Shooting
Victoria's duck hunting season will be cut by two weeks again in 2010 but hunters will be able to increase their hauls by three to five ducks per bag. Acting Minister for Environment and Climate Change Tim Holding said the compromise struck a balance between ensuring sustainable duck numbers and the interests of hunters. The season will run from March 20 to May 30, two weeks shorter than normal. Mr Holding says population data collected across eastern Australia indicated duck numbers had increased since the last duck season. "On balance the Government is convinced that hunting will not adversely affect populations of ducks at the levels allowed for the 2010 season," he said.
However, anti-duck shooting protesters said native waterbirds were under extreme stress. "With wetlands drying and waterbird numbers down by 82 per cent since 1983, Premier Brumby is acting like a climate change sceptic who lacks the vision to understand the serious plight native waterbirds face," Coalition Against Duck Shooting director Laurie Levy said. "Calling another season simply for political reasons to accommodate a small number of duck shooters is corruption and must be investigated by a crime commission."
The RSPCA also joined the call to ban the duck shooting season. RSPCA Victoria President Dr Hugh Wirth said the decision to go ahead with a duck shooting season was "irresponsible and displays a blatant disregard for the welfare of Australian wildlife". "It is no secret that thousands of ducks are wounded horrifically each and every season and die a slow and painful death," he said. He said 87 per cent of the community supports a ban, but the community's voice had fallen on deaf ears. One group that did welcome the announcement was Field and Game Australia which said the prospects for a good season had been enhanced by major floods in northern Australia over the past 18 months. FGA chief executive Rod Drew said ducks were well protected with hunters only having access to about one per cent of Victoria's 20,000 wetlands and 355,000 farm dams. He said waterfowl hunters provided a boost to Victoria's regional economy with thousands travelling to rural areas. *Herald Sun
No reprieve for Native Waterbirds, Premier John Brumby – just another climate change sceptic
The Coalition Against Duck Shooting today slammed the Victorian Brumby Government for selling out Australia’s native waterbirds by calling a recreational duck shooting season for political reasons. The Coalition Against Duck Shooting’s Campaign Director, Laurie Levy, today said: "The Brumby Government’s decision to allow a duck shooting season in 2010 is totally irresponsible and a betrayal of the 87% of Victorians who want the recreational shooting of native waterbirds banned. "At a time when Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has been in Copenhagen seeking an agreement on serious climate change issues, Premier Brumby seems oblivious to the potential crisis and has irresponsibly called another duck shooting season when native waterbirds are under extreme stress." "With wetlands drying and waterbird numbers down by 82% since 1983, Premier Brumby is acting like a climate change sceptic who lacks the vision to understand the serious plight native waterbirds face," said Levy.
"It is difficult to understand how a modern Victorian Labor Government in the 21st century can still have the same destructive policies towards Australia’s native waterbirds as the Bolte Liberal Government of the 1950s and 60s. Times have changed, with the recreational shooting of native waterbirds banned by three State Labor Premiers in WA, NSW and Queensland," Levy said. "As the Brumby Government has again made a political decision to look after their duck shooting mates, the Coalition Against Duck Shooting fully supports Ted Baillieu’s call for an independent Crime Commission to be established in Victoria. "Calling another season simply for political reasons to accommodate a small number of duck shooters is corruption and must be investigated by a Crime Commission. It defies all the scientific evidence that indicates waterbird numbers have seriously declined, and the fact that most Victorians want native waterbirds protected (87% according to a recent Morgan Research Poll). "Once again the Coalition Against Duck Shooting’s rescue team will return to the wetlands to protect Australia’s native waterbirds from recreational shooters," Levy concluded. For further information contact: Laurie Levy, Campaign Director, 0418 392 826
Fraser Island
Wildlife authorities fear an escaped cattle dog could spread a potentially deadly disease through Fraser Island's dingo population. The Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) says the cattle dog has not been sighted since escaping on Saturday from its home in Eurong, on the south of the island. Regional manager Rob Allan told AAP the escapee had been brought to the township illegally because domestic dogs are banned from the World Heritage-listed island. The QPWS said it was not searching for the dog because it could be anywhere. The Fraser Island Association says that in order to escape the dog would have had to breach a dingo fence surrounding the township. The association's president David Anderson said the fence was supposed to be electrified, but was ineffectual because it had been covered in sand for two months.
"The concern is, domestic animals can carry diseases and transmit them to dingoes that they come in contact with and the dingoes don't necessarily have immunity or resistance," Mr Anderson told AAP. "Potentially it is an ecological disaster. "It could wipe out or at least decimate the population of dingoes if there was a disease the dog was carrying." In the late 1970s, parvovirus spread by domestic dogs had a devastating impact on the island's dingo population. The virus can kill dogs and dingoes through gastrointestinal tract damage and dehydration. *9News
Wildlife Trafficking
A NT person has been busted for allegedly illegally posting two live snakes by air freight. Parks and Wildlife Service officers seized the exotic jungle carpet pythons - which were bound for Sydney - at Darwin airport yesterday. The non-venomous animals, which are valued at about $500 each, measured between 50cm and 1m long. They are generally found in the Queensland rainforest. Parks and Wildlife officers were informed about the allegedly illegal shipment about 2pm yesterday. They immediately seized the two animals. Senior ranger Peter Phillips said the snakes were posted in a labelled box - but failed to include proper permits. He said Parks and Wildlife were now investigating whether the offencewas deliberate.
"It's important that people understand that wildlife is protected under law and when exporting and importing protected wildlife is done illegally, people are in for a large fine and possibly imprisonment," Mr Phillips said. "All native animals in the Northern Territory are protected and you need a permit to export or import them." If found guilty, the sender could find himself in prison. Darwin reptile handler Chris Peberdy hailed the efforts of the officers yesterday. He said: "Parks and Wildlife should be commended of their actions as non-native reptiles entering the Territory without the proper permits and checks can pose potential bio-security risks to our local flora and fauna." *NT News
Pythons
A Cooktown family watched in horror as a python living in their backyard ate a young wallaby while its mum kicked and scratched the snake in vain to save the joey. The 4m scrub python ambushed a group of wallabies about 4.30pm on Monday while the Barton-Ilic family watched from their veranda. In less than 45 minutes, the wallaby had been suffocated and swallowed. The python quickly retreated to a hole on the property where the family lives. Snake handlers have covered the serpent’s den with rocks and will attempt to remove it. Judith Barton-Ilic felt like she was watching Animal Planet with her kids Braidyn, 13, and Tiarn, 10, when the action unfolded.
"The poor mother was trying to stop the snake from eating its baby and was jumping on it," she said. "Our cats would just be a snack and because it was a decent size wallaby, I’m incredibly worried for my kids. "We felt like we were watching Animal Planet live because the veranda is only about 10 foot off the ground." Last year The Cairns Post reported several cases of pythons caught eating wallabies. A 5m python was filmed eating a wallaby on the banks of the Barron River in February. And in November, a 4m snake was seen tucking into a 1m tall wallaby at Mooroobool. * Cairns Post
Snakes
A Chinese man who nursed a dying snake back to health claims it saved his family by raising the alarm when their house was on fire. Yu Feng, of Fushun, in Liaoning province, found the dying black snake outside his home, reports the Liaosheng Evening Post. "I treated it with herbal medicines, and in 20 days it recovered," he said. He took the snake to a nearby mountain more than a mile away to release it back into the wild - but the next morning it was back at his house. "I then set it free another two times, but it always came back," Yu added. "People around me said the snake had come back to repay my kindness, so I kept it." He named the snake Long Long and adopted it as a pet - then one night, he claims it saved the whole family.
Yu explained: "I was asleep when suddenly I felt something cold on my face. I opened my eyes and it was Long Long. "He had never woken me up before but I was so sleepy I went back to sleep. But Long Long grabbed my clothes with his teeth and whipped the bed with his tail. "Then he went to my mother's bed and whipped her bed with his tail. I woke up then and smelt something burning, and saw my mother's electric blanket was on fire so I leapt up and turned it off." Local reptile experts say snakes don't have the intelligence to act in this way - but Yu believes Long Long acted out of kindness, to repay Feng for saving his own life. *Ananova
Spiders on the Move
They are heavily armed and efficient predators _ and they're on the move. Weeks of hot, dry weather followed by recent rain has brought creepy crawlies out to invade backyards, laundries and pools in Sydney and regional centres. The conditions, and factors such as urban development and lots of pollen, has snakes, spiders, stinging caterdhpillars, bees, paper wasps and other bities looking for food or a mate. The Australian Reptile Park collection of funnel web spiders, which until a few weeks ago was down to a handful, is now teeming with specimens brought in by the public. The park at Somersby on the state's Central Coast is the only zoo in the world to milk funnel webs and is sole supplier of snake venom to the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories.
While snakes are bred on site or come from other zoos, the park's funnel web milking program relies on spiders caught in backyard pools, behind sheds or in other crannies. Since its inception 60 years ago, antivenene produced from the park's snakes and spiders has saved an estimated 30,000 lives in Australia and in Papua New Guinea. ``We had a really cold October, comparatively, and now we've had a long spell of very warm weather combined with rain,'' park manager Mary Rayner said. `So this is a crucial time for parents with young kids especially with the school holidays to watch out. People should always shake their shoes, never leave washing on the ground or out overnight and really be careful around laundries and other dark, damp places.'' Funnel webs are most active in the breeding season, typically February and late summer but if conditions are right _ like those in Sydney and regional centres right now _ males will be on the prowl for a mate.
And that can be very bad news for people who are also drawn out into their gardens by the summer weather. Reptile experts also believe hot weather and earthworks for housing estates and development across Sydney's sprawling north and southwest has also contributed to snakes showing up in people's backyards. Ms Rayner said several species such as red-bellied black snakes and brown snakes had adapted well to suburban environments where landscaped rockeries, wood piles and other ``human influence'' provided excellent habitat. *Daily Telegraph
No Water for Wildlife
Malnourished and desperate wild animals continue to flock to Warriedar homestead, 60km south of Paynes Find, drawn by the empty promise of water. Instead, all they found yesterday was death. A feral goat and its kid, its ribs sticking out, huddled in a patch of shade near a rusted tap on the side of the old house. But the water they expected to find there will never run again. Inside, the corpses of five goats splayed across the floors of dilapidated bedrooms and bathrooms rot in the stinking summer heat. Once a home, the house has become a ramshackle weatherboard and corrugated iron tomb, a place of death thick with thousands of buzzing flies.At Warriedar homestead, the water has gone but its siren call still draws animals to their deaths.
Three years ago, the Department of Environment and Conservation took control of the 100,000ha property with the intention of returning it to its natural state. As part of the process, its water sources, bores which had run for 100 years, were gradually plugged. The fate of animals in the region caught off-guard by the sudden disappearance of the water was sealed with the last of the wells. The house, abandoned by the last lot of tenants six months ago, was the final water source. Inside its rubbish-strewn rooms, five dehydrated goats made their final stand. Too weak to find more water and seeking what little shelter they could from the deadly heat, they lay slowly dying until bullets ended their suffering. And it isn't just the remains of goats that dot the grounds. The sun-bleached bones of an emu, picked clean and broken by some scavenger, sit in the dust near the rusting hulks of trucks, tractors and car bodies.Around the dry water troughs and skeletal dying trees, a small graveyard's worth of rib cages, skulls and vertebrae hide in the long grass.
The DEC's intentions aside, there is little that is natural about the homestead today. The signs of promise gone sour and broken dreams cover the grounds, the sense of isolation and desolation almost palpable. Headless windmills, now silent and still, totter over bone dry soil carpeted with discarded children's toys and broken glass. Loose corrugated iron roofing flaps in the wind and echoes in cavernous rooms filled with overturned furniture. Fresh dung piled inside shows other desperate creatures had searched there for salvation and left wanting. Bullets may have mercifully killed the goats in the house but the hands that turned off the dusty taps and sealed the wells tormented them first. *WA News
Ed Comment; Its not as though these idiots in DEC were not warned...there was lots of concern expressed in the media about the loss of water for native and other wild animals before they shut off the bores......and this was not the only property affected. WA DEC used to be called CALM, but they changed the name because it had a very bad reputation....but they didnt change the idiots who run it.
Frogs
in a bizarre upset of the food chain a green frog devoured a brown tree snake for dinner on Sunday night. For North Mackay resident Ian Hamilton, who is accustomed to seeing snakes swallow frogs, the sight of the predator being turned into prey near his home was almost unbelievable. “We have seen snakes eating frogs here but not the other way around,” Mr Hamilton said. “We have actually saved frogs a couple of times because they make quite a noise when the snakes are getting them. “But don’t ask me how on earth that frog swallowed that snake.” Mr Hamilton said the hungry frog took at least 15 minutes to swallow the snake in its entirety. Meanwhile, other frogs sat watching their adventurous friend gobble up his scaly dinner. Rowan Pert, of Pert, Perry and Evans Veterinary Surgeons, said the snake appeared to be a brown tree snake, Boiga irregularis.
“They are usually found in suburbia and are also known as night tigers,” Mr Pert said. “That type of snake usually eats birds. “But in the food chain anything can happen as long as you are bigger than the bloke you are eating,” he said. “It is just a measure of what can happen out there in the wild.” Northern Beaches veterinary surgeon David Lemmon said he had heard of frogs eating snakes before but it was a very unusual occurrence. “I have heard of this happening before but frogs are more insect eaters,” Mr Lemmon said. He said brown tree snakes would generally attack rodents or birds but would normally steer clear of frogs. The rear-fanged snakes are relatively harmless. *Daily Mercury
Tarantulas
Tarantula lovers be warned: if you are going to get up close and personal with your hairy eight-legged friend, do it from the other side of an aquarium pane or wearing a pair of glasses. That's a lesson that a 29-year-old man from Leeds in Britain learned the hard way, the British medical journal The Lancet has reported. In February of 2009, the man turned up at St James's University Hospital in Leeds after three weeks of stinging pain in one eye, which had become red, watery and light-sensitive. Doctors prescribed antibiotics, assuming he was afflicted with a particularly stubborn case of conjunctivitis, but the treatment did not relieve the symptoms. When they re-examined the patient with high-magnification lenses, doctors spotted ultra-thin, hair-like projections sticking into the cornea. They were so small that even microforceps could not remove them.
That's when the man recalled a close encounter with his pet spider shortly before his eye first became irritated. While cleaning a stubborn stain on the glass tank that was home to his chilean rose tarantula, he turned his head to find the fist-sized arachnid very nearby. The spider released a "mist of hairs" which hit his eye and face, according the journal. Treatment with topical steroids largely cleared his symptoms, but as late as August he continued to complain of mild discomfort. "As a defence mechanism against potential predators, the tarantula will rub its hind legs against its abdomen to dislodge" special hairs from the back of its body, the study explained. "Multiple barbs allow the hairs to migrate through ocular tissue as well as other surfaces." Moral of the story? "We suggest that tarantula keepers be advised to routinely wear eye protection when handling these animals," it concluded. *AFP
Cane Toads
A group fighting to keep cane toads out of Western Australia's Kimberley says it is being stopped from using carbon dioxide to gas the pests because bureaucrats have told them it is too cruel. Kimberley Toad Busters has labelled the Department of Environment and Conservation's (DEC) refusal to sanction the use of carbon dioxide to kill cane toads as "ridiculous". Environment Minister Donna Farragher recently overrode her department and allowed the temporary use of carbon dioxide to euthanise the toads, but the DEC says it is inhumane and will not support it until further tests are done. Now Toad Busters is stepping up its campaign to allow the permanent use of carbon dioxide, a method already used across the border in the Northern Territory.
Toad Busters spokeswoman Lee Scott-Virtue says if gassing is ruled out that only leaves freezing or blunt trauma to kill the toads. "It's ridiculous to suggest the method of CO2 is inhumane. The toads may very well suffocate in the end in the bags, but they are unconscious," she said. "The thing that worries me the most is that family groups are definitely not going to want to become involved if we have to bludgeon toads to death. "I suspect that it will take a lot of the community energy out of the cane toad fight if this ridiculous edict goes ahead." Meanwhile the group has secured more than $300,000 in government funding to support its fight against the toads. *ABC
Seals
An animal welfare advocate has called for a crackdown on people who interfere with sea animals after a baby seal was harassed to death by "well-intentioned" beachgoers. The 7kg New Zealand fur seal pup died on Saturday - just moments after rescuers arrived at Middleton Beach to assess her condition. Project Dolphin Safe president Aaron Machado said the female pup had been repeatedly moved, dumped into the water and frightened by dogs for more than a week. "This animal was being harassed for eight days," he said. "People were putting it on their surfboards and paddling it back out to sea, they were moving it, letting their dogs run up to it. "If the pup is on the beach, it is on the beach for a reason. The pup knows why it is there and the mother knows why it is there."
Mr Machado said his organisation - as well as National Parks and Wildlife - were called by members of the public for more than a week about the seal. But every time a wildlife officer arrived, the seal had been moved or put into the water. Mr Machado said mother seals took pups to a safe stretch of coastline - away from the rest of the colony - while they fed at sea. He said the mother might be gone for several days - even up to a week - but would return to the exact spot where she had left her pup. "I'm sure these people are well-intentioned and just trying to do the right thing, but they need to understand that these animals should be left alone," he said. It was illegal to approach within 10m of a seal while it was on land, he said. Department for Environment and Heritage Adelaide regional conservator Laurence Haegi said most people who approached seal pups were trying to help. He said it was important to know it was best to leave rescue efforts to experts. People with concerns should telephone DEH or Project Dolphin Safe on 8262 5452. *Adelaide Now
Meanwhile a lucky group of beachgoing children had a summer trip to remember when they came across a seal pup lazing on the foreshore. The four children and a parent, Jackie Murley, sat and watched the small seal as it came ashore at Aspendale. `We saw the seal swimming along the shoreline, then he or she came on to the beach to rest,'' Mrs Murley said. The seal appeared in no hurry to move on, she said. ``We were there for approximately two hours and he was still there when we left.'' Mrs Murley said the four children watched the seal snooze in the sun while keeping guard to ensure it was safe. Wildlife Victoria spokeswoman Fiona Corke encouraged people to enjoy chance encounters with wildlife but give the animals a wide berth. ``We can enjoy wildlife but just respect them and leave these animals alone,'' Ms Corke said. To report injured wildlife , contact Wildlife Victoria on 1300 094 535. *Mordialoc News
Road Kills
The NSW Roads and Traffic Authority has proudly announced the success of a road safety program - for our State's native wildlife. To reduce the number of animals killed on NSW roads each year, the RTA has installed more than 200 animal crossings on NSW highways. Rather than wait for a break in the constant flow of traffic, native animals are using specifically built tunnels and bridges to cross roads. And some of Australia's favourite native creatures have been smiling for the cameras as they scurry by. A little possum was snapped crossing over a rope bridge that hangs above the Pacific Highway on the Mid North Coast which the RTA installed four years ago. Since the bridge's unveiling, the RTA estimates it has been used by wildlife pedestrians at least 250 times. "Roads can be hazardous for slow-moving animals, such as koalas, and also for drivers who may brake or swerve suddenly to avoid (hitting) animals (crossing the roads)," an RTA spokesman said. "Building habitat connections like overhead wire-rope bridges across highways helps maintain healthy and genetically diverse native animal populations," he added.
Jilea Carney, spokeswoman for WIRES Australia, said the tunnels and overpasses were essential to help reduce the animal road toll. "We need to give wildlife every possible chance and there are a number of road-kill hot spots around the State and the (wildlife) toll at the hot spots is quite high," she said. "Where (safety) diversions have been installed, such as possum crossings and tunnels, that wildlife road toll decreases." Ms Carney said loss of habitat is one of the most common impacts threatening Australia's native animal populations, and road construction contributed to that. The first native animal crossings were built under the F3 Freeway about 20 years ago. Since then, bridges and tunnels have been constructed at different locations around the State to maintain habitat connections for threatened populations and to minimise the impact of road construction on the environment. Animal crossings can be spotted at Bonville Bypass near Coffs Harbour and the Hume Highway duplication near Holbrook. *Daily Telegraph
Changes to the EPBC Act?
Environmental extremists would be the big winners from a proposal to make it easier for grassroots activists to tackle governments in the courts, a property development industry body has warned. The warnings, from Urban Taskforce Australia, come after one of the Rudd Government's key advisers recommended law changes to reduce the financial threat faced by community environment groups entering the legal system. Dr Allan Hawke has told Environment Minister Peter Garrett that ''public interest'' litigation has been hampered by laws forcing groups to prove upfront they can cover the costs of legal teams and delays caused by injunctions to contentious environmental projects. Dr Hawke's recommendation that Mr Garrett alter environment laws to make a day in court less financially daunting for community activists prompted a sharp response from UTA, which represents a group of Australia's biggest developers.
"'It's clear the review's proposals make it easier for environmental groups and local opponents to litigate projects. This will reduce opportunities for Australia to get the urban development it needs,'' said UTA chief executive Aaron Gadiel. ''Giving not-in-my-backyard activists a platform to challenge decisions will drench Australia in an American-style litigation culture.'' Mr Gadiel said Dr Hawke's recommendations were seeking to elevate environmental concerns above social and economic factors when approvals for new developments are considered. ''This represents a victory for extreme environment groups,'' he said. 'If this proposal is adopted, we could see the expansion of our cities halted on the flimsiest of environmental arguments.'' Mr Garrett is considering Dr Hawke's recommendations and will make a response in the coming year. *The Land
Panthers
The discovery of large paw prints on a Humevale property has sparked speculation of panthers living in the Whittlesea bush. The indentations, about 100mm in diameter and resembling big cat prints, were found in the driveway of Colin Hill's home, invigorating Whittlesea's own big cat legend. ``There was a set of tracks at the bottom of the driveway that crossed the yard and disappeared down into the valley,'' Mr Hill said last week. ``They were definitely a cat print and were as big as my fist. Judging by the size, I'd say they had to belong to a 50-80kg animal.'' It was not the first time Mr Hill had come across such tracks. `Before the bushfires, I found another set of tracks down near a dam on the next property,'' he said. Those prints were photographed, but the pictures were destroyed in the Black Saturday bushfires. Mr Hill said they resembled the prints of a large cat with long claws. ``The animal has used its claws to help lift itself out of the mud and the prints were unmistakable,'' he said.
Two years ago, he shot and killed a small jet black animal with yellow eyes which he believed at the time to be a feral cat. Now he said it might have been a panther cub. ``At the time I didn't even think about it, but I've never seen a cat with yellow eyes,'' he said. `After seeing the tracks, I wonder if it had been something else.'' Victorian big cat enthusiast John Turner said it was difficult to determine what had made the prints. `They are interesting but not definitive,'' he said, adding that they might have come from a large dog. Mr Hill was convinced they were not from a dog. Mr Turner has been attempting to uncover the big cat myth for 25 years and runs the website bigcatsvic.com.au, dedicated to Victorian sightings. He said there had been a number of big cat sightings in the Whittlesea area in the past five years.
Most sightings described a jet black leopard-sized creature with yellow eyes in or around farmland or on roadsides. The big cat theory is one that is common throughout Victoria, with about 400 reported sightings in the past five years. Some believe the creatures are offspring of black panthers brought over by US soldiers during World War II as mascots that escaped into the bush. Others think they may be an unindentified Australian predatory cat. Many discount the big cat theory entirely, claiming the creatures could simply be feral cats or black wallabies. Is this the paw print of a big cat or dog? Tell us online at whittlesealeader.com.au *Whittlesea Leader
The Fair Dinkum Characters
The new Summer range of toddlers wildlife shirts, shorts, and singlets are now avaliable on the Fair Dinkum Characters website at http://www.fairdinkum-characters.com too late for Christmas unfortuntely. The Dinkums are Ambassadors for the Wildlife Protection Association of Australia Inc. Watch for them playing in a Shopping Centre near you!
New political party, Animal Justice Party The time has come for animals to have a voice in the political arena. Animal Rights/Welfare is the next social justice movement and everyone can be a part of it. Please go to this website below to see how you can make a difference. Help end the suffering and become a voice for those without one. http://www.animaljusticeparty.org/About_the_AJP.html There you will find forms for both NSW and Federal memebrship. At this point no memebership fee is payable, and its important to get 750 members for the ANIMAL JUSTICE PARTY to be registered as a political party. Other States will follow. It is important you fill in your name exactly as it appears on the Electoral Roll, otherwise your application will be invalid. You can download membership forms from the website. Please post to this address only... Animal Justice Party, P.O. Box 3126, Blakehurst 2221, Sydney NSW http://www.animaljusticeparty.org/About_the_AJP.html The animals need you......
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! (We recently ran out od stock of this very popular magical DVD, but now have new supplies in! Buy Now! Buy Now!....before we run out again!)
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!
In the wake of couple of instances of shonky charity organisation mismanagement, the Federal government is currently undertaking an inquiry into charitable organisations and incorporations. As yet noone knows what changes will be made, but like death and taxes, changes are certainly coming. These changes are sure to make running a small incorporated organisation even more onerous. Many groups already find it difficult to get executive members to take on roles such as Treasurer, and many find it even more difficult to find funding for compulsory audits etc. It's going to get worse, we suspect. It's always been mystery to us why any small community-based incorporated organisation with under a $100,000 turnover has to follow virtually the same Rules as a multimillion dollar organisation like a large RSL club, which is often just a defacto gambling den. We suggest that the government will probably throw out the baby with the bathwater, as it usually does, so if your organisation is having trouble keeping up with the charitable reporting requirements now, it can only get worse. We suggest that you keep up to date with all receipt keeping, and tighten up your processes now so that you minimise any extra onerous activities the Feds may demand. *WPAA
Whaling
There is mounting pressure on the Federal Government to take legal action against Japanese whalers. The Federal Opposition is giving the Government until the end of January to submit documents for a case against Japanese whalers in the international court. Opposition spokesman Greg Hunt has written to Environment Minister Peter Garrett expressing "extreme frustration and disappointment" over the Government's failure to send a ship to monitor whaling activities in the Southern Ocean. Mr Hunt says the Government pledged to take legal action three years ago. "We want the whaling stopped, and if the Government will not send a ship then they must submit court action papers and give Japan until June 30 to end whaling," he said. Mr Hunt says the Japanese Government has abandoned the pretext for scientific whaling, and is slaughtering whales for food. *ABC
Ed Comment; We note the Howard Government was pretty ineffective in stopping whaling in the Southern Ocean either........
Hunting in NSW
Authorities want public help to learn who has shot 150 brumbies, including a number of foals, in the past 18 months in southern New South Wales. Ten brumbies were shot in state forests near Tumbarumba last weekend with what appeared to be a high-powered rifle. Forests New South Wales says the horses were shot in the body several times, sometimes at close range. Planning manager Kevin Peddy says officers have been shocked by the inhumane nature of the shootings. "In this latest round, it appears that a domestic palomino mare who had escaped from a nearby property had also been shot." he said. "Also included were some foals, so it is quite upsetting and the fact that they're being shot in a sort of appalling way doesn't make it any better." * ABC
Ed Comment; Hunting is legal in most NSW State Forests, but when something like this becomes public, the authorities get offended. We have to wonder how many of these incidents never come to light?
Magpie Geese Hunting
The shooting season for NT ducks and geese ended on the 31st December. More than 30,000 magpie geese and about 2000 ducks are believed to have been shot by 1850 hunters during the four-month season. There about two million geese in the NT, the Government claims. The Natural Resources Department said hunters now had to lodge their permit returns on how many birds were shot. The Government claims a "sustainable harvest" limit was between 10 and 14 per cent of the goose population. *WPAA
Traveston Dam
Only 30 people from 494 properties acquired for the failed $1.8 billion Traveston Dam have so far expressed interest in buying back. While bought-out owners have until May 31 to let the State Government know they want to buy back at the same prices at which they sold, anti-dam campaigners testing the waters say hardly anyone will. This means the Government will have to put hundreds of properties near Gympie on the open market to recoup some of the more than $500 million spent buying about 80 per cent of land within the proposed dam footprint. Treasurer Andrew Fraser has already said about $265 million of Queensland Water Infrastructure's dam costs would be "non-recoverable". *Courier Mail
Hunting Wolves
Sweden is to launch its first wolf cull in 45 years following a decision by the country's parliament to control the species' numbers. Around 10,000 hunters are reported to be planning to take part, hoping to get a rare opportunity to bag a wolf. But it is thought there are only between 180 and 220 wolves in Sweden and the Environmental Protection Agency says only 27 can be shot. Hunters insist there are measures to prevent them shooting too many. The hunt will end before the mating season begins in mid-February. *BBC
Albatross
These photographs of albatross chicks oon this website below were taken on Midway Atoll, a tiny stretch of sand and coral near the middle of the North Pacific. The nesting babies are fed bellies-full of plastic by their parents, who soar out over the vast polluted ocean collecting what looks to them like food to bring back to their young. On this diet of human trash, every year tens of thousands of albatross chicks die on Midway from starvation, toxicity, and choking. See photos here.......
http://www.chrisjordan.com/current_set2.php?id=11To document this phenomenon as faithfully as possible, none of the plastic in any of these photographs was moved, placed, manipulated, arranged, or altered in any way. These images depict the untouched stomach contents of baby birds in one of the world’s most remote marine sanctuaries, more than 2000 miles from the nearest continent. *Network Item
Tassie Devils
A team of international scientists has made a major breakthrough in the fight to save tasmanian devils from extinction. The team says it has worked out exactly what kind of cancer is killing the animals, finding that the deadly facial tumour disease is growing in the devils' nerve cells. Until now, the contagious cancer has been as mysterious as it is deadly. The scientists have published their findings in today's edition of the journal Science. *
Dingoes
The Fraser Island Association says part of the Eurong dingo fence has been breached and the animals could come into the island township. Association's president David Anderson, who lives in Eurong, says a dingo grid has been filled with sand for two months. He says the breach has allowed a domestic cattle dog that was illegally brought onto the island to escape into the surrounding area. "There's potential for dingos to walk inside the perimeter by walking across the grid, stepping over the wires that are electrified and getting into the compound," Mr Anderson said. "It's demonstrated by the fact that this cattle dog got loose from a house inside the fence and was able to walk across the grid into the outside." The Parks and Wildlife service says the electrified grid is still a deterrent to dingoes and there have been no recent confirmed reports of dingoes inside the fence. Regional manager Rob Allan says rangers are aware of the escaped cattle dog. *ABC
Sharks
Three endangered speartooth sharks have made their home at the Melbourne Aquarium. It is the only collection of the freshwater sharks in an aquarium anywhere in the world. They have been joined by a trio of freshwater sawfish. The Aquarium's curator, Nick Kirby, says both species are extremely scarce in the wild. "The animals are found in remote areas, it's really warm, your water temperatures are 30 degrees [Celsius], maybe even higher, so they really are an unusual place to find animals and most people are not aware that they are seen," he said. *ABC
Ed Comment; There are no Management Plans in place for rare fish taken from locations around the World specifically for the aquarium trade. Aquariums are noted for high fish mortality, it may be these animals would be better off left in the wild.
Dolphins
Dolphins have been declared the world’s second most intelligent creatures after humans, with scientists suggesting they are so bright that they should be treated as “non-human persons”. Studies into dolphin behaviour have highlighted how similar their communications are to those of humans and that they are brighter than chimpanzees. These have been backed up by anatomical research showing that dolphin brains have many key features associated with high intelligence. The researchers argue that their work shows it is morally unacceptable to keep such intelligent animals in amusement parks or to kill them for food or by accident when fishing. Some 300,000 whales, dolphins and porpoises die in this way each year. *Times on Line
Kangaroo Meat
David Oldfield, former adviser to Pauline Hanson turned 2GB radio host, was nearly sidelined from his first day in the chair as host of the 2GB drive shift yesterday after making himself a breakfast fit for a king - a king cavalier that is. Oldfield has been moved from nights to the drive shift at 2GB over summer and, excited at the prospect of enjoying a higher profile, he yesterday decided he would make himself a hearty breakfast to kick start his first day in the chair - rissoles on toast. But the rissoles he pulled from the freezer were not your regular minced beef and onion variety and were certainly not intended for humans. His wife Lisa had put them aside for the couple's cross-dressing jack russells Dinky and Lulu. So, although free of heartworm for the next month, Oldfield reckons he may never acquire a taste for the Allwormer stuffed kangaroo meatball and was crook as a dog before struggling into the station yesterday. *ABC
Kangaroos
A kangaroo has been left to fend for itself in the wild after its mother was euthanased after another crossbow attack in Mandurah. The attack brings to 5 the number of kangaroos shot in the past two weeks, with three put down. The RSPCA has launched a hunt for those responsible and are appealing for help from the public. RSPCA inspectors tracked the kangaroo at the Parklands locality in Mandurah yesterday morning after it was spotted on Tuesday night with a pink crossbow bolt lodged deep in its hind quarters. The animals's hindquarters were badly infected and riddled with maggots, meaning that it was shot a few days ago. It also showed signs of secondary infection. "It must have been in awful pain,' RSPCA inspector Richard Barry said. 'Our inspector was forced to euthanise the animal on humanitarian grounds. He said that as the inspectors were preparing to shoot the kangaroo, a small joey emerged from its pouch. Mr Barry said the joey was released when it was determined that it could fend for itself. RSPCA inspectors spotted two other kangaroos with arrows in them. Last week Mandurah rangers were forced to euthanaise two kangaroos that had been shot with arrows. Both animals' wounds were badly infected. People with information should call the RSPCA on 9209 9300 or Crime stoppers on 1800 333 000. WA News
Duck Shooting
Victoria's duck hunting season will be cut by two weeks again in 2010 but hunters will be able to increase their hauls by three to five ducks per bag. Acting Minister for Environment and Climate Change Tim Holding said the compromise struck a balance between ensuring sustainable duck numbers and the interests of hunters. The season will run from March 20 to May 30, two weeks shorter than normal. Mr Holding says population data collected across eastern Australia indicated duck numbers had increased since the last duck season. "On balance the Government is convinced that hunting will not adversely affect populations of ducks at the levels allowed for the 2010 season," he said.
However, anti-duck shooting protesters said native waterbirds were under extreme stress. "With wetlands drying and waterbird numbers down by 82 per cent since 1983, Premier Brumby is acting like a climate change sceptic who lacks the vision to understand the serious plight native waterbirds face," Coalition Against Duck Shooting director Laurie Levy said. "Calling another season simply for political reasons to accommodate a small number of duck shooters is corruption and must be investigated by a crime commission."
The RSPCA also joined the call to ban the duck shooting season. RSPCA Victoria President Dr Hugh Wirth said the decision to go ahead with a duck shooting season was "irresponsible and displays a blatant disregard for the welfare of Australian wildlife". "It is no secret that thousands of ducks are wounded horrifically each and every season and die a slow and painful death," he said. He said 87 per cent of the community supports a ban, but the community's voice had fallen on deaf ears. One group that did welcome the announcement was Field and Game Australia which said the prospects for a good season had been enhanced by major floods in northern Australia over the past 18 months. FGA chief executive Rod Drew said ducks were well protected with hunters only having access to about one per cent of Victoria's 20,000 wetlands and 355,000 farm dams. He said waterfowl hunters provided a boost to Victoria's regional economy with thousands travelling to rural areas. *Herald Sun
No reprieve for Native Waterbirds, Premier John Brumby – just another climate change sceptic
The Coalition Against Duck Shooting today slammed the Victorian Brumby Government for selling out Australia’s native waterbirds by calling a recreational duck shooting season for political reasons. The Coalition Against Duck Shooting’s Campaign Director, Laurie Levy, today said: "The Brumby Government’s decision to allow a duck shooting season in 2010 is totally irresponsible and a betrayal of the 87% of Victorians who want the recreational shooting of native waterbirds banned. "At a time when Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has been in Copenhagen seeking an agreement on serious climate change issues, Premier Brumby seems oblivious to the potential crisis and has irresponsibly called another duck shooting season when native waterbirds are under extreme stress." "With wetlands drying and waterbird numbers down by 82% since 1983, Premier Brumby is acting like a climate change sceptic who lacks the vision to understand the serious plight native waterbirds face," said Levy.
"It is difficult to understand how a modern Victorian Labor Government in the 21st century can still have the same destructive policies towards Australia’s native waterbirds as the Bolte Liberal Government of the 1950s and 60s. Times have changed, with the recreational shooting of native waterbirds banned by three State Labor Premiers in WA, NSW and Queensland," Levy said. "As the Brumby Government has again made a political decision to look after their duck shooting mates, the Coalition Against Duck Shooting fully supports Ted Baillieu’s call for an independent Crime Commission to be established in Victoria. "Calling another season simply for political reasons to accommodate a small number of duck shooters is corruption and must be investigated by a Crime Commission. It defies all the scientific evidence that indicates waterbird numbers have seriously declined, and the fact that most Victorians want native waterbirds protected (87% according to a recent Morgan Research Poll). "Once again the Coalition Against Duck Shooting’s rescue team will return to the wetlands to protect Australia’s native waterbirds from recreational shooters," Levy concluded. For further information contact: Laurie Levy, Campaign Director, 0418 392 826
Fraser Island
Wildlife authorities fear an escaped cattle dog could spread a potentially deadly disease through Fraser Island's dingo population. The Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) says the cattle dog has not been sighted since escaping on Saturday from its home in Eurong, on the south of the island. Regional manager Rob Allan told AAP the escapee had been brought to the township illegally because domestic dogs are banned from the World Heritage-listed island. The QPWS said it was not searching for the dog because it could be anywhere. The Fraser Island Association says that in order to escape the dog would have had to breach a dingo fence surrounding the township. The association's president David Anderson said the fence was supposed to be electrified, but was ineffectual because it had been covered in sand for two months.
"The concern is, domestic animals can carry diseases and transmit them to dingoes that they come in contact with and the dingoes don't necessarily have immunity or resistance," Mr Anderson told AAP. "Potentially it is an ecological disaster. "It could wipe out or at least decimate the population of dingoes if there was a disease the dog was carrying." In the late 1970s, parvovirus spread by domestic dogs had a devastating impact on the island's dingo population. The virus can kill dogs and dingoes through gastrointestinal tract damage and dehydration. *9News
Wildlife Trafficking
A NT person has been busted for allegedly illegally posting two live snakes by air freight. Parks and Wildlife Service officers seized the exotic jungle carpet pythons - which were bound for Sydney - at Darwin airport yesterday. The non-venomous animals, which are valued at about $500 each, measured between 50cm and 1m long. They are generally found in the Queensland rainforest. Parks and Wildlife officers were informed about the allegedly illegal shipment about 2pm yesterday. They immediately seized the two animals. Senior ranger Peter Phillips said the snakes were posted in a labelled box - but failed to include proper permits. He said Parks and Wildlife were now investigating whether the offencewas deliberate.
"It's important that people understand that wildlife is protected under law and when exporting and importing protected wildlife is done illegally, people are in for a large fine and possibly imprisonment," Mr Phillips said. "All native animals in the Northern Territory are protected and you need a permit to export or import them." If found guilty, the sender could find himself in prison. Darwin reptile handler Chris Peberdy hailed the efforts of the officers yesterday. He said: "Parks and Wildlife should be commended of their actions as non-native reptiles entering the Territory without the proper permits and checks can pose potential bio-security risks to our local flora and fauna." *NT News
Pythons
A Cooktown family watched in horror as a python living in their backyard ate a young wallaby while its mum kicked and scratched the snake in vain to save the joey. The 4m scrub python ambushed a group of wallabies about 4.30pm on Monday while the Barton-Ilic family watched from their veranda. In less than 45 minutes, the wallaby had been suffocated and swallowed. The python quickly retreated to a hole on the property where the family lives. Snake handlers have covered the serpent’s den with rocks and will attempt to remove it. Judith Barton-Ilic felt like she was watching Animal Planet with her kids Braidyn, 13, and Tiarn, 10, when the action unfolded.
"The poor mother was trying to stop the snake from eating its baby and was jumping on it," she said. "Our cats would just be a snack and because it was a decent size wallaby, I’m incredibly worried for my kids. "We felt like we were watching Animal Planet live because the veranda is only about 10 foot off the ground." Last year The Cairns Post reported several cases of pythons caught eating wallabies. A 5m python was filmed eating a wallaby on the banks of the Barron River in February. And in November, a 4m snake was seen tucking into a 1m tall wallaby at Mooroobool. * Cairns Post
Snakes
A Chinese man who nursed a dying snake back to health claims it saved his family by raising the alarm when their house was on fire. Yu Feng, of Fushun, in Liaoning province, found the dying black snake outside his home, reports the Liaosheng Evening Post. "I treated it with herbal medicines, and in 20 days it recovered," he said. He took the snake to a nearby mountain more than a mile away to release it back into the wild - but the next morning it was back at his house. "I then set it free another two times, but it always came back," Yu added. "People around me said the snake had come back to repay my kindness, so I kept it." He named the snake Long Long and adopted it as a pet - then one night, he claims it saved the whole family.
Yu explained: "I was asleep when suddenly I felt something cold on my face. I opened my eyes and it was Long Long. "He had never woken me up before but I was so sleepy I went back to sleep. But Long Long grabbed my clothes with his teeth and whipped the bed with his tail. "Then he went to my mother's bed and whipped her bed with his tail. I woke up then and smelt something burning, and saw my mother's electric blanket was on fire so I leapt up and turned it off." Local reptile experts say snakes don't have the intelligence to act in this way - but Yu believes Long Long acted out of kindness, to repay Feng for saving his own life. *Ananova
Spiders on the Move
They are heavily armed and efficient predators _ and they're on the move. Weeks of hot, dry weather followed by recent rain has brought creepy crawlies out to invade backyards, laundries and pools in Sydney and regional centres. The conditions, and factors such as urban development and lots of pollen, has snakes, spiders, stinging caterdhpillars, bees, paper wasps and other bities looking for food or a mate. The Australian Reptile Park collection of funnel web spiders, which until a few weeks ago was down to a handful, is now teeming with specimens brought in by the public. The park at Somersby on the state's Central Coast is the only zoo in the world to milk funnel webs and is sole supplier of snake venom to the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories.
While snakes are bred on site or come from other zoos, the park's funnel web milking program relies on spiders caught in backyard pools, behind sheds or in other crannies. Since its inception 60 years ago, antivenene produced from the park's snakes and spiders has saved an estimated 30,000 lives in Australia and in Papua New Guinea. ``We had a really cold October, comparatively, and now we've had a long spell of very warm weather combined with rain,'' park manager Mary Rayner said. `So this is a crucial time for parents with young kids especially with the school holidays to watch out. People should always shake their shoes, never leave washing on the ground or out overnight and really be careful around laundries and other dark, damp places.'' Funnel webs are most active in the breeding season, typically February and late summer but if conditions are right _ like those in Sydney and regional centres right now _ males will be on the prowl for a mate.
And that can be very bad news for people who are also drawn out into their gardens by the summer weather. Reptile experts also believe hot weather and earthworks for housing estates and development across Sydney's sprawling north and southwest has also contributed to snakes showing up in people's backyards. Ms Rayner said several species such as red-bellied black snakes and brown snakes had adapted well to suburban environments where landscaped rockeries, wood piles and other ``human influence'' provided excellent habitat. *Daily Telegraph
No Water for Wildlife
Malnourished and desperate wild animals continue to flock to Warriedar homestead, 60km south of Paynes Find, drawn by the empty promise of water. Instead, all they found yesterday was death. A feral goat and its kid, its ribs sticking out, huddled in a patch of shade near a rusted tap on the side of the old house. But the water they expected to find there will never run again. Inside, the corpses of five goats splayed across the floors of dilapidated bedrooms and bathrooms rot in the stinking summer heat. Once a home, the house has become a ramshackle weatherboard and corrugated iron tomb, a place of death thick with thousands of buzzing flies.At Warriedar homestead, the water has gone but its siren call still draws animals to their deaths.
Three years ago, the Department of Environment and Conservation took control of the 100,000ha property with the intention of returning it to its natural state. As part of the process, its water sources, bores which had run for 100 years, were gradually plugged. The fate of animals in the region caught off-guard by the sudden disappearance of the water was sealed with the last of the wells. The house, abandoned by the last lot of tenants six months ago, was the final water source. Inside its rubbish-strewn rooms, five dehydrated goats made their final stand. Too weak to find more water and seeking what little shelter they could from the deadly heat, they lay slowly dying until bullets ended their suffering. And it isn't just the remains of goats that dot the grounds. The sun-bleached bones of an emu, picked clean and broken by some scavenger, sit in the dust near the rusting hulks of trucks, tractors and car bodies.Around the dry water troughs and skeletal dying trees, a small graveyard's worth of rib cages, skulls and vertebrae hide in the long grass.
The DEC's intentions aside, there is little that is natural about the homestead today. The signs of promise gone sour and broken dreams cover the grounds, the sense of isolation and desolation almost palpable. Headless windmills, now silent and still, totter over bone dry soil carpeted with discarded children's toys and broken glass. Loose corrugated iron roofing flaps in the wind and echoes in cavernous rooms filled with overturned furniture. Fresh dung piled inside shows other desperate creatures had searched there for salvation and left wanting. Bullets may have mercifully killed the goats in the house but the hands that turned off the dusty taps and sealed the wells tormented them first. *WA News
Ed Comment; Its not as though these idiots in DEC were not warned...there was lots of concern expressed in the media about the loss of water for native and other wild animals before they shut off the bores......and this was not the only property affected. WA DEC used to be called CALM, but they changed the name because it had a very bad reputation....but they didnt change the idiots who run it.
Frogs
in a bizarre upset of the food chain a green frog devoured a brown tree snake for dinner on Sunday night. For North Mackay resident Ian Hamilton, who is accustomed to seeing snakes swallow frogs, the sight of the predator being turned into prey near his home was almost unbelievable. “We have seen snakes eating frogs here but not the other way around,” Mr Hamilton said. “We have actually saved frogs a couple of times because they make quite a noise when the snakes are getting them. “But don’t ask me how on earth that frog swallowed that snake.” Mr Hamilton said the hungry frog took at least 15 minutes to swallow the snake in its entirety. Meanwhile, other frogs sat watching their adventurous friend gobble up his scaly dinner. Rowan Pert, of Pert, Perry and Evans Veterinary Surgeons, said the snake appeared to be a brown tree snake, Boiga irregularis.
“They are usually found in suburbia and are also known as night tigers,” Mr Pert said. “That type of snake usually eats birds. “But in the food chain anything can happen as long as you are bigger than the bloke you are eating,” he said. “It is just a measure of what can happen out there in the wild.” Northern Beaches veterinary surgeon David Lemmon said he had heard of frogs eating snakes before but it was a very unusual occurrence. “I have heard of this happening before but frogs are more insect eaters,” Mr Lemmon said. He said brown tree snakes would generally attack rodents or birds but would normally steer clear of frogs. The rear-fanged snakes are relatively harmless. *Daily Mercury
Tarantulas
Tarantula lovers be warned: if you are going to get up close and personal with your hairy eight-legged friend, do it from the other side of an aquarium pane or wearing a pair of glasses. That's a lesson that a 29-year-old man from Leeds in Britain learned the hard way, the British medical journal The Lancet has reported. In February of 2009, the man turned up at St James's University Hospital in Leeds after three weeks of stinging pain in one eye, which had become red, watery and light-sensitive. Doctors prescribed antibiotics, assuming he was afflicted with a particularly stubborn case of conjunctivitis, but the treatment did not relieve the symptoms. When they re-examined the patient with high-magnification lenses, doctors spotted ultra-thin, hair-like projections sticking into the cornea. They were so small that even microforceps could not remove them.
That's when the man recalled a close encounter with his pet spider shortly before his eye first became irritated. While cleaning a stubborn stain on the glass tank that was home to his chilean rose tarantula, he turned his head to find the fist-sized arachnid very nearby. The spider released a "mist of hairs" which hit his eye and face, according the journal. Treatment with topical steroids largely cleared his symptoms, but as late as August he continued to complain of mild discomfort. "As a defence mechanism against potential predators, the tarantula will rub its hind legs against its abdomen to dislodge" special hairs from the back of its body, the study explained. "Multiple barbs allow the hairs to migrate through ocular tissue as well as other surfaces." Moral of the story? "We suggest that tarantula keepers be advised to routinely wear eye protection when handling these animals," it concluded. *AFP
Cane Toads
A group fighting to keep cane toads out of Western Australia's Kimberley says it is being stopped from using carbon dioxide to gas the pests because bureaucrats have told them it is too cruel. Kimberley Toad Busters has labelled the Department of Environment and Conservation's (DEC) refusal to sanction the use of carbon dioxide to kill cane toads as "ridiculous". Environment Minister Donna Farragher recently overrode her department and allowed the temporary use of carbon dioxide to euthanise the toads, but the DEC says it is inhumane and will not support it until further tests are done. Now Toad Busters is stepping up its campaign to allow the permanent use of carbon dioxide, a method already used across the border in the Northern Territory.
Toad Busters spokeswoman Lee Scott-Virtue says if gassing is ruled out that only leaves freezing or blunt trauma to kill the toads. "It's ridiculous to suggest the method of CO2 is inhumane. The toads may very well suffocate in the end in the bags, but they are unconscious," she said. "The thing that worries me the most is that family groups are definitely not going to want to become involved if we have to bludgeon toads to death. "I suspect that it will take a lot of the community energy out of the cane toad fight if this ridiculous edict goes ahead." Meanwhile the group has secured more than $300,000 in government funding to support its fight against the toads. *ABC
Seals
An animal welfare advocate has called for a crackdown on people who interfere with sea animals after a baby seal was harassed to death by "well-intentioned" beachgoers. The 7kg New Zealand fur seal pup died on Saturday - just moments after rescuers arrived at Middleton Beach to assess her condition. Project Dolphin Safe president Aaron Machado said the female pup had been repeatedly moved, dumped into the water and frightened by dogs for more than a week. "This animal was being harassed for eight days," he said. "People were putting it on their surfboards and paddling it back out to sea, they were moving it, letting their dogs run up to it. "If the pup is on the beach, it is on the beach for a reason. The pup knows why it is there and the mother knows why it is there."
Mr Machado said his organisation - as well as National Parks and Wildlife - were called by members of the public for more than a week about the seal. But every time a wildlife officer arrived, the seal had been moved or put into the water. Mr Machado said mother seals took pups to a safe stretch of coastline - away from the rest of the colony - while they fed at sea. He said the mother might be gone for several days - even up to a week - but would return to the exact spot where she had left her pup. "I'm sure these people are well-intentioned and just trying to do the right thing, but they need to understand that these animals should be left alone," he said. It was illegal to approach within 10m of a seal while it was on land, he said. Department for Environment and Heritage Adelaide regional conservator Laurence Haegi said most people who approached seal pups were trying to help. He said it was important to know it was best to leave rescue efforts to experts. People with concerns should telephone DEH or Project Dolphin Safe on 8262 5452. *Adelaide Now
Meanwhile a lucky group of beachgoing children had a summer trip to remember when they came across a seal pup lazing on the foreshore. The four children and a parent, Jackie Murley, sat and watched the small seal as it came ashore at Aspendale. `We saw the seal swimming along the shoreline, then he or she came on to the beach to rest,'' Mrs Murley said. The seal appeared in no hurry to move on, she said. ``We were there for approximately two hours and he was still there when we left.'' Mrs Murley said the four children watched the seal snooze in the sun while keeping guard to ensure it was safe. Wildlife Victoria spokeswoman Fiona Corke encouraged people to enjoy chance encounters with wildlife but give the animals a wide berth. ``We can enjoy wildlife but just respect them and leave these animals alone,'' Ms Corke said. To report injured wildlife , contact Wildlife Victoria on 1300 094 535. *Mordialoc News
Road Kills
The NSW Roads and Traffic Authority has proudly announced the success of a road safety program - for our State's native wildlife. To reduce the number of animals killed on NSW roads each year, the RTA has installed more than 200 animal crossings on NSW highways. Rather than wait for a break in the constant flow of traffic, native animals are using specifically built tunnels and bridges to cross roads. And some of Australia's favourite native creatures have been smiling for the cameras as they scurry by. A little possum was snapped crossing over a rope bridge that hangs above the Pacific Highway on the Mid North Coast which the RTA installed four years ago. Since the bridge's unveiling, the RTA estimates it has been used by wildlife pedestrians at least 250 times. "Roads can be hazardous for slow-moving animals, such as koalas, and also for drivers who may brake or swerve suddenly to avoid (hitting) animals (crossing the roads)," an RTA spokesman said. "Building habitat connections like overhead wire-rope bridges across highways helps maintain healthy and genetically diverse native animal populations," he added.
Jilea Carney, spokeswoman for WIRES Australia, said the tunnels and overpasses were essential to help reduce the animal road toll. "We need to give wildlife every possible chance and there are a number of road-kill hot spots around the State and the (wildlife) toll at the hot spots is quite high," she said. "Where (safety) diversions have been installed, such as possum crossings and tunnels, that wildlife road toll decreases." Ms Carney said loss of habitat is one of the most common impacts threatening Australia's native animal populations, and road construction contributed to that. The first native animal crossings were built under the F3 Freeway about 20 years ago. Since then, bridges and tunnels have been constructed at different locations around the State to maintain habitat connections for threatened populations and to minimise the impact of road construction on the environment. Animal crossings can be spotted at Bonville Bypass near Coffs Harbour and the Hume Highway duplication near Holbrook. *Daily Telegraph
Changes to the EPBC Act?
Environmental extremists would be the big winners from a proposal to make it easier for grassroots activists to tackle governments in the courts, a property development industry body has warned. The warnings, from Urban Taskforce Australia, come after one of the Rudd Government's key advisers recommended law changes to reduce the financial threat faced by community environment groups entering the legal system. Dr Allan Hawke has told Environment Minister Peter Garrett that ''public interest'' litigation has been hampered by laws forcing groups to prove upfront they can cover the costs of legal teams and delays caused by injunctions to contentious environmental projects. Dr Hawke's recommendation that Mr Garrett alter environment laws to make a day in court less financially daunting for community activists prompted a sharp response from UTA, which represents a group of Australia's biggest developers.
"'It's clear the review's proposals make it easier for environmental groups and local opponents to litigate projects. This will reduce opportunities for Australia to get the urban development it needs,'' said UTA chief executive Aaron Gadiel. ''Giving not-in-my-backyard activists a platform to challenge decisions will drench Australia in an American-style litigation culture.'' Mr Gadiel said Dr Hawke's recommendations were seeking to elevate environmental concerns above social and economic factors when approvals for new developments are considered. ''This represents a victory for extreme environment groups,'' he said. 'If this proposal is adopted, we could see the expansion of our cities halted on the flimsiest of environmental arguments.'' Mr Garrett is considering Dr Hawke's recommendations and will make a response in the coming year. *The Land
Panthers
The discovery of large paw prints on a Humevale property has sparked speculation of panthers living in the Whittlesea bush. The indentations, about 100mm in diameter and resembling big cat prints, were found in the driveway of Colin Hill's home, invigorating Whittlesea's own big cat legend. ``There was a set of tracks at the bottom of the driveway that crossed the yard and disappeared down into the valley,'' Mr Hill said last week. ``They were definitely a cat print and were as big as my fist. Judging by the size, I'd say they had to belong to a 50-80kg animal.'' It was not the first time Mr Hill had come across such tracks. `Before the bushfires, I found another set of tracks down near a dam on the next property,'' he said. Those prints were photographed, but the pictures were destroyed in the Black Saturday bushfires. Mr Hill said they resembled the prints of a large cat with long claws. ``The animal has used its claws to help lift itself out of the mud and the prints were unmistakable,'' he said.
Two years ago, he shot and killed a small jet black animal with yellow eyes which he believed at the time to be a feral cat. Now he said it might have been a panther cub. ``At the time I didn't even think about it, but I've never seen a cat with yellow eyes,'' he said. `After seeing the tracks, I wonder if it had been something else.'' Victorian big cat enthusiast John Turner said it was difficult to determine what had made the prints. `They are interesting but not definitive,'' he said, adding that they might have come from a large dog. Mr Hill was convinced they were not from a dog. Mr Turner has been attempting to uncover the big cat myth for 25 years and runs the website bigcatsvic.com.au, dedicated to Victorian sightings. He said there had been a number of big cat sightings in the Whittlesea area in the past five years.
Most sightings described a jet black leopard-sized creature with yellow eyes in or around farmland or on roadsides. The big cat theory is one that is common throughout Victoria, with about 400 reported sightings in the past five years. Some believe the creatures are offspring of black panthers brought over by US soldiers during World War II as mascots that escaped into the bush. Others think they may be an unindentified Australian predatory cat. Many discount the big cat theory entirely, claiming the creatures could simply be feral cats or black wallabies. Is this the paw print of a big cat or dog? Tell us online at whittlesealeader.com.au *Whittlesea Leader
The Fair Dinkum Characters
The new Summer range of toddlers wildlife shirts, shorts, and singlets are now avaliable on the Fair Dinkum Characters website at http://www.fairdinkum-characters.com too late for Christmas unfortuntely. The Dinkums are Ambassadors for the Wildlife Protection Association of Australia Inc. Watch for them playing in a Shopping Centre near you!
New political party, Animal Justice Party The time has come for animals to have a voice in the political arena. Animal Rights/Welfare is the next social justice movement and everyone can be a part of it. Please go to this website below to see how you can make a difference. Help end the suffering and become a voice for those without one. http://www.animaljusticeparty.org/About_the_AJP.html There you will find forms for both NSW and Federal memebrship. At this point no memebership fee is payable, and its important to get 750 members for the ANIMAL JUSTICE PARTY to be registered as a political party. Other States will follow. It is important you fill in your name exactly as it appears on the Electoral Roll, otherwise your application will be invalid. You can download membership forms from the website. Please post to this address only... Animal Justice Party, P.O. Box 3126, Blakehurst 2221, Sydney NSW http://www.animaljusticeparty.org/About_the_AJP.html The animals need you......
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! (We recently ran out od stock of this very popular magical DVD, but now have new supplies in! Buy Now! Buy Now!....before we run out again!)
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!
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