Lead Stories
Kangaroos
A hunter who shot four kangaroos with a high-powered bow, leaving two of them alive and in agony, has lost his appeal against a four month jail term. County Court judge Frank Gucciardo today told Justin Stavropoulos his offending was aggravated by him wearing camouflage gear, wounding kangaroos more than once and the fact a friend videoed his exploits. "Violence as a pastime, even if it involves animals, is completely unacceptable,'' the judge said. The judge was handed a video still showing a dead kangaroo shot by Stavropoulos which had a caption "Die ya dog!''. Judge Gucciardo imposed the same 12-month sentence with a four-month minimum handed down in Heidelberg Magistrates Court last October. As he was led to the cells Stavropoulos, who had been on bail, was surrounded by family and friends and hugged his 87-year-old grandmother and said "I love you''.
The court heard one of the animals he shot was found after days with an arrow through its face and another with an arrow festering in its rump. One of those animals, nicknamed Beau, later died after $4200 was spent on medical assistance. The judge also ordered Stavropoulos to repay the sum to the animal welfare groups who cared for the injured kangaroos. Outside court Manfred Zabinskas, of Wildlife Victoria, who helped recue the victims of Stavropoulos's cruelty, said the outcome was gratifying. "I've seen hundreds and hundreds of cases of cruelty like this but we never see anyone brought to justice,'' he said. "Finally someone is being held accountable for such a horrible action. We really need to send out a message this is not going to be tolerated by our community. "I feel sorry for his family but he did something really, really bad and he has to pay for that.''
Judge Gucciardo said there seemed to be a culture in society of people being inoculated against the suffering of others. Stavropoulos, 27, of Thomastown, had previously pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated animal cruelty and one count of hunting prohibited wildlife. Judge Gucciardo criticised the fact Stavropoulos was able to buy and use a high powered bow, with a range of 1000m, without a license. "How such a weapon can be easily obtained can only engender dismay,'' he said. Prosecutor Catherine Parkes had argued a prison term was appropriate. "This is a very serious case of animal cruelty of animal cruelty where there was prolonged cruelty to the animals,'' she said. Ms Parkes said Stavropoulos described kangaroos as rodents in a psychiatric report, indicating his lack of remorse for what he had done. His lawyer Jane Dixon SC described Stavropoulos as a "caring and responsible young man'' who did not deserve to go to jail. She said he did not realise the hunting of kangaroos was illegal and said the publicity the case attracted made her client reclusive and depressed. *Daily Telegraph
Green Roofs
Living roofs help cool cities, capture stormwater run-off, insulate buildings and reduce their carbon footprint. They also dampen noise and provide green habitats for birds - and people - in the concrete jungle.
With more than half of the world's population living in cities, advocates say the living roof's moment has come. The landscape architect and living roof expert Raphael Garcia, of the Californian architecture firm Rana Creek, who was to give a lecture at the University of NSW last night, told the Herald: ''The big thing we're trying to do is to change how we view our cities. Now it is polarised - the urban environment is a place for people, or you go away from people and that's a place of nature and a place of healing. We're trying to integrate nature into our cities.'' His projects include an undulating green roof over Renzo Piano's building for the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, ''healing gardens'' on the roofs of hospitals and a 3.5-hectare garden over the Croton Water Treatment Plant in the Bronx.
One of Rana Creek's most ambitious projects is a botanic garden on top of the new rail and bus hub in San Francisco, the Transbay Transit Centre, which will be six blocks long and about 30 metres off the ground in the middle of the city's financial district. It will be the first roof garden to have redwood trees and its own wetlands to process greywater, and it will capture all stormwater to flush the building's toilets. 'It's more than just a green facade,'' Mr Garcia said. Waterproofing and ensuring structural loading capacity tend to be the largest costs in building a green roof, but in essence they are quite simple and may be retrofit to existing buildings, Mr Garcia said. A root barrier, drainage mat and filter are minimum requirements before the soil can be laid.
Roofs are also being used for urban agriculture - China's biggest cities have started cultivating rice on roofs - but Australia is lagging well behind the rest of the world in promoting them, the upfront costs turning developers off. Matt Dillon, of the non-profit organisation Green Roofs Australia, which is sponsoring Mr Garcia's visit to Sydney this week, said planning bodies should provide incentives to developers to include green roofs on their buildings, such as tax relief or floor space bonuses. Mr Dillon said: ''For so long buildings have been responsible for high carbon emissions, now it's about getting to carbon neutral and then beyond that, it needs to be restorative where the buildings start to give back to the environment as well. That's the challenge.'' Age
Ed Comment; to read more about rooftop and balcony gardens visit our WPAA website at http://www.australian-backyard-wildlife.com
Editorial.....Climate Change
The biggest threat for all animals, not just wildlife, is the threat of Climate Change. Unfortunately some people just dont seem to be able to comprehend how serious a threat it is, and some dont even want to know about it....and we think it's because it's just too big an issue for some people to get a grip on. Latest predictions are that tide levels will rise one metre this century, and its entirely possible that they may rise to 2 metres by the end of the century. While the implications for wildlife are staggering, the impact of Climate Change on domestic animals is likely to be even worse.
Most of us understand that land habitats will become unlivable for many species of wildlife, and because current habitats are fractured and isolated, there is little chance of migration to more suitable habitats. But what about marine habitats? As oceans become warmer, currents are already changing, some species will migrate okay, but krill may disappear, leaving whales and many species of migrating seabirds without food. Many seaweeds and kelps will die out, leaving lots of marine species without shelter or food. Coral is already under serious threat, with massive areas of dead coral in the Phillipines, Carribean, and other places.
Pacific Island habitats will disappear under water, and huge areas of Australia will also go under. Councils are already developing mapping that shows millions of houses will disappear in suburban areas, in just the next few years. Who lives in Adelaide? Something like one-third of Adelaide will go under water this Century! While its bad news for humans, its also very bad news for all animals. Think about how a temperature increase of 3 degrees will affect wildlife habitats. If an increase of 3 or 4 degrees is hot enough to melt icebergs, and raise sea levels, how badly will it affect wildlife habitats? An increase of 3 degrees is a lot. What if, when the climate changes, the very hot and dry areas of Australia get rain, as well as heat? Would the high temperatures be bearable then...for both animals and humans? And what about the increase and changing habitat of the now tropical diseases like Ross River, Hendra Virus, Swine Flu, Barmah Forest, etc?
Please dont think Climate Change is something the next generation may have to deal with, dont think its something that may happen in 30 or 50 years time.....and dont think its something the Government will willingly take any action on. Climate Change is happening now, and it has been happening for some time. Its all been well documented that tides have been getting higher for many years, and now scientists know that during the last 20 years, tides have been getting higher....faster. Oceans are getting warmer, and more acidic, and ocean currents are changing. Climate Change is the ultimate hard argument...its all about wether both humans and animals can continue to live on this Planet.....or not! If we don't do something to force our incompetant governments to deal adequately with Climate Change, its likely that next Century there will only be the cockroaches living here.......
So, why not put a Climate Change argument into your next submission on wildlife? It doesnt matter what animal issue it is, you can still fit in a Climate Change argument, asking how this proposal or action, or whatever, will benefit animals from Climate Change factors. It may raise some awareness of Climate Change in relation to animals within the creaky and wobbly wheels of Government process. Climate Change is here, its now, and its urgent, but as always, its the animals that will finally have to bear the brunt of our lifestyle excesses. At least we dont have to worry about the cockroaches, because they'll manage just fine!
Wildlife MiniBytes
Irish Wallaby
Five partygoers attending a 30th birthday party at a Dublin hotel where a wallaby was let loose chipped in €50 each to rent the animal, it has been claimed. There was international outrage over the incident after footage emerged showing the distressed animal cruelly being thrown around the room. Partygoers danced with it roughly and crudely in the Clarion Hotel in Liffey Valley, west Dublin, to the theme tune of Australian television show Skippy The Bush Kangaroo. There have been allegations that the animal was plied with alcohol and ecstasy but these are entirely unsubstantiated, according to garda sources. There has also been speculation that the wallaby may have died after the incident, but gardaí say there is no firm evidence to suggest it is dead. On Thursday, an Australian businessman living in Ireland offered a €10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the cruelty against the wallaby. The anonymous donor offered the cash reward through Animal Rights Action Network (Aran), which has been inundated with calls since.
Read more http://www.tribune.ie/news/home-news/article/2010/oct/24/revellers-chipped-in-50-each-to-rent-wallaby-for-p/
Kangaroos on the Run
Landowners and kangaroos are increasingly coming into contact in Melbourne’s north-eastern suburbs, and the roos often come off second best. Farmers say they cause damage, but conservationists want them saved. Alana Schetzer hops into the debate. Standing perfectly still, his eyes focused on us with unnerving intensity, an adult eastern grey kangaroo stands alert, ready to jump. Dangers are everywhere here, in Plenty Gorge in Greensborough – kangaroos can be hit by drivers doing ‘‘burn-outs’’, chased by locals for sport, or shot by wildlife management officials if the Department of Sustainability and Environment deems them too numerous. Wildlife Rescuer Narelle Smith shakes her head. She understands why he doesn’t trust us. ‘‘We have no idea the impact we are having on our wildlife,’’ Smith, a Wildlife Victoria volunteer for more than 10 years, says. In Melbourne’s north-eastern suburbs she most often tends to kangaroos that have been hit by cars, caught in fences on farms or attacked by dogs. ‘‘It’s odd that [for] an animal that’s meant to be our iconic symbol, there’s actually very little respect for it. It’s very sad they’re seen more for being slaughtered and hunted down.’’
This is a very long but interesting story, read more here http://www.banyuleandnillumbikweekly.com.au/news/local/news/news-features/watch-out-roos-on-the-run/1978238.aspx?storypage=0
Wildlife Watching
"A Year of Watching Wildlife: A Guide to the World’s Best Animal Encounters" by David Lukas, 2009, Lonely Planet, $19.99, softbound, 223 pages: Claiming that wildlife watching is one of the most exciting reasons to travel, this book opens with a two-page wildlife watching map, marking the places Lukas advises visiting. The map is color-coded for the prime times to go to the designated spots. Then Lukas breaks the places down into the top locations, which come under five headings: oceans, rainforests, deserts and grasslands, mountains and islands. All the categories are illuminated in more detail, come with five of his choice picks and include a brief description of the areas and what animals you are likely to encounter there. A color photo heads the broader categories. The bulk of the book takes the reader through the months and weeks of the year to aid the interested vacationer in knowing when to plan for travel. There is a short checklist on the bottom left corner of each week, titled "What You’ll See." Here, the reader will find what animals he or she may want to experience up close. Simply flip through, find your choicest animals and start from there. All manner of animals are represented, from greater spotted eagles to ravens, lions, penguins, hummingbirds, sand cats (small wild cats of the African and Asian deserts), meerkats and monarch butterflies. Lukas lists parks, refuges, reserves and more, from India to Australia, Mexico and Estonia, and gives a portrayal of every location in terms of the species you will see there. * Network Item
Wildlife Traffic Crossings Success
Bridging the killing field in Banff; Banff's controversial wildlife overpasses have become a runaway success in reducing wildlife deaths on the Trans-Canada highway, yet in Australia its mostly been considered too expensive, or not effective. Now, in Canada, the world is starting to take notice.
Read more http://www.calgaryherald.com/travel/Bridging+killing+field/3718493/story.html
Tigers
Weak U.S. regulations on keeping captive tigers could be feeding the multimillion dollar international black market for tiger parts, according to a new analysis released by WWF and TRAFFIC, the world's largest wildlife trade monitoring network. As few as 3,200 tigers are left in the wild across Asia, down from 100,000 just a hundred years ago. But there are an estimated 5,000 captive tigers in the United States, and most are kept by private individuals, not zoos. With more tigers in captivity in the United States than survive in the wild, the country needs a centralized federal database to monitor the big cats, the two groups advise. "In addition to being a threat to communities, captive tigers in the U.S. are a ticking time bomb for the illegal wildlife trade," said Leigh Henry, WWF senior policy officer for Species Conservation. Henry says that the illegal trade in products derived from captive tigers stimulates demand for body parts from wild tigers. The more demand there is, the more wild tigers are poached. *Network Item
Mutton Bird Deaths
Rainbow Beach has been spared the worst of the recent spate of mutton bird deaths along the coastline of southern Queensland and northern New South Wales. Despite sightings of birds washed up on beaches on Fraser Island, the Sunshine Coast and Moreton and Stradbroke Islands, only one had been reported to Rainbow Beach life guards yesterday. It had been found along the Inskip Point ocean beach. Wildlife experts yesterday said the birds were victims of fierce storm conditions in the northern hemisphere, as they fly on their annual migration from northern Russia to south-eastern Australia. Weather conditions have been described as extreme from Japan to the Philippines and the birds have been confirmed as having died from exhaustion. Millions of the birds fly to breeding sites in Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia each year and it is thought that deaths from exhaustion may number in the thousands. The Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, a division of the Department of Environment and Resource Management, yesterday arranged for some of the birds to be tested to ensure they had not died from any unwanted diseases which may threaten other Australian wildlife or even humans. Yesterday a spokesperson confirmed that “tests carried out on dead short-tailed shearwater or mutton birds have confirmed that they died of exhaustion. “Their store of energy was depleted as they encountered difficult conditions on their long migratory journey,” a spokesperson said. *Gympie times
Surveillence Cameras in National Parks
We've just seen a surveillance photo taken last week by Queensland's DERM in the Cooloola Section of Rainbow Beach, towards Teewah Beach. Apparently there are surveillance cameras scattered throughout some of our National Parks, under the RAM Act. This Act was introduced supposedly to protect children from wild animals in National Parks, and to protect the Qld government from legal claims if child was injured by a wild animal??? So if you are in one of Queenslands National Parks, you should be careful if changing, swimming, or toileting, or doing anything you are not supposed to do. While its sad that these hidden cameras are being used, we've been told that one person has already been jailed for ignoring the new signs and guidelines. Is Australia still a free country do you think?
Feral Murray Cod
A Murray cod -- regarded as a threatened species in Australia -- has been netted in Japan's largest lake. An elderly fisherman caught the Australian visitor on October 14 and found three local ayu (a small type of trout) in its stomach. His catch left fisheries officials scratching their heads until they turned up a picture of the iconic Australian freshwater fish in a textbook. The 26cm cod was netted in about 1.5m of water in the massive lake in the southwest of Japan's main island, Honshu. Veteran ayu fisherman Masayoshi Tourai, 78, was surprised by his mystery catch and turned it over to officials. "I have been working here as a fisherman for 65 years and this (is the) first time that I have ever seen such a fish," he said. A fisheries official told The Australian it was the first time a Murray cod had been caught in the lake, but they had been sold in Japan as ornamental fish despite that fact they can grow to 1.8m and more than 100kg. "Maybe some private collector purchased the fish while it was still small and the owner could not keep up with his eating habits or could not prepare a big enough tank to keep him," he said. The official said another possibility was that the cod had been released by sports fishers. *Underwater Times
Tassie Devils
A groundbreaking research project to save the Tasmanian devil is one of hundreds of projects that will share in $376 million worth of Federal Government funding. The University of Sydney has been awarded one of the largest chunks of the funding, with $510,000 allocated to study devils whose genes may hold the key to stopping the deadly facial tumour disease. The University of Sydney's chief researcher into the Tasmanian devil project, Kathy Belov, says without the research her team is conducting, the once common species could be extinct within 25 years. "At this stage we're predicting the disease will spread across the entire state of Tasmania within five years and then we'll start to see extinction in the wild in about 25 years," she said. "If you look at the east coast of Tasmania, the disease has been there for a good 20 years already and about 90 per cent of the devils are gone. "So we would start to see local extinctions very soon." Associate Professor Belov says the research team is using the latest sequencing technology to try and understand how the cancer is evolving in the devils. "Then we can try to use this info to try to stop the spread of the cancer. We've realised over the past year or two that the cancer's changing and different regions of Tasmania have different variants of the cancer," she said. "With this funding we'll be able to understand how these variants differ and work on developing strategies to stop the spread." She says time is running out for the devils "We're doing our best. We've got an amazing group of people in Tasmania and on the mainland and overseas collaborators as well working as hard as they can on this problem," she said. "We've had setbacks. Recently one of our animals that we thought was disease free actually died from the disease, so it's certainly not straightforward and we certainly can't promise that we can save the species but we're certainly going to do everything we can to try." *ABC
Snakes
Tips to deal with snakes.......• Mow grass around your home regularly to keep it short. • Tidy up any rubbish or wood piles where snakes may like to hide. • If you have a bird aviary, ensure food scraps are kept off the ground. The food attracts mice, which attract snakes. • All wildlife are drawn to water, including snakes. • If you see a snake in the bush, the best thing to do is leave it alone – it will most likely try to get away from you.• If a snake or lizard is indoors or in an area where it needs to be removed – call the shire, rangers, or police to get the number of an accredited reptile rescuer. • If a snake is in a room, close the door and block any gaps so it can’t escape. • Where possible, always watch the snake so rescuers can easily find it when they arrive. • Most of our reptile rescuers are volunteers – please consider donating some money to help them cover expenses such as fuel. • It is an offence to harm snakes and lizards. • If you are bitten, immobilise, apply a pressure bandage and seek help immediately. *Brusselton Mail
Warnings have been issued across Queensland that snakes are being washed out of their hiding spots due to recent rains. Pet owners and walkers have been warned to be aware. Snakes that usually bit pets were eastern browns, red-belly blacks and whip snakes. We've noticed a few dead snakes on the roads lately too, so drivers should be aware that pythons and carpet snakes are moving around.
Whaling
One of Japan's closest allies declared over the weekend that all of its oceans - more than 600,000 square kilometres - would be a sanctuary for whales, dolphins, dugongs, sharks and other species. "There will be no hunting or harassment of marine mammals and other species in our waters," said the Honourable Harry Fritz, minister of the environment, natural resources and tourism of the Republic of Palau. "We urge other nations to join our efforts to protect whales, dolphins and other marine animals," Fritz said at a press conference during Oceans Day at the meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Nagoya, Japan. Japan has long sought to overturn the global ban on commercial whaling and has actively solicited and received Palau's support for many years. Japan is its second largest source of development aid after the United States. Japanese tourists frequent the islands since many people speak some Japanese. "Palau now supports conserving marine mammals, along with sharks and other species," said Susan Lieberman, director of international policy for the Pew Environment Group, a large U.S. NGO. "This is a very significant announcement," Lieberman told IPS. "Japan remains our very good friend, and we would like to work in harmony to achieve what we both want," said Fritz. *Underwater Times
Coral Sea Marine Park
Green groups say new research shows the need to have the Coral Sea declared a protected marine park. A study by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature has found the Coral Sea is home to 42 per cent of the world's endangered and vulnerable coral species. The Federal Government is considering forming a one million square kilometre marine park encompassing the Coral Sea, with controls on fishing and likely 'no-take' fishing-free zones. Nicola Temple from the Marine Conservation Society says action is needed immediately. "We're so used to reacting to immediate threats, to an oil spill or a change in fishing practices that feels so immediately urgent, but this is an opportunity to act now to safeguard what's already there," she said. She says the new research shows only 1 per cent of the Coral Sea is protected. "We are of course advocating for a very large and fully protected world class marine park in the Coral Seas because it simply would be an unprecedented contribution to marine conservation," she said. *ABC
Macquarie Birds Poisoned
The number of birds killed on sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island after being exposed to poison is worse than first thought. Two months ago Parks and Wildlife admitted 300 birds had been killed after being exposed to poison pellets. The baits were laid as part of a $24 million bid to rid the island of rats, rabbits and mice. Now it has been revealed that 431 birds have died, including kelp gulls, giant petrels and black ducks. Ian Rist took an interest in the eradication program and was concerned about the chosen poison, brodifacoum. He wrote to the Federal Environment Department which revealed that the level of bird deaths was higher than first thought and a review was underway. Since discovered, Macquarie Island has fired the imagination of adventurers and scientists. The island lies about half way between Tasmania and Antarctica and for decades has been a centre for research. It was first recorded 200 years ago in July 1810. *ABC
Climate Change...Coral Bleaching
The western Caribbean is now afflicted with major coral bleaching, with sea temperatures anomalously high according to the The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Earlier this year the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced above-average sea surface temperature in the wider Caribbean region, but there had been no clear indication of increased sea temperatures in Panam and the western Caribbean until late August / early September. Scientists and local dive operators first noticed coral bleaching in the waters surrounding Isla Colon, in Panama's Bocas del Toro province in July. Smithsonian staff scientist Nancy Knowlton and colleagues documented an extensive bleaching event in late September. Station personnel recorded an extreme sea water temperature of 32 degrees Celsius. Normal temperatures at this time of year are closer to 28 degrees. This warming is affecting the entire Caribbean coast of Panama from Kuna-Yala to Bocas del Toro and has also been reported at sites in Costa Rica. *Wildlife Extra
Wildlife Trafficking
Thai police on Friday raided a warehouse where wildlife smugglers were storing thousands of illegally collected animals for shipment overseas, a conservation group said. Police seized various snakes, turtles, tortoises and pangolins from the warehouse in the central province of Ayutthaya and arrested its owner, the Thailand-based Freeland Foundation said. They included species protected under international agreements and Thai law. The warehouse was run by a criminal syndicate that was shipping at least 1.2 tons of wildlife out of Thailand every week to consumer countries, it said. Several secret holding facilities are believed to exist, it said. Southeast Asia supplies illegally traded wildlife to a global market estimated to be worth $10 billion to $30 billion annually, Freeland said in a statement. It said the illegal trade to meet demand in China and Vietnam for freshwater turtles, tortoises, snakes and pangolins threatens their survival in the wild. The raid was notable because it uncovered a major holding facility and involved the arrest of an alleged major trafficker, Freeland director Steven Galster said in the statement. "In the past, portions of these shipments were seized along highways and border checkpoints, resulting sometimes in the arrest of truck drivers," he said. *LA Times
Meanwhile, a remote state in northeastern India has introduced tough anti-poaching laws with penalties of up to 10 years in prison for killing a rhinoceros, elephant or tiger, an official said Friday. The new legislation is a response to poachers killing at least nine endangered one-horn rhinos this year in and around Kaziranga National Park in Assam state, known for its wildlife diversity. More than 2,000 of the estimated 3,000 one-horn rhinos left in the wild live in the 166-square mile (430-square kilometre) park. The new penalties, which went into effect Wednesday and only apply in Assam, are an update to the federal government's Wildlife Protection Act of 1972, said Rokybul Hussain, the state forest minister. That act levies jail terms of three to seven years for poachers. Poachers will now face increased fines in Assam of 50,000 rupees ($1,085), five times what the national law provides for, Hussain said. "We mean business in getting at poaching gangs," he said. * GoogleNews
And then, terrified householders had to abandon an entire town after 3,000 illegally bred king cobra eggs hatched out and gave their owner the slip. The eggs - bred to supply the traditional health industry - had been stored in a cage in a house in Xianling, south west China. But the newly hatched snakes escaped through a hole in their enclosure and took over the entire town. "We don't really know how many survived but we caught 170 of them so we think a lot are still missing," said a police spokesman. King cobras - which as adults can reach 18ft in length -are among the most deadly snakes in the world and can kill a man with a single bite. Illegal breeder Cai Yong is now facing jail for breeding venomous snakes without a licence. *Orange.uk
Possum Kill Plan Approved
Re: Finalisation of Management Plan for the Commercial Harvest and Export of Brushtail Possums in Tasmania 2010-2015, from Wildlife Trade Assessments.
Thank you for your submission on the draft Management Plan for the Commercial Harvest and Export of Brushtail Possums in Tasmania 2010-2015 which was available for public comment between 19 March and 23 April 2010. This email is to advise you of the outcome of the assessment of the Management Plan. Following receipt of submissions received during the public comment period, the Tasmanian Government submitted an amended management plan to the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities for a full assessment against the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 to ensure that it met the requirements under the Act including, but not limited to, ecological sustainability, minimising environmental impacts and compliance with animal welfare regulations.
On 15 October 2010, after considering the department’s assessment, the Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, the Hon Tony Burke MP, conditionally approved the plan, exclusive of the component allowing trapping and live transport of animals to abattoirs for slaughter. The minister also placed a number of other conditions on his approval including the requirement to develop a code of practice for the shooting of common brushtail possums and to report annually on the management plan. The plan will be valid from the date of gazettal until 30 June 2015. The minister’s approval will be published in the Government Gazette Notices on Wednesday 27 October 2010 with the approved plan and gazetted declaration to be published on the department’s website soon after.
Thank you for your interest in this matter. Wildlife Trade Assessments Section, Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, GPO Box 787, CANBERRA ACT 2601
Ed Comment; I think most of us expected the Plan to be approved anyway, which shows how far out of touch with the broader community the Federal government is. At least they didnt approve the live capture and transport of the possums. Fortunately the market for possum meat is small, and is unlikely to impact that much on possum populations. Skins are not in high demand either, other than for garment trim, and synthetic fur is cheaper for manufacturers to use. We also think there will be a community backlash that will affect the Tasmanian tourism Industry.
Websites of Interest
The Kangaroo TrailTM will take you on an unparalleled journey of discovery across the vast Australian continent and its offshore islands. You will see supreme athletes such as one of the four species of plains dwelling kangaroos, rock climbers who seem to defy gravity such as one of the fifteen species of rock-wallaby, and one of the best noses for truffles in the world, the long-nosed potoroo. http://www.rootourism.com.au
Micheal Snedic's wildlife photography page http://www.michaelsnedic.com
Voiceless Kangaroo Facts Sheet http://www.voiceless.org.au/The_Issues/Fact_Sheets/kangaroos.html
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Wildlife Bytes 20/10/10
Lead Stories
Climate Change
The government has co-opted almost 40 union leaders, business, mining and industry executives, as well as environment groups and charitable organisations, to advise it on climate change policy. The full list, published yesterday, underscores the government's strategy of spreading as far as possible ownership of the policy to put a price on carbon, which is now likely to be decided late next year. While the policy will be devised by the parliamentary Multi-Party Climate Change Committee, comprising Labor, the Greens and independents, the government will take advice from two roundtables. As reported in the Herald recently, the business roundtable will include executives from mining giants such as BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Woodside Petroleum, as well as the National Australia Bank. The full list of 18 includes the chief executive of Qantas, Alan Joyce, the head of Woolworths, Michael Luscombe, and the chairman of Shell Australia, Anne Pickard.
The second roundtable of non-government organisations has 20 members, ranging from Don Henry, head of the Australian Conservation Foundation, to the ACTU president, Ged Kearney, one of five union leaders, Tim Costello of World Vision and Tim Flannery, representing the Coast and Climate Change Council. Like the Climate Change Committee, the roundtables will meet once a month until the end of next year with the aim of developing support among their constituencies. The NGO roundtable will advise on compensation needed for households and on jobs that could be created. The business roundtable will advise on business and economic impacts.
Since the Senate twice defeated the emissions trading scheme and deferred it during the last term, the Gillard government has been determined to build a wide consensus before legislating. It has left open the options of an emissions trading scheme, a carbon tax and a hybrid. Under a yet-to-be-declared strategy, the government aims to have a policy operational by mid 2012, well before the next election, due in mid to late 2013. The plan is that people will become accustomed to the scheme, as they did the GST, and there will be little desire to revoke it come the election. By enlisting the services of so many third parties, the government also plans to isolate the Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, who again yesterday was railing against a carbon price as an impost on the cost of living. *Age
WA's Freshwater Fish Disappearing
WA's freshwater fish are dying. An unprecedented investigation of the State's lakes reveals nearly 60 per cent contain no native species. The year-long survey by the Department of Fisheries and National Resource Management covered from Geraldton to Busselton and east to Northam, looking at the fish bio- diversity of 114 lakes. Only 50 lakes contained any native fish. Department scientist Craig Lawrence said the findings were alarming, particularly because of the large number of feral fish which have been partly blamed for the rapid native decline. Loss of habitat because of urban sprawl and the drying up of nearly half the lakes were also blamed. "For the first time we are getting a clear picture of the situation and the results are concerning," Dr Lawrence said. With native fish a major source of food for recreational fishing species and keeping down insect populations such as mosquitoes, the department will look at breeding native fish for restocking. "These are the species that control Ross River virus and, in the future, dengue fever, and they are also the basis of the food chain," Dr Lawrence said. "It would be very hard to have a recreational marron industry if there was no food for the marron." Only 9 per cent of the lakes contained exclusively native fish species, 66 per cent had introduced freshwater species and 12 per cent had no fish.
The same source reports that WA's most endangered animals have for the first time been ranked according to their likelihood of extinction. The list compiled for The West Australian by the newly formed Threatened Species Council reveals how close some animals are to being lost for ever. The rankings look at population size and the likelihood of survival based on threats from predators, disease and the encroachment of urban sprawl on habitats. Frogs, turtles, birds and mammals all feature on the list of 16 animals, with the Gilbert's potoroo, which is found only on the south coast, ranked as the species most likely to disappear, with fewer than 100 left in the wild. Classifications from critically endangered through to vulnerable are based on the International Union for Conservation of Nature rankings. Environment Minister Donna Faragher established the council to address the near-600 threatened species of flora and fauna around WA. She said several WA agencies were conducting research into endangered species and the council would help make their work more effective. "There are a range of reasons why we have species that are threatened, whether it is through habitat loss, feral pests or disease, we don't always know all of the science behind it and that is why we need these agencies to be doing that research," she said. Mrs Faragher said there was no guarantee that the species on the list would be around in 10 years, but her department and other agencies had made a significant commitment towards ensuring they were. Department of Environment and Conservation director-general Keiran McNamara, who chairs the council, said monitoring the abundance of many species on the list was often difficult because of their small size, low numbers, and cryptic behaviour. Mr McNamara said fox-baiting had helped some threatened species but in some cases it let cats in as predators. *WA Now
Editorial
At the BioDiversity Conference which opened this week in Japan, UN officials issued a global warning that the rapid loss of animal and plant species that has characterized the past century must end if humans are to survive. Delegates in Nagoya plan to set a new target for 2020 for curbing species loss, and will discuss boosting medium-term financial help for poor countries to help them protect their wildlife and habitats. "Business as usual is no more an option for mankind," the CBD executive secretary said in his opening statements. "We need a new approach, we need to reconnect with nature and live in harmony with nature into the future." We dont think that will happen any time soon. Our new Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke didnt even attend the Conference. A new assessment by the World Wildlife Fund states that the Earth's 6.8 billion humans are effectively living 50 percent beyond the planet's biocapacity in 2007. The report said by 2030 humans will effectively need the capacity of two Earths in order to survive. On another twist, we've heard that Burke has delayed giving the koalas better protection, by saying he wants to review the matter.* WPAA
Biodiversity
The United Nations is attempting to negotiate a new international agreement over the next two weeks to stem the increasing loss of biodiversity. More than 190 countries are meeting in Japan, but already there are expectations the conference may not deliver. It is one of the most important meetings since the Kyoto protocol conference in 1997. Scientific studies have revealed a 40 per cent species loss since 1970 and governments globally have failed to meet targets set for 2010. Humane Society International spokeswoman Alexia Wellbelove says Australia can step up and become a world leader in protecting biodiversity. "We really want Australia to wake up to this agenda and the fact that we've got a new government - it's a perfect opportunity," she said. "We've got one of the highest extinction rates in the world, one of the most amazing biodiversity treasures and species. "So it's really time we turn it around and say, 'right, we're going to position ourselves as a world leader and really take some action'." Ms Wellbelove says politicians have forgotten about the importance of biodiversity. Australia's Environment Minister, Tony Burke, is not attending the Nagoya meeting. "Biodiversity has pretty much become the poor cousin to climate change and the political will to this issue has really declined," she said. "The UN wants new more ambitious targets to reduce the loss of animals and plants." *ABC
Badgers
Badgers are known as one of nature’s shyest creatures – bashful in daylight and wary of humans. But a Macclesfield nurse and her family are being pestered by them for dinner. Debbie Bayley said: "They will come up at 7.30pm and if I haven’t put out some food for them, they’ll actually tap on the window to remind me! "I put out a plate of dog food, dog biscuits, or sometimes peanuts for a treat." Debbie, 43, a health adviser at Macclesfield Hospital, who lives in Furness Vale, High Peak, near Disley, says it all started six months ago. "Something was making the garden light go on, and then our gardener spotted one at the bottom of the garden, so we started putting food out." Then Debbie’s partner David Wilson, 48, a police officer at Macclesfield station, spotted a badger at 3am. She said: From that night they’ve just kept coming – first there was one, then three and just this week we’ve got five. A whole family, with adults and a one-year-old comes right up to our patio window – it’s amazing." Debbie, who is now a member of the Cheshire and Wirral Badger Group, part of the Badger Trust, says it’s extremely rare for a badger, which can eat up to 200 worms night in the wild, to make itself so at home. "They’ll tap on the window, roll on the floor and they’ve marked their territory with a dung pit at the bottom of the garden. It’s mating season now so we hope there’ll be a baby next year." Debbie’s badgers, who have a sett at the bottom of the garden, have become so famous that tourists come from miles to sneak a peek in a special ‘badger watch’ she has set up. "We’ve had a couple from the Isle of Man a couple from Australia, and lots from nearby towns." Along with her group, Debbie is campaigning against government plans to cull badgers to prevent bovine TB. She said: "Anyone who saw our family of badgers would never have the heart to kill them." If you want to book a spot to see Debbie’s badgers in action, email her at baileysbadgers@hotmail.co.uk. *Manchester Mail
Endosulphan Banned
Australia's pesticides regulator has ended the use of a chemical banned in more than 60 other countries. The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) announced on Tuesday that agricultural products containing the insecticide endosulfan are now no longer registered. The three current approvals for endosulfan have also been cancelled, and the five products containing the chemical will be phased out over the next two years. This follows a federal government department's assessment which found the spray drift and run-off from prolonged use of endosulfan was harmful to the environment. The study concluded long-term risks could not be mitigated through restrictions on use or variations to label instructions. APVMA says risks to human health were not a factor in its decision to end the use of the chemical. The United States ended all uses of the insecticide in June after its environmental authorities accepted it could cause nerve damage and reproductive complications in farm workers and is a hazard to wildlife. WWF has welcomed APVMA's decision but are critical of the association for not acknowledging human health risks. "Endosulfan is a very nasty poison but there are many other dangerous pesticides still posing unacceptable risks to Australian farmers and wildlife," WWF Australia spokeswoman Juliette King said. "We need better processes to ensure the faster removal of pesticides when they are known to be dangerous." Ms King said the APVMA has been reviewing the safety of at least eight dangerous chemicals for more than 13 years while they remain on shelves. *AAP
Native Pets
New research has found breeding threatened native animals like quolls as pets could become a lucrative industry that would help prevent their extinction. A team of biodiversity researchers has released the study examining the feasibility of a breeding industry for native mammals, focusing on the eastern quoll and mitchell's hopping mouse. Like the northern quoll, which is threatened by the spread of cane toads, the eastern quoll has been all but eradicated on the mainland by predators such as foxes. The study found that breeding native mammals as pets could lead to them replacing domestic cats, which threaten small native animals. A pet breeding program could also help build a greater understanding of the animals' needs. The study recognises that a breeding industry would have to be regulated but as long as keepers are well trained, there should not be any major welfare issues. One of the report's authors, Rosalie Chapple, says she hopes the research leads to more captive breeding programs. "I do have a fair bit of scepticism about it," she said. "I think to have the debate is really good because that in itself has the chance of raising public awareness of the problems of extinction, but to the extent to which a small initiative like this can make a difference to conservation is very questionable." *ABC
Another Dead kangaroo
Police are investigating if a kangaroo found dead with shocking injuries in Wyndham Vale this week was the victim of a sick practical joke. The kangaroo’s broken and battered body was found by residents in a park near the corner of Akoona Way and Paringa Pass, on Monday at 8pm. A wheelie bin with blood on it and a plank of wood with hair and blood on it was found near the kangaroo’s body, police said. Wyndham North Sen-Constable Barry Thorpe said this afternoon that following an anonymous call, police were now investigating whether the body of the badly injured kangaroo was left inside a house nearby as a sick practical joke. He said police believed occupants of the house returned to find the dead kangaroo inside and not knowing what to do, carried it in a wheelie bin to the Wyndham Vale park where it was later found by people living nearby. Police were today trying to contact people believed to be involved, including the person believed to have left the kangaroo at the house. No charges had been laid. Animal Cruelty Hotline investigator Barrie Tapp said an external post mortem conducted this week showed the kangaroo had suffered external head trauma, a broken left leg, grazes and bruises on its head and abdomen, and bleeding from the mouth. The cause of this was inconclusive, he said. He said the female kangaroo was aged less than two years old and would have been dead at least 48 hours. Anyone with information is asked to phone Sen Constable Thorpe on 8734 1100 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. *WyndhamVale Leader
Dophins and Dugongs
A Senate estimates hearing has been told that military personnel try to move wildlife such as dolphins and dugongs away in the lead up to military exercises in a sensitive marine area. Exercise Talisman Sabre is held every two years at Shoalwater Bay in central Queensland with joint live firing exercises between the Australian and United States defence forces. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority monitors the environmental impact of the exercises. The authority's chairman Russell Reichelt told Greens Senator Scott Ludlam that before they start, big animals like dolphins and dugongs are moved out of the area. "We do actually have people escorting dolphins and marine mammals and so on out of the live firing area," he said. But Senator Ludlam has indicated he believes it is not good enough. "Am I the only one who's finding that faintly ridiculous?" he asked. "What about things that are smaller, like fish or birds or turtles?" *ABC
Introduced Pest Fish
IT has been dubbed the "dance of the fish" by Blanchetown residents, who are witnessing the largest European carp spawn in the River Murray for decades. With Lock 1 now overwhelmed with floodwaters, hundreds of the pest fish launch themselves every minute from the muddy waters, releasing millions of eggs. The latest ritual has exceeded all others in the past decade, most likely because of the high river flows, local fishermen say. South Australian Research and Development Institute scientists have exploited the phenomenon, removing tonnes of carp in traps and using electric shock fishing techniques to catch and tag native fish to study as part of the Murray Darling Basin Authority's native fish strategy. "It is quite a remarkable sight," said kayaker John Wilmshurst, who had paddled from Waikerie. *Adelaide NOw
Meanwhile last month, a giant goldfish that had evaded fishermen for six years, has finally been caught. Fisherman Raphael Biagini, 30, took 10 minutes to reel the giant orange koi carp, which weighs the same as an average three-year-old girl, from a lake in the south of France. The fish, too large for any bowl, is thought to be one of the largest of its kind ever captured. "To begin with, we couldn't tell what was at the end of the line, but we knew it was big," Mr Biagini said. "The fish was a good fighter, but not enough to win." After an impromptu photoshoot, the fisherman from Montpellier returned his prize catch to the water. *Daily Telegraph
Exotic Leather
Swatch Group has responded to an outcry against exotic leather after a Swiss television channel exposed the unacceptable conditions that surround the obtainment of exotic animal leathers.
Schweizer Fernsehen televised a report showing the cruelty of exotic-leather trade in Indonesia. It was revealed that lizards set for slaughtering are often tied up and kept in plastic bags for days while snakes are skinned alive. Other reptiles are supposedly bludgeoned with hammers. In a statement, the executive management of Swatch Group – which has a strict set of ethical guidelines – said it would investigate if any exotic leather was used in its products and if so, would undertake on-site inspections of all its leather suppliers. “Products from such doubtful sources as those described by Swiss television have no place in the Swatch Group product offering,” the company said in a statement. Despite Swatch’s strict stance against exotic leathers, they only constitute a small proportion of the leather in Swatch watches. Nearly 100 per cent of the leather is obtained from controlled animal breeders in the United States. * Jewellery News Magazine
Kangaroo Bashed
An anonymous caller to an animal welfare service could hold the key to solving the bashing death of a kangaroo found bludgeoned in a park on Melbourne's western outskirts. The Animal Cruelty Hotline has been investigating the grisly find in a park near houses in Wyndham Vale, near Werribee. Nearby residents found the body of the kangaroo about 8pm (AEDT) on Monday. Animal Cruelty Hotline investigator Barrie Tapp ordered an autopsy on the battered kangaroo, which he said revealed injuries "consistent with injuries caused by a bashing". A bloodied piece of wood was found beside the body, which is thought to have been dumped at the park. Mr Tapp said an anonymous caller phoned the hotline on Tuesday evening with details of the incident but did not call back as promised. "We want that person to call us back. They left some information that will be of use to us," he said. "We have people of interest and we are confident those people will be caught ... but we'd like to hear from that person again. "Their call will be treated anonymously." Nigel Williamson of Nigel's Animal Rescue was at the scene on Monday night and suggested the body had been there at least 48 hours and may have been taken to the site in an abandoned wheelie bin. Mr Tapp said the culprits must be punished. "It's about time people stood up and dobbed in these bludgers because animal cruelty is just getting out of hand," Mr Tapp said. "The RSPCA and the Animal Cruelty Hotline are both reporting a 10 to 20 per cent increase in incidents this year." Early speculation suggested the kangaroo may have been hit by a car and bludgeoned in a crude and callous attempt to finish off the stricken animal. Anyone with information should phone the Animal Cruelty Hotline on 1800 751 770 or 0409 144 803. *NewsLtd
Crocdiles
A crocodile, in position to lunge at a group of people too close to the water's edge, was captured on camera and has made the email rounds across the Territory. The picture on our front page shows the group, which includes a small child, standing at the barrage at Shady Camp - one of the Territory's best-known saltwater croc hot spots - taking happy snaps of the 4.5m saltie. They appear blissfully unaware the croc could easily snap at them. The huge reptile was feeding on fish while the tourists watched on with their feet almost in the water just metres away. "One of them had just told me how crocs can come out of the water at 40km/h," the photographer said. Over and over again people labelled 'croc idiots' surprise with their lack of respect for the huge predators lurking in Territory waters. Earlier this year a woman became infamous after having a dip with crocs at Shady Camp, wearing a pink bikini. In September, a group of women competing in the Secret Women's Business Fishing Challenge at Corroboree billabong got the fright of their lives when a 3m saltie lunged for one of the women in the boat. And at the end of the last wet season several photos emerged showing people climbing on, or even in, baited crocodile traps in rivers and billabongs across the Top End. *NT news
Fraser Island
A controversy is looming over a push by the Fraser Island Aboriginal community to have the tourism hotspot returned to its traditional name, K'gari. The Butchulla/Badtjala people want the World Heritage-listed island to be renamed, replicating the change that turned Ayers Rock into Uluru. But the move has divided island residents and tourism operators, with some fearing the island's international recognition could be lost. The State Government has confirmed it is considering a proposal for dual naming of the island, with Fraser to remain its primary name. The Butchulla people want K'gari which means ``paradise'' and is pronounced Gaarri to come first. They have been supported by the Fraser Island Defenders Organisation and various advisory committees. But Fraser Island Residents Association president David Anderson said he did not see the value in changing the name. ``I think it would affect recognition. If you change it to K'gari, it's not going to mean anything (to the wider public),'' he said.
Europeans named it Fraser Island in honour of Eliza Fraser, who was shipwrecked there in 1836 and claimed she was held captive by Aborigines. However, Butchulla elder Malcolm Burns, 61, co-chair of the island's indigenous advisory committee, said Aborigines had saved Eliza Fraser, and she was a liar who did not deserve remembrance. ``What would you rather? An island named after a liar, or an island named after paradise?'' Mr Burns said. Eliza's story, which inspired painter Sidney Nolan and author Patrick White, highlights the conflict between white and black history. Eliza was beached with her husband, Captain James Fraser, and crew after their ship, the Stirling Castle, sank en route to Singapore. She was taken in by Aboriginal women, stripped and painted, forced to nurse the children, dig for roots and source honey, and witnessed the spearing death of her husband.
When she was eventually rescued, Eliza went on to embellish her story to English audiences before lapsing into obscurity. ``To us she was a liar,'' Mr Burns said. ``She said our ancestors were cannibals and treated her inhumanely. But they helped her, they saved her ... because she couldn't handle the harsh environment. ``When she went to England, she conned the aristocracy and made a fortune telling her lies.'' Fraser Coast Regional Council Mayor Mick Kruger said he understood the argument for K'gari but said ``it's known as Fraser Island all over the world''. But anthropologist Dr Annie Ross, a cultural adviser on the island's scientific advisory committee, supports the change. ``When Europeans name something and take away the traditional name, it disempowers the traditional people, it takes away all the knowledge associated with that name and place,'' Dr Ross said. *Qld Sunday Mail
On the 3rd, 4th and 5th of November, photographer Jennifer Parkhurst, whose home was raided early one morning earlier this year by Qld Parks and Wildlife goons, faces the Supreme Court in Maryborough for photographing the Fraser Island dingoes. They confiscated most of her belongings, including her paintings, photographs, personal documents, even the Government documents legally obtained under FOI. She faces 44 charges of "interfering with the dingoes", and faces fines of up to $300,000 or four years jail. Jennifer was instumental in bringing public attention to the horrific mis-management of the dingoes, and the criminal procceedings are believed by most people to be a form of "payback" by the Queensland Government. If anyone in the area could be at the Court in Maryborough to offer Jennifer some support, it would be very welcome. *WPAA
Flood Aftermath
Stagnant floodwater from recent heavy rain in Victoria is now poisoning some of the river systems in the state's north-west. The black tide is killing off tens of thousands of native fish. Tim Betts was shocked when the Wakool River, which runs through his farm near Swan Hill, turned black. He noticed hundreds of small fish with their mouths out of the water gasping for oxygen. But he was devastated when huge Murray Cod started floating to the surface.. "It was like you were in the middle of your worst nightmare. They were floating, lining the banks. They were everywhere," he said. "The place started to stink." Locals are now wondering if there are any live fish left in the Wakool River between Barham and Swan Hill. Thousands suffocated when floodwaters from the Murray River, which turned black and toxic in wetlands, flowed into the Wakool system, removing oxygen from the water. Farmers say while it was a natural occurrance, water authorities could have lessened the impact.
The Wakool River, which runs adjacent to the Murray, is pitch black for 200 kilometres. Locals say they pleaded with the Murray Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) to quickly release some of its environmental water. But farmer John Lolicato says it waited too long. "The MDBA has got a huge parcel of enivronmental water. The simple fact is that no-one was prepared to release it," he said. Tracey Forde's family usually showers and washes up in water from the Wakool. "We can't do that. It's toxic. It is like black oil," she said. "It smells and everything is dying in it, so there's no way we are going to wash in it. So we have to buy water," she said. Tim Betts brought a ute load of fish over from his farm to show locals at Barham. Mr Betts believes the fish kill is another example of the Murray Darling Basin Authority being out of its depth and failing to listen to locals. "Step back and take a look at yourselves," he said. "Look at this river system and appreciate it for what it is, and just don't let she'll be right attitude go. Lets do something now." The Murray Darling Basin Authority says it did act on local concerns and sent water down the Wakool, but it took at least a week to reach the worst area. *ABC Ed Comment; Its not just Victoria, we found dozens of dead bass in previously flooded areas in Brisbane, some stuck in trees that had gone underwater.
New Coal Gas Contamination
The State Government has ordered immediate testing on a Coal Seam Gas (CSG) project in southern Queensland after another contamination scare. Traces of banned carcinogenic chemicals have been found in eight exploration wells in the Surat basin during routine tests by Australia Pacific LNG. The company has Australia's largest CSG reserves. Queensland Environment Minister Kate Jones says she is waiting for more tests before she takes any action. "The company advised me that there is no evidence of environmental harm," she said. "However they are undertaking further testing and I have asked that that testing be undertaken by an independent service provider." Ms Jones says the company has acted responsibly by coming forward to report the contamination. "I'm pleased that Australia Pacific LNG gave the Government a briefing on the small levels of detection," she said. "We are expecting to see the testing results this week. "Once we have those results that will be able to confirm whether there has been any environmental harm." In July, an Underground Coal Gasification project in the South Burnett was suspended after similar chemicals were detected in farm water supplies. Environmentalist Drew Hutton says the latest contamination scare is more proof these projects are harmful and dangerous. "This process has gone wrong," he said. "There should not be those chemicals in the fluids that are coming up from the wells and the fact that it's in 8 wells shows there's some sort of pattern going on here. "We need to get to the bottom of it and if somebody has done the wrong thing then they need to be held to account for it." *ABC
Climate Change
International marine scientists say the worst coral bleaching in more than a decade has struck reefs across the South-East Asian and Indian oceans in recent months. They say that the coral death could be the most damaging bleaching event ever recorded. It has hit the area known as the Coral Triangle, which has more than 500 coral species making it the richest marine biodiversity zone on the planet. But over the past six months, there have been some significant changes. Andrew Baird, from the ARC Centre for Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, says the bleaching is far-reaching. "A lot of reports have come in from the Andaman Sea - so Thailand down [to] Singapore, Malaysia - the scale is huge," he said. "It probably extends from the Western Indian Ocean, right across into the Coral Triangle and also there's bleaching in the Philippines and it's starting to get hot in the Pacific. "So it looks like this event will be as big as the last global bleaching event which was 1998."
Dr Baird has been working in Aceh on the boundary of the Coral Triangle. He says the impact there has been severe. "What we've seen there is a bleaching event that was caused by hot water back in May and what we've documented is about 80 per cent of the Acropora, which is typically the most predominant coral species... are dead," he said. "There's a cyclic event in the Indian Ocean called the Indian Ocean Dipole, which is similar to El Nino events, and [causes] warm water pools in the west of the Indian Ocean. "So this is a natural cyclic event but almost certainly human-induced climate change is increasing the intensity of that event." Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, also from the ARC and the director of the Global Change Institute at the University of Queensland, says it is one of the worst coral bleaching events to hit the South-East Asian region. "It only takes a small change in sea temperature to push coral beyond what they can stand," he said.
"So we've seen, over the past 20 years, repeated assaults on reefs and this one seems to be one that's going to be up there with some of the most severe events seen in the South-East Asian region." "If you look at the satellite sea surface temperature measurements, they're showing that seas are about one to three degrees warmer than the long-term averages for the region. "And that if [the] ocean remains at it for a month or two months, is enough to cause reefs to experience severe coral mortality." Tony Mohr, the manager of the climate change program at the Australian Conservation Foundation, says the same sort of bleaching is happening around the world. "The bleaching that we're seeing right now in the Coral Triangle area is symptomatic of other bleaching events that we've seen in other major reefs around Australia, and around the world," he said. "It's really showing that climate change is not something that's going to happen in the future - it's something that's affecting systems right now.
"In the Coral Triangle area, there are a lot of people who are dependant on the coral to maintain fisheries, and those fisheries support a lot of people for basic sustenance. "Of course it will also have an impact on the species that exist on the corals and there's a lot of different species - it's commonly regarded as the Amazon of the oceans in that area." He says reducing greenhouse gas emissions will help to protect this coral life. "We really need to make sure that we reduce greenhouse gas pollution," he said. "That's the main driver for these bleaching events that are occurring more frequently than they once did. n"That's the main thing that we need to do to protect their future, but we also need to make sure that ocean acidification, another impact of greenhouse gas emissions, is also reduced." *ABC
Interesting Websites
One stop online shop for people who care about animals. Vegan food, household, health, beauty, pets and family. No animal testing or ingredients. http://www.crueltyfreeshop.com.au
Located near Australia Zoo at Beerwah in Queensland, Australia, the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital was opened in March 2004, inspired by the memory of Lyn Irwin (Steve’s mum), who was a pioneer in wildlife care in Queensland. It was her dream to establish a wildlife hospital, and unfortunately this was not realised until after Lyn had passed away. Lyn’s dream now provides a lifeline for nature's innocent victims – her work lives on. http://www.wildlifewarriors.org.au/wildlife_hospital/
Is kangaroo meat "good bush tucker?" http://www.nokangaroomeat.org
Climate Change
The government has co-opted almost 40 union leaders, business, mining and industry executives, as well as environment groups and charitable organisations, to advise it on climate change policy. The full list, published yesterday, underscores the government's strategy of spreading as far as possible ownership of the policy to put a price on carbon, which is now likely to be decided late next year. While the policy will be devised by the parliamentary Multi-Party Climate Change Committee, comprising Labor, the Greens and independents, the government will take advice from two roundtables. As reported in the Herald recently, the business roundtable will include executives from mining giants such as BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Woodside Petroleum, as well as the National Australia Bank. The full list of 18 includes the chief executive of Qantas, Alan Joyce, the head of Woolworths, Michael Luscombe, and the chairman of Shell Australia, Anne Pickard.
The second roundtable of non-government organisations has 20 members, ranging from Don Henry, head of the Australian Conservation Foundation, to the ACTU president, Ged Kearney, one of five union leaders, Tim Costello of World Vision and Tim Flannery, representing the Coast and Climate Change Council. Like the Climate Change Committee, the roundtables will meet once a month until the end of next year with the aim of developing support among their constituencies. The NGO roundtable will advise on compensation needed for households and on jobs that could be created. The business roundtable will advise on business and economic impacts.
Since the Senate twice defeated the emissions trading scheme and deferred it during the last term, the Gillard government has been determined to build a wide consensus before legislating. It has left open the options of an emissions trading scheme, a carbon tax and a hybrid. Under a yet-to-be-declared strategy, the government aims to have a policy operational by mid 2012, well before the next election, due in mid to late 2013. The plan is that people will become accustomed to the scheme, as they did the GST, and there will be little desire to revoke it come the election. By enlisting the services of so many third parties, the government also plans to isolate the Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, who again yesterday was railing against a carbon price as an impost on the cost of living. *Age
WA's Freshwater Fish Disappearing
WA's freshwater fish are dying. An unprecedented investigation of the State's lakes reveals nearly 60 per cent contain no native species. The year-long survey by the Department of Fisheries and National Resource Management covered from Geraldton to Busselton and east to Northam, looking at the fish bio- diversity of 114 lakes. Only 50 lakes contained any native fish. Department scientist Craig Lawrence said the findings were alarming, particularly because of the large number of feral fish which have been partly blamed for the rapid native decline. Loss of habitat because of urban sprawl and the drying up of nearly half the lakes were also blamed. "For the first time we are getting a clear picture of the situation and the results are concerning," Dr Lawrence said. With native fish a major source of food for recreational fishing species and keeping down insect populations such as mosquitoes, the department will look at breeding native fish for restocking. "These are the species that control Ross River virus and, in the future, dengue fever, and they are also the basis of the food chain," Dr Lawrence said. "It would be very hard to have a recreational marron industry if there was no food for the marron." Only 9 per cent of the lakes contained exclusively native fish species, 66 per cent had introduced freshwater species and 12 per cent had no fish.
The same source reports that WA's most endangered animals have for the first time been ranked according to their likelihood of extinction. The list compiled for The West Australian by the newly formed Threatened Species Council reveals how close some animals are to being lost for ever. The rankings look at population size and the likelihood of survival based on threats from predators, disease and the encroachment of urban sprawl on habitats. Frogs, turtles, birds and mammals all feature on the list of 16 animals, with the Gilbert's potoroo, which is found only on the south coast, ranked as the species most likely to disappear, with fewer than 100 left in the wild. Classifications from critically endangered through to vulnerable are based on the International Union for Conservation of Nature rankings. Environment Minister Donna Faragher established the council to address the near-600 threatened species of flora and fauna around WA. She said several WA agencies were conducting research into endangered species and the council would help make their work more effective. "There are a range of reasons why we have species that are threatened, whether it is through habitat loss, feral pests or disease, we don't always know all of the science behind it and that is why we need these agencies to be doing that research," she said. Mrs Faragher said there was no guarantee that the species on the list would be around in 10 years, but her department and other agencies had made a significant commitment towards ensuring they were. Department of Environment and Conservation director-general Keiran McNamara, who chairs the council, said monitoring the abundance of many species on the list was often difficult because of their small size, low numbers, and cryptic behaviour. Mr McNamara said fox-baiting had helped some threatened species but in some cases it let cats in as predators. *WA Now
Editorial
At the BioDiversity Conference which opened this week in Japan, UN officials issued a global warning that the rapid loss of animal and plant species that has characterized the past century must end if humans are to survive. Delegates in Nagoya plan to set a new target for 2020 for curbing species loss, and will discuss boosting medium-term financial help for poor countries to help them protect their wildlife and habitats. "Business as usual is no more an option for mankind," the CBD executive secretary said in his opening statements. "We need a new approach, we need to reconnect with nature and live in harmony with nature into the future." We dont think that will happen any time soon. Our new Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke didnt even attend the Conference. A new assessment by the World Wildlife Fund states that the Earth's 6.8 billion humans are effectively living 50 percent beyond the planet's biocapacity in 2007. The report said by 2030 humans will effectively need the capacity of two Earths in order to survive. On another twist, we've heard that Burke has delayed giving the koalas better protection, by saying he wants to review the matter.* WPAA
Biodiversity
The United Nations is attempting to negotiate a new international agreement over the next two weeks to stem the increasing loss of biodiversity. More than 190 countries are meeting in Japan, but already there are expectations the conference may not deliver. It is one of the most important meetings since the Kyoto protocol conference in 1997. Scientific studies have revealed a 40 per cent species loss since 1970 and governments globally have failed to meet targets set for 2010. Humane Society International spokeswoman Alexia Wellbelove says Australia can step up and become a world leader in protecting biodiversity. "We really want Australia to wake up to this agenda and the fact that we've got a new government - it's a perfect opportunity," she said. "We've got one of the highest extinction rates in the world, one of the most amazing biodiversity treasures and species. "So it's really time we turn it around and say, 'right, we're going to position ourselves as a world leader and really take some action'." Ms Wellbelove says politicians have forgotten about the importance of biodiversity. Australia's Environment Minister, Tony Burke, is not attending the Nagoya meeting. "Biodiversity has pretty much become the poor cousin to climate change and the political will to this issue has really declined," she said. "The UN wants new more ambitious targets to reduce the loss of animals and plants." *ABC
Badgers
Badgers are known as one of nature’s shyest creatures – bashful in daylight and wary of humans. But a Macclesfield nurse and her family are being pestered by them for dinner. Debbie Bayley said: "They will come up at 7.30pm and if I haven’t put out some food for them, they’ll actually tap on the window to remind me! "I put out a plate of dog food, dog biscuits, or sometimes peanuts for a treat." Debbie, 43, a health adviser at Macclesfield Hospital, who lives in Furness Vale, High Peak, near Disley, says it all started six months ago. "Something was making the garden light go on, and then our gardener spotted one at the bottom of the garden, so we started putting food out." Then Debbie’s partner David Wilson, 48, a police officer at Macclesfield station, spotted a badger at 3am. She said: From that night they’ve just kept coming – first there was one, then three and just this week we’ve got five. A whole family, with adults and a one-year-old comes right up to our patio window – it’s amazing." Debbie, who is now a member of the Cheshire and Wirral Badger Group, part of the Badger Trust, says it’s extremely rare for a badger, which can eat up to 200 worms night in the wild, to make itself so at home. "They’ll tap on the window, roll on the floor and they’ve marked their territory with a dung pit at the bottom of the garden. It’s mating season now so we hope there’ll be a baby next year." Debbie’s badgers, who have a sett at the bottom of the garden, have become so famous that tourists come from miles to sneak a peek in a special ‘badger watch’ she has set up. "We’ve had a couple from the Isle of Man a couple from Australia, and lots from nearby towns." Along with her group, Debbie is campaigning against government plans to cull badgers to prevent bovine TB. She said: "Anyone who saw our family of badgers would never have the heart to kill them." If you want to book a spot to see Debbie’s badgers in action, email her at baileysbadgers@hotmail.co.uk. *Manchester Mail
Endosulphan Banned
Australia's pesticides regulator has ended the use of a chemical banned in more than 60 other countries. The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) announced on Tuesday that agricultural products containing the insecticide endosulfan are now no longer registered. The three current approvals for endosulfan have also been cancelled, and the five products containing the chemical will be phased out over the next two years. This follows a federal government department's assessment which found the spray drift and run-off from prolonged use of endosulfan was harmful to the environment. The study concluded long-term risks could not be mitigated through restrictions on use or variations to label instructions. APVMA says risks to human health were not a factor in its decision to end the use of the chemical. The United States ended all uses of the insecticide in June after its environmental authorities accepted it could cause nerve damage and reproductive complications in farm workers and is a hazard to wildlife. WWF has welcomed APVMA's decision but are critical of the association for not acknowledging human health risks. "Endosulfan is a very nasty poison but there are many other dangerous pesticides still posing unacceptable risks to Australian farmers and wildlife," WWF Australia spokeswoman Juliette King said. "We need better processes to ensure the faster removal of pesticides when they are known to be dangerous." Ms King said the APVMA has been reviewing the safety of at least eight dangerous chemicals for more than 13 years while they remain on shelves. *AAP
Native Pets
New research has found breeding threatened native animals like quolls as pets could become a lucrative industry that would help prevent their extinction. A team of biodiversity researchers has released the study examining the feasibility of a breeding industry for native mammals, focusing on the eastern quoll and mitchell's hopping mouse. Like the northern quoll, which is threatened by the spread of cane toads, the eastern quoll has been all but eradicated on the mainland by predators such as foxes. The study found that breeding native mammals as pets could lead to them replacing domestic cats, which threaten small native animals. A pet breeding program could also help build a greater understanding of the animals' needs. The study recognises that a breeding industry would have to be regulated but as long as keepers are well trained, there should not be any major welfare issues. One of the report's authors, Rosalie Chapple, says she hopes the research leads to more captive breeding programs. "I do have a fair bit of scepticism about it," she said. "I think to have the debate is really good because that in itself has the chance of raising public awareness of the problems of extinction, but to the extent to which a small initiative like this can make a difference to conservation is very questionable." *ABC
Another Dead kangaroo
Police are investigating if a kangaroo found dead with shocking injuries in Wyndham Vale this week was the victim of a sick practical joke. The kangaroo’s broken and battered body was found by residents in a park near the corner of Akoona Way and Paringa Pass, on Monday at 8pm. A wheelie bin with blood on it and a plank of wood with hair and blood on it was found near the kangaroo’s body, police said. Wyndham North Sen-Constable Barry Thorpe said this afternoon that following an anonymous call, police were now investigating whether the body of the badly injured kangaroo was left inside a house nearby as a sick practical joke. He said police believed occupants of the house returned to find the dead kangaroo inside and not knowing what to do, carried it in a wheelie bin to the Wyndham Vale park where it was later found by people living nearby. Police were today trying to contact people believed to be involved, including the person believed to have left the kangaroo at the house. No charges had been laid. Animal Cruelty Hotline investigator Barrie Tapp said an external post mortem conducted this week showed the kangaroo had suffered external head trauma, a broken left leg, grazes and bruises on its head and abdomen, and bleeding from the mouth. The cause of this was inconclusive, he said. He said the female kangaroo was aged less than two years old and would have been dead at least 48 hours. Anyone with information is asked to phone Sen Constable Thorpe on 8734 1100 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. *WyndhamVale Leader
Dophins and Dugongs
A Senate estimates hearing has been told that military personnel try to move wildlife such as dolphins and dugongs away in the lead up to military exercises in a sensitive marine area. Exercise Talisman Sabre is held every two years at Shoalwater Bay in central Queensland with joint live firing exercises between the Australian and United States defence forces. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority monitors the environmental impact of the exercises. The authority's chairman Russell Reichelt told Greens Senator Scott Ludlam that before they start, big animals like dolphins and dugongs are moved out of the area. "We do actually have people escorting dolphins and marine mammals and so on out of the live firing area," he said. But Senator Ludlam has indicated he believes it is not good enough. "Am I the only one who's finding that faintly ridiculous?" he asked. "What about things that are smaller, like fish or birds or turtles?" *ABC
Introduced Pest Fish
IT has been dubbed the "dance of the fish" by Blanchetown residents, who are witnessing the largest European carp spawn in the River Murray for decades. With Lock 1 now overwhelmed with floodwaters, hundreds of the pest fish launch themselves every minute from the muddy waters, releasing millions of eggs. The latest ritual has exceeded all others in the past decade, most likely because of the high river flows, local fishermen say. South Australian Research and Development Institute scientists have exploited the phenomenon, removing tonnes of carp in traps and using electric shock fishing techniques to catch and tag native fish to study as part of the Murray Darling Basin Authority's native fish strategy. "It is quite a remarkable sight," said kayaker John Wilmshurst, who had paddled from Waikerie. *Adelaide NOw
Meanwhile last month, a giant goldfish that had evaded fishermen for six years, has finally been caught. Fisherman Raphael Biagini, 30, took 10 minutes to reel the giant orange koi carp, which weighs the same as an average three-year-old girl, from a lake in the south of France. The fish, too large for any bowl, is thought to be one of the largest of its kind ever captured. "To begin with, we couldn't tell what was at the end of the line, but we knew it was big," Mr Biagini said. "The fish was a good fighter, but not enough to win." After an impromptu photoshoot, the fisherman from Montpellier returned his prize catch to the water. *Daily Telegraph
Exotic Leather
Swatch Group has responded to an outcry against exotic leather after a Swiss television channel exposed the unacceptable conditions that surround the obtainment of exotic animal leathers.
Schweizer Fernsehen televised a report showing the cruelty of exotic-leather trade in Indonesia. It was revealed that lizards set for slaughtering are often tied up and kept in plastic bags for days while snakes are skinned alive. Other reptiles are supposedly bludgeoned with hammers. In a statement, the executive management of Swatch Group – which has a strict set of ethical guidelines – said it would investigate if any exotic leather was used in its products and if so, would undertake on-site inspections of all its leather suppliers. “Products from such doubtful sources as those described by Swiss television have no place in the Swatch Group product offering,” the company said in a statement. Despite Swatch’s strict stance against exotic leathers, they only constitute a small proportion of the leather in Swatch watches. Nearly 100 per cent of the leather is obtained from controlled animal breeders in the United States. * Jewellery News Magazine
Kangaroo Bashed
An anonymous caller to an animal welfare service could hold the key to solving the bashing death of a kangaroo found bludgeoned in a park on Melbourne's western outskirts. The Animal Cruelty Hotline has been investigating the grisly find in a park near houses in Wyndham Vale, near Werribee. Nearby residents found the body of the kangaroo about 8pm (AEDT) on Monday. Animal Cruelty Hotline investigator Barrie Tapp ordered an autopsy on the battered kangaroo, which he said revealed injuries "consistent with injuries caused by a bashing". A bloodied piece of wood was found beside the body, which is thought to have been dumped at the park. Mr Tapp said an anonymous caller phoned the hotline on Tuesday evening with details of the incident but did not call back as promised. "We want that person to call us back. They left some information that will be of use to us," he said. "We have people of interest and we are confident those people will be caught ... but we'd like to hear from that person again. "Their call will be treated anonymously." Nigel Williamson of Nigel's Animal Rescue was at the scene on Monday night and suggested the body had been there at least 48 hours and may have been taken to the site in an abandoned wheelie bin. Mr Tapp said the culprits must be punished. "It's about time people stood up and dobbed in these bludgers because animal cruelty is just getting out of hand," Mr Tapp said. "The RSPCA and the Animal Cruelty Hotline are both reporting a 10 to 20 per cent increase in incidents this year." Early speculation suggested the kangaroo may have been hit by a car and bludgeoned in a crude and callous attempt to finish off the stricken animal. Anyone with information should phone the Animal Cruelty Hotline on 1800 751 770 or 0409 144 803. *NewsLtd
Crocdiles
A crocodile, in position to lunge at a group of people too close to the water's edge, was captured on camera and has made the email rounds across the Territory. The picture on our front page shows the group, which includes a small child, standing at the barrage at Shady Camp - one of the Territory's best-known saltwater croc hot spots - taking happy snaps of the 4.5m saltie. They appear blissfully unaware the croc could easily snap at them. The huge reptile was feeding on fish while the tourists watched on with their feet almost in the water just metres away. "One of them had just told me how crocs can come out of the water at 40km/h," the photographer said. Over and over again people labelled 'croc idiots' surprise with their lack of respect for the huge predators lurking in Territory waters. Earlier this year a woman became infamous after having a dip with crocs at Shady Camp, wearing a pink bikini. In September, a group of women competing in the Secret Women's Business Fishing Challenge at Corroboree billabong got the fright of their lives when a 3m saltie lunged for one of the women in the boat. And at the end of the last wet season several photos emerged showing people climbing on, or even in, baited crocodile traps in rivers and billabongs across the Top End. *NT news
Fraser Island
A controversy is looming over a push by the Fraser Island Aboriginal community to have the tourism hotspot returned to its traditional name, K'gari. The Butchulla/Badtjala people want the World Heritage-listed island to be renamed, replicating the change that turned Ayers Rock into Uluru. But the move has divided island residents and tourism operators, with some fearing the island's international recognition could be lost. The State Government has confirmed it is considering a proposal for dual naming of the island, with Fraser to remain its primary name. The Butchulla people want K'gari which means ``paradise'' and is pronounced Gaarri to come first. They have been supported by the Fraser Island Defenders Organisation and various advisory committees. But Fraser Island Residents Association president David Anderson said he did not see the value in changing the name. ``I think it would affect recognition. If you change it to K'gari, it's not going to mean anything (to the wider public),'' he said.
Europeans named it Fraser Island in honour of Eliza Fraser, who was shipwrecked there in 1836 and claimed she was held captive by Aborigines. However, Butchulla elder Malcolm Burns, 61, co-chair of the island's indigenous advisory committee, said Aborigines had saved Eliza Fraser, and she was a liar who did not deserve remembrance. ``What would you rather? An island named after a liar, or an island named after paradise?'' Mr Burns said. Eliza's story, which inspired painter Sidney Nolan and author Patrick White, highlights the conflict between white and black history. Eliza was beached with her husband, Captain James Fraser, and crew after their ship, the Stirling Castle, sank en route to Singapore. She was taken in by Aboriginal women, stripped and painted, forced to nurse the children, dig for roots and source honey, and witnessed the spearing death of her husband.
When she was eventually rescued, Eliza went on to embellish her story to English audiences before lapsing into obscurity. ``To us she was a liar,'' Mr Burns said. ``She said our ancestors were cannibals and treated her inhumanely. But they helped her, they saved her ... because she couldn't handle the harsh environment. ``When she went to England, she conned the aristocracy and made a fortune telling her lies.'' Fraser Coast Regional Council Mayor Mick Kruger said he understood the argument for K'gari but said ``it's known as Fraser Island all over the world''. But anthropologist Dr Annie Ross, a cultural adviser on the island's scientific advisory committee, supports the change. ``When Europeans name something and take away the traditional name, it disempowers the traditional people, it takes away all the knowledge associated with that name and place,'' Dr Ross said. *Qld Sunday Mail
On the 3rd, 4th and 5th of November, photographer Jennifer Parkhurst, whose home was raided early one morning earlier this year by Qld Parks and Wildlife goons, faces the Supreme Court in Maryborough for photographing the Fraser Island dingoes. They confiscated most of her belongings, including her paintings, photographs, personal documents, even the Government documents legally obtained under FOI. She faces 44 charges of "interfering with the dingoes", and faces fines of up to $300,000 or four years jail. Jennifer was instumental in bringing public attention to the horrific mis-management of the dingoes, and the criminal procceedings are believed by most people to be a form of "payback" by the Queensland Government. If anyone in the area could be at the Court in Maryborough to offer Jennifer some support, it would be very welcome. *WPAA
Flood Aftermath
Stagnant floodwater from recent heavy rain in Victoria is now poisoning some of the river systems in the state's north-west. The black tide is killing off tens of thousands of native fish. Tim Betts was shocked when the Wakool River, which runs through his farm near Swan Hill, turned black. He noticed hundreds of small fish with their mouths out of the water gasping for oxygen. But he was devastated when huge Murray Cod started floating to the surface.. "It was like you were in the middle of your worst nightmare. They were floating, lining the banks. They were everywhere," he said. "The place started to stink." Locals are now wondering if there are any live fish left in the Wakool River between Barham and Swan Hill. Thousands suffocated when floodwaters from the Murray River, which turned black and toxic in wetlands, flowed into the Wakool system, removing oxygen from the water. Farmers say while it was a natural occurrance, water authorities could have lessened the impact.
The Wakool River, which runs adjacent to the Murray, is pitch black for 200 kilometres. Locals say they pleaded with the Murray Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) to quickly release some of its environmental water. But farmer John Lolicato says it waited too long. "The MDBA has got a huge parcel of enivronmental water. The simple fact is that no-one was prepared to release it," he said. Tracey Forde's family usually showers and washes up in water from the Wakool. "We can't do that. It's toxic. It is like black oil," she said. "It smells and everything is dying in it, so there's no way we are going to wash in it. So we have to buy water," she said. Tim Betts brought a ute load of fish over from his farm to show locals at Barham. Mr Betts believes the fish kill is another example of the Murray Darling Basin Authority being out of its depth and failing to listen to locals. "Step back and take a look at yourselves," he said. "Look at this river system and appreciate it for what it is, and just don't let she'll be right attitude go. Lets do something now." The Murray Darling Basin Authority says it did act on local concerns and sent water down the Wakool, but it took at least a week to reach the worst area. *ABC Ed Comment; Its not just Victoria, we found dozens of dead bass in previously flooded areas in Brisbane, some stuck in trees that had gone underwater.
New Coal Gas Contamination
The State Government has ordered immediate testing on a Coal Seam Gas (CSG) project in southern Queensland after another contamination scare. Traces of banned carcinogenic chemicals have been found in eight exploration wells in the Surat basin during routine tests by Australia Pacific LNG. The company has Australia's largest CSG reserves. Queensland Environment Minister Kate Jones says she is waiting for more tests before she takes any action. "The company advised me that there is no evidence of environmental harm," she said. "However they are undertaking further testing and I have asked that that testing be undertaken by an independent service provider." Ms Jones says the company has acted responsibly by coming forward to report the contamination. "I'm pleased that Australia Pacific LNG gave the Government a briefing on the small levels of detection," she said. "We are expecting to see the testing results this week. "Once we have those results that will be able to confirm whether there has been any environmental harm." In July, an Underground Coal Gasification project in the South Burnett was suspended after similar chemicals were detected in farm water supplies. Environmentalist Drew Hutton says the latest contamination scare is more proof these projects are harmful and dangerous. "This process has gone wrong," he said. "There should not be those chemicals in the fluids that are coming up from the wells and the fact that it's in 8 wells shows there's some sort of pattern going on here. "We need to get to the bottom of it and if somebody has done the wrong thing then they need to be held to account for it." *ABC
Climate Change
International marine scientists say the worst coral bleaching in more than a decade has struck reefs across the South-East Asian and Indian oceans in recent months. They say that the coral death could be the most damaging bleaching event ever recorded. It has hit the area known as the Coral Triangle, which has more than 500 coral species making it the richest marine biodiversity zone on the planet. But over the past six months, there have been some significant changes. Andrew Baird, from the ARC Centre for Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, says the bleaching is far-reaching. "A lot of reports have come in from the Andaman Sea - so Thailand down [to] Singapore, Malaysia - the scale is huge," he said. "It probably extends from the Western Indian Ocean, right across into the Coral Triangle and also there's bleaching in the Philippines and it's starting to get hot in the Pacific. "So it looks like this event will be as big as the last global bleaching event which was 1998."
Dr Baird has been working in Aceh on the boundary of the Coral Triangle. He says the impact there has been severe. "What we've seen there is a bleaching event that was caused by hot water back in May and what we've documented is about 80 per cent of the Acropora, which is typically the most predominant coral species... are dead," he said. "There's a cyclic event in the Indian Ocean called the Indian Ocean Dipole, which is similar to El Nino events, and [causes] warm water pools in the west of the Indian Ocean. "So this is a natural cyclic event but almost certainly human-induced climate change is increasing the intensity of that event." Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, also from the ARC and the director of the Global Change Institute at the University of Queensland, says it is one of the worst coral bleaching events to hit the South-East Asian region. "It only takes a small change in sea temperature to push coral beyond what they can stand," he said.
"So we've seen, over the past 20 years, repeated assaults on reefs and this one seems to be one that's going to be up there with some of the most severe events seen in the South-East Asian region." "If you look at the satellite sea surface temperature measurements, they're showing that seas are about one to three degrees warmer than the long-term averages for the region. "And that if [the] ocean remains at it for a month or two months, is enough to cause reefs to experience severe coral mortality." Tony Mohr, the manager of the climate change program at the Australian Conservation Foundation, says the same sort of bleaching is happening around the world. "The bleaching that we're seeing right now in the Coral Triangle area is symptomatic of other bleaching events that we've seen in other major reefs around Australia, and around the world," he said. "It's really showing that climate change is not something that's going to happen in the future - it's something that's affecting systems right now.
"In the Coral Triangle area, there are a lot of people who are dependant on the coral to maintain fisheries, and those fisheries support a lot of people for basic sustenance. "Of course it will also have an impact on the species that exist on the corals and there's a lot of different species - it's commonly regarded as the Amazon of the oceans in that area." He says reducing greenhouse gas emissions will help to protect this coral life. "We really need to make sure that we reduce greenhouse gas pollution," he said. "That's the main driver for these bleaching events that are occurring more frequently than they once did. n"That's the main thing that we need to do to protect their future, but we also need to make sure that ocean acidification, another impact of greenhouse gas emissions, is also reduced." *ABC
Interesting Websites
One stop online shop for people who care about animals. Vegan food, household, health, beauty, pets and family. No animal testing or ingredients. http://www.crueltyfreeshop.com.au
Located near Australia Zoo at Beerwah in Queensland, Australia, the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital was opened in March 2004, inspired by the memory of Lyn Irwin (Steve’s mum), who was a pioneer in wildlife care in Queensland. It was her dream to establish a wildlife hospital, and unfortunately this was not realised until after Lyn had passed away. Lyn’s dream now provides a lifeline for nature's innocent victims – her work lives on. http://www.wildlifewarriors.org.au/wildlife_hospital/
Is kangaroo meat "good bush tucker?" http://www.nokangaroomeat.org
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Wildlife Bytes 6/10/10
Lead Stories
As governments and the agricultural sector in four states gear up for what promises to be a massive locust-spraying campaign, one farmer in rural Victoria is leading a campaign against the program. Eris O'Brien, who runs sheep at Mitiamo near Bendigo, has even gone so far as to set up a save-the-locust website. He says spraying may worsen the locust plagues, because it will kill parasites which naturally control the insects. He has also raised concerns about the impact on native carnivores which will gorge themselves on the plentiful protein as they too recover from drought. His views aren't making him very popular in his district, where he is copping quite a bit of flack from his neighbours. The mass-spraying campaign - due to get underway along the length of inland south-eastern Australia - is one of the biggest ever conducted in this country. Although spraying has already begun in western Queensland and parts of New South Wales, Victoria - where locusts are hatching slightly later - is holding off until authorities are sure all of the hoppers have emerged from the ground.
Regional incident manager Bruce Taberner says environmental safeguards are in place for the campaign. "The buffer zones that we apply will ensure that we have adequate distance between any sensitive areas such as waterways, beehive sites, some of those sort of areas that are sensitive," he said. "We will be very conscious of those areas and certainly adhering to all [the pesticide] manufacturer's requirements and label requirements." While many farmers say the spraying campaign may be starting too late, environmentalists have been lining up to voice concerns. And Mr O'Brien is joining them. "Before pesticides were invented, there were farmers in the Wimmera [region in western Victoria], who effectively controlled locusts by mechanical control, using hoes running over the bands. When the locusts are in a band, there's no reason that you can't squash them as well as you can spray them," he said.
"Throughout history, if you look into the history of it, a lot of the plagues in the past have actually been ended through natural parasites. Now the spraying of the reserved land will kill the natural parasites, so in effect they could actually make the plague go on for longer." Mr O'Brien says native wildlife will be inadvertently affected by the spraying. "The other point is that Australian marsupials - they're found to actually be 10 times more susceptible than the rodents that they tested these pesticides on," he said. "I mean there'd be farms around where there isn't a big risk to wildlife, and the farmers will choose to use sprays and it won't be a big issue, but this focus on spraying roadsides and spraying reserves, and spraying native vegetation on farms with pesticides will have a big impact." *ABC
Wildlife Tourism
Australia's tourism industry has been warned its reputation is at risk unless it becomes more sustainable. As well as painting itself a deeper shade of green, it also has to adopt a higher ethical standard and be more responsible, according to Ecotourism Australia CEO, Kym Cheatham. Ms Cheatham says the industry has to do more, to protect its brand and reputation. "Australia relies heavily on its natural environment, the Great Barrier Reef, Uluru, kangaroos, sunshine and wide open spaces but we run the risk of failing to deliver on the promises we are making to our international markets," she said. The comments come ahead of the Global Eco Asia Pacific Tourism Conference in Noosa from October 25-28, where Ms Cheatham said adapting to climate change will be high on the agenda. The UN World Tourism Organisation has identified climate change as one of the five major threats facing the tourism industry, and Ms Cheatham has urged the Australian industry and government to get serious about protecting and promoting the importance of the environment, for a truly sustainable future.
"The industry is under enormous strain at the moment, with a range of factors including the high Australian dollar pushing many operators to the limit," she said. "We are going to see a considerable percentage of businesses buckle, just at the time demand for ecotourism and nature-based experiences is flourishing. "Our product is not cheap, so it needs to be of the highest quality with the most credible ecotourism credentials; we cannot afford to compromise." Ecotourism experiences are growing in Australia at about 20 per cent a year and Ecotourism Australia says the number of ECO certified products has doubled in the past three years. Ms Cheatham said the tourism industry must find ways to protect the natural asset the tourism experience is built on, and provide travellers with guilt-free experiences. *AAP
Editorial
Last week the UN admitted that the 2010 deadline for reducing the rate of biodiversity loss has been missed....completely. The Marine Reserves proposals around the World that everyone hoped would reverse the dramatic decline of marine species lost from Industrial overfishing have been put on hold, and were generally opposed by recreational fishers anyway. In Australia, kangaroos, dingoes, water fowl, birds around airports and orchids, are killed just to facilitate human activity. Forests and open grassland, habitat for many species including koalas, gliders, and wombats, is cleared, grazed, burnt and otherwise rendered unfit for wildlife. Wetlands are drained for cattle production.
Tonnes of poisonous insecticide is aerial sprayed over the country to combat locust plagues. Our rivers are dammed and diverted for irrigation, to feed growing numbers of humans, never mind what species are displaced. Next month the world's governments will meet in Japan to discuss the catastrophic decline of wild life on the planet. The outcome is expected to be as sad and as impotent as last year's climate talks in Copenhagen. As the UK Guardian states "Unless something changes, governments at the talkfest intend to decide that wild species and wild places will not be allowed to compete with special interest groups or industrial lobbyists. Wildlife doesn't fund political parties, control newspapers or threaten to take its business elsewhere. As soon as money can be made from its destruction, wildlife goes." But shouldn't we, the broader community, share some responsiblity for this tragedy?
People still shop at Woolworths and Coles, even though they sell kangaroo meat, and have consistently refused to stop selling it. People still go duck shooting, or fishing. People still eat so-called "gourmet food", never mind the environmental costs that may be associated with producing it. Possum and game meat is still served in some restuarants. Flying foxes are reviled and tormented wherever they go to search for an ever-diminishing food supply. We allow our politicians to get away with this wildlife destruction, and with whatever else they want to do, because fighting the system is too hard. Someone wrote to us recently to say that it was our (the community's) fault the political system had fallen into such an undemocratic and corrupt mess. This writer claimed that most of the blame for the loss of our wild species rests squarely with us in the community.....all of us....because it's all been too hard.....* WPAA
Croc Killed By Rubbish
Discarded packing tape appears to have brought about the demise of a big crocodile in a central Queensland waterway. The three-metre croc was found on the banks of the Fitzroy River at Rockhampton on Monday. Authorities believe the reptile suffocated. Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) spokesman Joe Adair said rangers who inspected the carcass on Tuesday found blue packing tape looped tightly around its neck. "There was no sign that the animal had been shot or deliberately killed in any other way," Mr Adair said. "It's uncertain how the packing tape got around the crocodile's neck but it's likely that the loop went over its head and tightened around its neck. "This just shows how important it is to dispose of waste responsibly, so it doesn't end up in our waterways and kill native wildlife." Earlier, a Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) spokesman said the find was unusual as the area was "not big croc country". A DERM survey into the abundance of crocodiles in Queensland found there were just 0.04 crocs per kilometre in the Fitzroy River. "Rockhampton is right at the lower end of their natural habitat," the spokesman said. *AAP
As the level rises in the lower Murray, the benefits are becoming evident for local wildlife.
Rising Water Levels Help Turtles
The South Australian Environment Department says rising waters in the Goolwa Channel and Lower Lakes are helping turtles overcome tubeworm infestation. Kerri Bartley from the Department says many turtles became encrusted with tubeworms because high salinity when the water level dropped affected the animals' ability to feed. She said fewer sick turtles were now being bought into a local refuge. "The quality of that water is still not great, so there still is the chance of the tubeworm being active in the lower depths of the Goolwa Channel in the region," she said. "We're hoping that there's no more tubeworm-affected turtles but the possibility of them being infected is still there." *ABC
Kangaroo Statue Knicked!
Childside (WA) school students and staff are appealing for community help to find the school’s missing wooden kangaroo sculpture. The sculpture, which formerly sat at the school’s entrance, disappeared over the September 18 and 19 weekend It arrived at Childside for the official opening of the second school building last year and has great sentimental value to the families of the school community. Students worked with artist Russell Sheridan to create it. Russell’s wife Linda, who is also an artist and teacher, spoke to the children about the place of sculptures in society and showed them photos of other sculptures. She asked the children about what they felt was an important or significant memory for them and their school. Many of the older children, who had been at the school since its beginnings in 2003, drew pictures of kangaroos. The school’s original building was in a bushland setting and kangaroos often visited them there. The kangaroos became very familiar with the children and came quite close when they played outside. The students fear for the safety of their wooden friend and say they miss its presence at the beginning and end of their school day. If you have any information that may help in securing the sculpture’s safe return, the Childside School community would be very grateful to hear from you. Call the school administrator, Karron McDonald on 9731 5232 or 9731 5519 * Donnybrook Mail
National Parks
The Queensland Government has developed a new management plan for the Girraween National Park on the state's Southern Downs. The plan outlines how the park, south of Stanthorpe, will be managed over the next 10 years. The State Government says it sets out ways to deal with fires and pests. It also outlines new ways to protect rare and endangered animals and plants in the region like the spotted-tailed quoll and pearson's green tree frog. *ABC
Airport Bid Control
Last year in the US, Wildlife Services technicians euthanized 24,000 Canada geese, a full 10,000 more than the year before. Most are gassed in CO2 chambers, but those in close proximity to planes at airports are dispatched with a gunshot. Red-tailed hawks, turkey vultures, pelicans, horned grebes, and many other species have wrought havoc on planes in recent years, and collisions with mallards, rock pigeons and mourning doves are common. Each US airport have special crews to specifically kill birds seen to be a potential threat to human life.
Read more http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/ap/gov-officials-saves-human-lives-chasing-away-birds-104259908.html#ixzz11QMWC4hS
Office for the Non-Profit Sector
The new Federal Government is currently establishing an Office for the Non-Profit Sector in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. The office will drive and coordinate the sector reform agenda, and will report directly to Minister for Human Services and Social Inclusion Tanya Plibersek. A Non-Profit Sector Reform Council made up of sector representatives is expected to be established by the end of the year. Minister Plibersek’s office says the council will play an important role in advising the government on the recommendations contained in the Productivity Commission’s report on the Contribution of the Not-for-Profit Sector which can be found at http://www.pc.gov.au/projects/study/not-for-profit/report. Changes related to some of the report’s recommendations are already under way, including the establishing of the Office for the Non-Profit Sector. The minister’s office expects options for a nationally-consistent approach to fundraising regulation to be developed by the end of the year, and consultation on that approach will be undertaken next year. A scoping study for a national ‘one-stop-shop’ regulator for the sector, which would alleviate the current complex regulatory arrangements and streamline reporting, will be finalised by early 2011. Also in 2011, a review of the efficiency and effectiveness of tendering, contracting and acquittal arrangements between the Federal Government and not-for-profit organisations will be undertaken across all government agencies. Ms Plibersek was previously Minister for Housing and Minister for the Status of Women. *Landcare News
Queensland Functions
Killarney Biodiversity Weekend | 23-24 October 2010. The Condamine Headwaters Landcare Group and Killarney Bushcare group are hosting a weekend focused on the wildlife of the district. The weekend will include speakers, workshops, a live animal show, BBQ, information and guided field trips around the district. Meet at Killarney Recreation Hall, Willow st at 8.30am. Contact Catherine on 07 4661 9909 or Susan on 07 464 4074. Northey Street City Farm Courses and Workshops The Northey Street City farm offers many courses and workshops throughout the year. Visit http://www.nscf.org.au/ for more information.
Under Road Tunnels
A biologist with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes says wildlife are learning to use special crossings to safely get to the other side of U.S. Highway 93 as it passes through the Flathead Indian Reservation in western Montana. Whisper Camel says surveillance cameras in 41 tunnels have shown grizzly and black bears, moose, whitetail and mule deer, elk, mountain lions, bobcats, coyotes, beavers, badgers, river otters, skunks, and weasels passing under the road. She tells the Missoulian that her favorite wildlife photos are those of females that appear to be teaching their young to use the tunnels in the same way humans teach their children to safely cross a street. Camel says it will be several years before all the data is in and analyzed, but anecdotal evidence indicates there are fewer collisions between motorists and wildlife on the road. *WKRG News
ACT Environment Failure
The latest environmental reports from the ACT Government indicate the Territory's sustainability is behind national and international averages. The environment commissioner's annual report found the ACT continued its poor performance in the ares of energy, water and waste management. The report found the ACT has the highest greenhouse gas emissions per person in Australia and they are continuing to rise. It indicates efforts to decrease those emissions are challenging due to Canberra's fuel-reliant transport. The Territory's ecological footprint is also four times higher than the global average. The report refers to a replacement initiative for the 'No Waste by 2010' program which will be forced to be re-branded after waste increased by over 80 per cent since 1995. Water consumption per person in the Territory is 25 per cent higher than in New South Wales. The commissioner says the Territory faces an uphill battle to reach its sustainability targets. The Department of Environment, Climate Change, Energy and Water has also released its report. It found the electricity feed-in tariff scheme has resulted in a nearly 500 per cent increase in the use of renewable energy generators. The report notes the department's efforts to raise awareness of climate change. But the department itself has reported an increase in greenhouse gas emissions by 15 per cent in its own office space. *ABC
Dolphins
Ric O'Barry, the activist famous for his role in the Oscar-winning documentary, "The Cove," was "attacked by thugs" in Hurghada, Egypt, according a Facebook post by Earth Island Institute's "Save Japan Dolphins" campaign. The alleged assailants opened O'Barry's car door and tried shoving a pit bull inside, said the report. Barry was not harmed. Earth Island had not responded to a request for details at the time of this post. O'Barry, 70, who also starred in "Blood Dolphins" for the Animal Planet, is in Hurghada to protest the recent delivery of live dolphins from Taiji, Japan. The dolphins are going to help populate a new marine aquarium. The Facebook report implied the assailants were hired by a Hurghada dolphin dealer. Several conservation groups are protesting the ongoing dolphin hunt in Taiji, which is the site of the infamous Cove. The hunt, which is backed by the Japan Fisheries Agency, began Sept. 1. *Network Item
Kangaroos
A scary moment for some families at the Kansas City Zoo. Viewers called KMBC-TV when they saw a kangaroo's tail run over by a train. Zoo officials said a red kangaroo was near the tracks when the train came by. The train runs through the kangaroo exhibit. The animal lost about 3 inches of it's tail and was rushed to surgery. The 15-year-old kangaroo was out of surgery Sunday night and was recovering. Kansas City Zoo General Curator Liz Harmon said, "We just had to treat the tail where it was injured. She can still balance and she'll be OK with what's left." The zoo will investigate what happened to prevent the accident from happening again. *KMBC.com
Animal experts were left baffled when a kangaroo hopped onto a German highway and was struck by a car. The mysterious marsupial suffered a broken leg and had to be put down after it bounded into the path of a 53-year-old driver, The Local reported today. Vets in Haren, northwestern Germany, are at a loss to explain where the animal, native to Australia and New Guinea, came from, the news website said. “So far, no kangaroo from a zoo or animal park has been reported as missing,” a police spokesman said. Bizarrely, Germany has seen a spate of roo-related incidents in recent years. Toto, an escapee from a German zoo, was "on the hop" for two weeks in 2008 before he was lured back into captivity with the help of his favourite food, peanut butter. *Australian
Wallaby Causes Accident
A woman, 55, is in a critical condition after she was knocked off her bicycle by a wallaby in Yeppoon. The woman was riding along Farnborough Rd around 5.25am today when the wallaby jumped out from the roadside. "This wallaby came across the road and knocked her off her bike," a police spokeswoman said. The woman - who was wearing a helmet - suffered serious head injuries. Paramedics treated her at the scene before transporting to her the Yeppoon Hospital. She was later transferred to the Rockhampton Base Hospital and has since been moved to the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital where she was being assessed in the emergency department. *Courier Mail
Crossbows to be Prohibited in WA.
Crossbow sales will be restricted in WA under laws being drafted because of the public outcry this year after a man was convicted of using one to kill a 26-year-old Karratha man. A spokeswoman for Acting Police Minister Christian Porter said yesterday crossbows would be re-classified from a controlled weapon to a prohibited weapon. A licence is not currently required to buy a crossbow but anyone who has one without a lawful excuse faces a $4000 fine or 12 months jail. The legislation is yet to be drafted, however it is understood the proposed laws will largely restrict the use of crossbows to sporting endeavours - but there may be exceptions. If crossbows became a prohibited weapon with items such as knuckledusters and Tasers, then buying, possessing, selling, supplying or manufacturing them would incur a $4000 fine or two years jail. Over the last few years, dozens of kangaroos have been killed or injured with crossbows in WA, but it took a human death to finally get them restriccted in WA. *
Fraser Island Dingoes
Figures from the inappropriately named Qld Dept of Environment and Resource Managment website show that sand was the main source of food for the Fraser Island dingoes, closely followed by fish, then bandicoots, echidnas, plant material, insect matter, bush rats, garbage, other inorganic material such as plastic, skinks, swamp wallaby and cats. They claim this investigation of scats was taken between 2002 and 2005, and an earlier one in 1995. We dont know how fish became a major food item, because the dingoes are now not allowed on the beach in case they upset a tourist. *WPAA
Climate Change
Freshwater is flowing into Earth's oceans in greater amounts every year, a team of researchers has found, thanks to more frequent and extreme storms linked to global warming. All told, 18 percent more water fed into the world's oceans from rivers and melting polar ice sheets in 2006 than in 1994, with an average annual rise of 1.5 percent. "That might not sound like much – 1.5 percent a year – but after a few decades, it's huge," said Jay Famiglietti, UC Irvine Earth system science professor and principal investigator on the study, which will be published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. He noted that while freshwater is essential to humans and ecosystems, the rain is falling in all the wrong places, for all the wrong reasons.
Read more http://www.underwatertimes.com/news.php?article_id=12765894310
Possums
Ii isnot every day you get a chance to make an animal extinct twice. According to scientists, Victoria is steadily working on it. Leadbeater's possum, a marsupial endemic to native forest on Melbourne's fringe, was declared extinct in the 1950s, apparently wiped out by agricultural land-clearing around the Bass River in South Gippsland. It was rediscovered near Marysville in 1961 - an event considered so momentous it was chosen as one of the state's two faunal emblems. Its population peaked at about 8000 in the 1980s, but the last possum in captivity in Victoria died in 2006, and last year's Black Saturday bushfires devastated its main home in the central highlands, burning 42 per cent of the permanent reserve system in which it lives. Leading scientists say its survival is now at risk from the state's forestry industry, particularly the ongoing "salvage logging" operation aimed at maximising timber yields from blackened areas.
read more http://www.theage.com.au/environment/conservation/hello-possum-youre-an-emblem-of-extinction-20101001-1614u.html
Barbed Wire
A wildlife carer can't keep up with the sheer number of bandages she needs to patch up kangaroos injured after colliding with barbed-wire fences. Wildlife specialist Glenda Elliott has issued an urgent SOS to pharmaceutical companies and animal lovers to donate urgently needed dressings or cash to help her meet her big bandages bill. "It costs $100 a roo a day to dress the wounds caused by barbed-wire injuries that cut the animals to the bone," Ms Elliott said. "Because cuts invariably become infected and the roos suffer semi-paralysis from the stress of getting caught up on a wire fence, it takes several months before we get them hopping again." Ms Elliott has scores of roos on her 5ha property at Yackandandah, near Wodonga, and more than a dozen of them are recuperating from barbed-wire injuries. "It's the result of country towns growing as quickly as city suburbs, with all the development displacing roos and sending them packing," she said. "Frightened or chased by dogs and trail bike riders, they run blindly and get tangled up in the fences on the boundaries where township meets rural. "Their legs are injured mostly and then they usually hang upside down overnight until cut free. That causes roo myopathy, or stress, which leads to partial paralysis and long recovery time." Ms Elliott said barbed wire inflicted nasty injuries on native animals. "It cuts to the bone," she said. "You go through a lot of bandages and padding." People can donate to the Kangaloola Wildlife Shelter at RMB 2040A, Yackandandah 3749 or through BSB 803070, account number 78749. *Daily Telegraph
Kangaroos
Australia's kangaroo export industry says Arnold Schwarzenegger has come to its rescue in his role as Californian Governor. After a vote in the Californian Senate, Mr Schwarzenegger has signed into law an exemption allowing kangaroo products to be imported for the next five years. The exemption has come as a relief to kangaroo exporters from Australia. In 2007, the industry was granted a three-year exemption from Californian legislation which bans importation of exotic animal parts. That arrangement had been due to expire at the end of this year. Ray Borda runs Macro Meats, Skins and Leather, based in Adelaide, and says the exemption is great news for those in the industry who have faced tough times in recent years, mainly due to prolonged drought and the global financial crisis.
"If you can understand like an Adidas or Puma or Diadora or any of those or even just fashion shoes or ladies handbags, motorcycle apparel, golf gloves, if a manufacturer is restricted to where they can go in the US, they generally will lose a little bit of interest," he explained. "[They] can use this unique leather now and we're pretty upbeat about that. That was a pretty much an injection that we needed." He said the benefits would also extend to marketing products in Europe. Executive officer of the Kangaroo Industry Association of Australia, John Kelly, said it took a big lobbying effort to be granted a five-year extension. "It's a very significant reason for some of the grey hairs popping out up above my ears," he laughed. "The Californian legal system is complex and has a significant number of problems, one of which is that California has an enormous budget deficit, so getting them to look at any sort of legislative issue in California apart from the budget has been extremely difficult.
"It involves ... a lot of informing their politicians of the real issues behind the kangaroo industry, how it operates and how sustainable it is, the extensive level of government control, how many kangaroos there are and all of the positive environmental benefits which harvesting kangaroos delivers to this land." Mr Kelly said sporting boots were a big seller in California. "The most important aspect of the market for us is in fact soccer boots," he said. "California is probably the largest single market for soccer boots and many of the best soccer boots are made from kangaroo leather, so it was very important to retain that market." Mr Kelly conceded the trade battle would have to be fought again. "A few years down the track we're going to have to have a look at it again and try to get them to bring in a new piece of legislation with no sunset clause to give us permanent, ongoing, forever access to the place," he said. *ABC Ed Comment; Pople
Kangaroo Harassed to Death
A kangaroo that died after it was harassed and chased by picnickers has prompted wildlife rescuers to call on the public to leave native animals alone. Rescuers were called to the Greenvale Reservoir on September 26 after reports a kangaroo was being chased, forcing it to keep running into a fence. By the time rescuers arrived, the animal “was bleeding everywhere” with broken teeth, a broken jaw, fractured eye socket and inflamed face from trying to escape through the fence. Wildlife rescuer Laurelle Erwin said they had no choice but to euthanise the male kangaroo. “People were just harassing him all day and it led to his death,” she said. Ms Erwin said hundreds of people were at the picnic site chasing the kangaroo and frightening it. The situation could have ended worse, with injuries making kangaroos “nervous and unpredictable”, she said. “There were kids chasing him, he could’ve turned around and killed them, when they panic they can do all sorts of things.”
With more people expected to picnic and visit reserves in the lead-up to summer, Ms Erwin has called on the public to stay away from native animals. Ms Erwin was disappointed the public harassed the animal and said people needed more knowledge about how to treat wildlife properly. “It could’ve been prevented and we could’ve moved him on,” she said. RSPCA spokesman Tim Pilgrim said the public “should not attempt to chase or herd it away as the animal may become frightened or disoriented and injure itself”. He said the RSPCA was “very upset” that the kangaroo had to be put down. If you see injured wildlife call Wildlife Rescuers on 0417 506 941 or Wildlife Victoria on 1300 094 535. *Hume Leader
Wildlife Poaching
The end of August saw the arrest of a woman who tried to smuggle a sedated baby tiger cub through Suvarnabhumi Airport and aboard a flight to Iran. Now comes the detection and seizure this week of 1,140 endangered star tortoises aboard an arriving flight from Bangladesh. In between was a massive haul of African ivory. This not only shows that Thai customs authorities are maintaining their vigilance; it confirms that the intensive training given to airport staff under the "Wildlife Trafficking Stops Here" campaign is a worthwhile project that should be extended to land border posts to foil cross-border smuggling. Stepped-up action is necessary for several reasons. The number of tigers in Asia has plummeted due mainly to habitat loss and poachers who sell their skins and body parts to medicinal and souvenir markets in China, a traditional but illegal activity that Beijing insists it is determined to stamp out. Trade in tigers has been outlawed, no matter whether the animals are domesticated or come from the wild. With so few left in Thai forests, saving them has to be given top priority.
It is troubling that a clandestine market exists for them as high-priced exotic pets in Iran or anywhere else for that matter. A similar fate awaits trafficked star tortoises in Southeast Asia even though they are supposedly protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species and cannot be exported without a special permit. In both of these cases, those arrested face jail terms of up to 4 years each and/or a maximum fine of 40,000 baht. This is hardly sufficient to deter an illicit international trade in rare species which has a turnover of billions of baht a year. Worldwide, the wildlife trade is reputed to be the second largest form of black market commerce, only falling behind drug smuggling.
Successive Thai governments have held out promises of tougher laws to protect the country's disappearing wildlife, something the well-intentioned but ineffective 1992 Preservation and Protection Act and earlier 1961 Parks Act have failed to do. Evidence of this inadequacy can be seen any weekend at Chatuchak Market. Not far from the pitiable rows of often sick, caged creatures for sale can be found groups of wildlife traders who openly operate here because the penalties are so small. Arrests have been made for dealing in Madagascan Ploughshare tortoises, so rare that conservationists say only 300 remain in the world, and slow lorises, endangered primates that live in Southeast Asian forests. But when the cases eventually came to court, only fines were imposed. Conservation campaigns at Chatuchak have not shown much success of late.
We can only look back in horror at the events of the past decade and the criticism they have brought as one scandal has followed another. There was the disastrous attempt to import 135 wild animals including zebras and giraffes from Kenya for the Night Safari Zoo in Chiang Mai, the clandestine export of up to 100 tigers to a Chinese zoo, the smuggling of orangutans from Indonesia to a private Thai zoo and the protracted delay in returning them, and the mishandling of an elephant-koala swap with Australia. Nearly 20 years ago, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh and husband of Britain's Queen Elizabeth, not known for sugarcoating his criticisms, embarrassed Thai officials presenting him with a conservation award when he said: "Your country is one of the most notorious centres of trading in endangered species in the world." The shocking part is that if that were true in 1991, it is equally true today. *Bangkok Post
ACT Environment Failure
The latest environmental reports from the ACT Government indicate the Territory's sustainability is behind national and international averages. The environment commissioner's annual report found the ACT continued its poor performance in the ares of energy, water and waste management. The report found the ACT has the highest greenhouse gas emissions per person in Australia and they are continuing to rise. It indicates efforts to decrease those emissions are challenging due to Canberra's fuel-reliant transport. The Territory's ecological footprint is also four times higher than the global average. The report refers to a replacement initiative for the 'No Waste by 2010' program which will be forced to be re-branded after waste increased by over 80 per cent since 1995. Water consumption per person in the Territory is 25 per cent higher than in New South Wales. The commissioner says the Territory faces an uphill battle to reach its sustainability targets. The Department of Environment, Climate Change, Energy and Water has also released its report. It found the electricity feed-in tariff scheme has resulted in a nearly 500 per cent increase in the use of renewable energy generators. The report notes the department's efforts to raise awareness of climate change. But the department itself has reported an increase in greenhouse gas emissions by 15 per cent in its own office space. *ACT
Dingoes Targeted
Dingo numbers are out of control south of the famed dog fence, killing thousands of sheep and threatening the livelihoods of graziers across South Australia. Sheep graziers say the dingo population is the largest in living memory and they are rampantly breeding below the dog fence, which is supposed to be dingo-free. There are no precise estimates on numbers, but 200 dingoes were shot, trapped or baited below the fence in the last year. Sheep grazier Geoff Mengersen from Depot Springs, about 120km below the fence, has shot 13 dingoes in the past 13 weeks. "It's the worst it's ever been," he said. "I think it will eventually drive us out of the country. While you're hunting dogs, there's a lot of other things that are being neglected." He said dingoes had killed more than 1000 lambs on his 500 square mile Leigh Creek property in the past year.
He said the main cause was large swathes of disused pastoral land and station owners not adequately baiting and trapping dingoes. The situation is expected to worsen in coming weeks as dingo pups become independent. State Liberal MP Dan Van Holst Pellekaan, whose vast electorate of Stuart covers most of eastern SA, said dingoes were causing "extraordinary difficulty" for the pastoral industry and property owners were "completely under-resourced". He raised the issue in Parliament last week and has called for the State Government to fund dingo eradication south of the dog fence. SA Arid Lands Natural Resources Management Board general manager John Gavin said dingoes south of the fence were a declared pest and it was the landholders' responsibility to control them. He said the Sheep Industry Fund had helped fund Biteback, a program aimed at reducing dingo numbers.
"Biteback engages landholders in local area planning to increase participation in controlling dingo numbers and improve access to a range of control methods," he said. He said the program was operating in the North Flinders district and would be rolled out in the North East, Kingoonya and Gawler Ranges districts. The dog fence was built to keep dingoes out of south-eastern Australia and is the world's longest fence. It is more than 5600km long and runs from the Darling Downs in Queensland through SA to Streaky Bay. * Adelaide Now Ed Comment, the dingo fence needs to come down.
More 1080
Feral cats and foxes are wiping out vast numbers of native animals in the South-West, with a four-year study linking the introduced pests with the decline and extinction of a variety of species. The Department of Environment and Conservation examination of five rural sites has confirmed the extinction of three native animals, the broad-faced potoroo and species of both the nail tail wallaby and the hopping mouse. It is estimated about 15 others, including the pygmy and western brush-tailed possums, are under threat from the pests. The study established for the first time that cats were killing the endangered woylie and concluded that as baiting programs wiped out foxes in some areas, feral cat activity rose because of a lack of competition. Department senior research scientist Keith Morris said the project was an analysis of pest and native animal activity at Lake Magenta, Mt Gibson Station, the Dryandra Woodlands, the Upper Warren area near Manjimup and the northern jarrah forest near Dwellingup. It also examined how foxes and feral cats responded to current and modified baiting programs. "The study showed that cats were a more important predator in the South-West than we thought and that cats are a major predator of woylies," Mr Morris said.
Researchers were able to prove feral cats were slaughtering the small marsupials after they left their DNA, from saliva, on tagged animals. "After our initial response to fox control, cats have then increased in the South-West and then they have now become the problem, but that's not to diminish the role of foxes," Mr Morris said. The findings have prompted the development of a new cat bait - a soft, sausage-like meat with an increased dose of the poison 1080. That bait is also eaten by foxes. Mr Morris said research in the 1980s suggested foxes were to blame for a rapid decline in species. That trend was curbed by the late 1990s but by 2001 species numbers began to decline again, prompting the most recent documentation. He said trial baiting had been successful in many areas of the State, curbing fox and cat levels by as much as 80 per cent but if baits were placed in dense bush they often went untouched. At the Lake Magenta site, fox activity was reduced by about 50 per cent during the four-year study while re- introduced bandicoots were found to be surviving. It is thought simultaneous baiting, a combination of ground and aerial drops, was the most effective form of eradicating the pests. Trials are under way in Fitzgerald River National Park to ensure that native animals such as the chuditch do not die from the new cat baits. * WA News
Ed comment; What can we say? Losing these small species has got nothing to do with landclearing, controlled fires, and uncontrolled housing and highway development, has it? Decades of using 1080 in WA, which uses more 1080 than Tasmania, and the native animals are still on the way out, and the cats and foxes are apparently thriving! We've just had a letter from a family that drove along a new highway between Nambung Nat Park (Pinnacles). They were on way back to Perth and they were absolutley horrified at the amount of reptiles (lizards in particular, and snakes) killed on this stretch. The carnage was shocking, they said. There is no doubt cats and foxes do impact on wildlife, but cats and foxes also make a handy scapegoat for damaging human activities.
As governments and the agricultural sector in four states gear up for what promises to be a massive locust-spraying campaign, one farmer in rural Victoria is leading a campaign against the program. Eris O'Brien, who runs sheep at Mitiamo near Bendigo, has even gone so far as to set up a save-the-locust website. He says spraying may worsen the locust plagues, because it will kill parasites which naturally control the insects. He has also raised concerns about the impact on native carnivores which will gorge themselves on the plentiful protein as they too recover from drought. His views aren't making him very popular in his district, where he is copping quite a bit of flack from his neighbours. The mass-spraying campaign - due to get underway along the length of inland south-eastern Australia - is one of the biggest ever conducted in this country. Although spraying has already begun in western Queensland and parts of New South Wales, Victoria - where locusts are hatching slightly later - is holding off until authorities are sure all of the hoppers have emerged from the ground.
Regional incident manager Bruce Taberner says environmental safeguards are in place for the campaign. "The buffer zones that we apply will ensure that we have adequate distance between any sensitive areas such as waterways, beehive sites, some of those sort of areas that are sensitive," he said. "We will be very conscious of those areas and certainly adhering to all [the pesticide] manufacturer's requirements and label requirements." While many farmers say the spraying campaign may be starting too late, environmentalists have been lining up to voice concerns. And Mr O'Brien is joining them. "Before pesticides were invented, there were farmers in the Wimmera [region in western Victoria], who effectively controlled locusts by mechanical control, using hoes running over the bands. When the locusts are in a band, there's no reason that you can't squash them as well as you can spray them," he said.
"Throughout history, if you look into the history of it, a lot of the plagues in the past have actually been ended through natural parasites. Now the spraying of the reserved land will kill the natural parasites, so in effect they could actually make the plague go on for longer." Mr O'Brien says native wildlife will be inadvertently affected by the spraying. "The other point is that Australian marsupials - they're found to actually be 10 times more susceptible than the rodents that they tested these pesticides on," he said. "I mean there'd be farms around where there isn't a big risk to wildlife, and the farmers will choose to use sprays and it won't be a big issue, but this focus on spraying roadsides and spraying reserves, and spraying native vegetation on farms with pesticides will have a big impact." *ABC
Wildlife Tourism
Australia's tourism industry has been warned its reputation is at risk unless it becomes more sustainable. As well as painting itself a deeper shade of green, it also has to adopt a higher ethical standard and be more responsible, according to Ecotourism Australia CEO, Kym Cheatham. Ms Cheatham says the industry has to do more, to protect its brand and reputation. "Australia relies heavily on its natural environment, the Great Barrier Reef, Uluru, kangaroos, sunshine and wide open spaces but we run the risk of failing to deliver on the promises we are making to our international markets," she said. The comments come ahead of the Global Eco Asia Pacific Tourism Conference in Noosa from October 25-28, where Ms Cheatham said adapting to climate change will be high on the agenda. The UN World Tourism Organisation has identified climate change as one of the five major threats facing the tourism industry, and Ms Cheatham has urged the Australian industry and government to get serious about protecting and promoting the importance of the environment, for a truly sustainable future.
"The industry is under enormous strain at the moment, with a range of factors including the high Australian dollar pushing many operators to the limit," she said. "We are going to see a considerable percentage of businesses buckle, just at the time demand for ecotourism and nature-based experiences is flourishing. "Our product is not cheap, so it needs to be of the highest quality with the most credible ecotourism credentials; we cannot afford to compromise." Ecotourism experiences are growing in Australia at about 20 per cent a year and Ecotourism Australia says the number of ECO certified products has doubled in the past three years. Ms Cheatham said the tourism industry must find ways to protect the natural asset the tourism experience is built on, and provide travellers with guilt-free experiences. *AAP
Editorial
Last week the UN admitted that the 2010 deadline for reducing the rate of biodiversity loss has been missed....completely. The Marine Reserves proposals around the World that everyone hoped would reverse the dramatic decline of marine species lost from Industrial overfishing have been put on hold, and were generally opposed by recreational fishers anyway. In Australia, kangaroos, dingoes, water fowl, birds around airports and orchids, are killed just to facilitate human activity. Forests and open grassland, habitat for many species including koalas, gliders, and wombats, is cleared, grazed, burnt and otherwise rendered unfit for wildlife. Wetlands are drained for cattle production.
Tonnes of poisonous insecticide is aerial sprayed over the country to combat locust plagues. Our rivers are dammed and diverted for irrigation, to feed growing numbers of humans, never mind what species are displaced. Next month the world's governments will meet in Japan to discuss the catastrophic decline of wild life on the planet. The outcome is expected to be as sad and as impotent as last year's climate talks in Copenhagen. As the UK Guardian states "Unless something changes, governments at the talkfest intend to decide that wild species and wild places will not be allowed to compete with special interest groups or industrial lobbyists. Wildlife doesn't fund political parties, control newspapers or threaten to take its business elsewhere. As soon as money can be made from its destruction, wildlife goes." But shouldn't we, the broader community, share some responsiblity for this tragedy?
People still shop at Woolworths and Coles, even though they sell kangaroo meat, and have consistently refused to stop selling it. People still go duck shooting, or fishing. People still eat so-called "gourmet food", never mind the environmental costs that may be associated with producing it. Possum and game meat is still served in some restuarants. Flying foxes are reviled and tormented wherever they go to search for an ever-diminishing food supply. We allow our politicians to get away with this wildlife destruction, and with whatever else they want to do, because fighting the system is too hard. Someone wrote to us recently to say that it was our (the community's) fault the political system had fallen into such an undemocratic and corrupt mess. This writer claimed that most of the blame for the loss of our wild species rests squarely with us in the community.....all of us....because it's all been too hard.....* WPAA
Croc Killed By Rubbish
Discarded packing tape appears to have brought about the demise of a big crocodile in a central Queensland waterway. The three-metre croc was found on the banks of the Fitzroy River at Rockhampton on Monday. Authorities believe the reptile suffocated. Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) spokesman Joe Adair said rangers who inspected the carcass on Tuesday found blue packing tape looped tightly around its neck. "There was no sign that the animal had been shot or deliberately killed in any other way," Mr Adair said. "It's uncertain how the packing tape got around the crocodile's neck but it's likely that the loop went over its head and tightened around its neck. "This just shows how important it is to dispose of waste responsibly, so it doesn't end up in our waterways and kill native wildlife." Earlier, a Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) spokesman said the find was unusual as the area was "not big croc country". A DERM survey into the abundance of crocodiles in Queensland found there were just 0.04 crocs per kilometre in the Fitzroy River. "Rockhampton is right at the lower end of their natural habitat," the spokesman said. *AAP
As the level rises in the lower Murray, the benefits are becoming evident for local wildlife.
Rising Water Levels Help Turtles
The South Australian Environment Department says rising waters in the Goolwa Channel and Lower Lakes are helping turtles overcome tubeworm infestation. Kerri Bartley from the Department says many turtles became encrusted with tubeworms because high salinity when the water level dropped affected the animals' ability to feed. She said fewer sick turtles were now being bought into a local refuge. "The quality of that water is still not great, so there still is the chance of the tubeworm being active in the lower depths of the Goolwa Channel in the region," she said. "We're hoping that there's no more tubeworm-affected turtles but the possibility of them being infected is still there." *ABC
Kangaroo Statue Knicked!
Childside (WA) school students and staff are appealing for community help to find the school’s missing wooden kangaroo sculpture. The sculpture, which formerly sat at the school’s entrance, disappeared over the September 18 and 19 weekend It arrived at Childside for the official opening of the second school building last year and has great sentimental value to the families of the school community. Students worked with artist Russell Sheridan to create it. Russell’s wife Linda, who is also an artist and teacher, spoke to the children about the place of sculptures in society and showed them photos of other sculptures. She asked the children about what they felt was an important or significant memory for them and their school. Many of the older children, who had been at the school since its beginnings in 2003, drew pictures of kangaroos. The school’s original building was in a bushland setting and kangaroos often visited them there. The kangaroos became very familiar with the children and came quite close when they played outside. The students fear for the safety of their wooden friend and say they miss its presence at the beginning and end of their school day. If you have any information that may help in securing the sculpture’s safe return, the Childside School community would be very grateful to hear from you. Call the school administrator, Karron McDonald on 9731 5232 or 9731 5519 * Donnybrook Mail
National Parks
The Queensland Government has developed a new management plan for the Girraween National Park on the state's Southern Downs. The plan outlines how the park, south of Stanthorpe, will be managed over the next 10 years. The State Government says it sets out ways to deal with fires and pests. It also outlines new ways to protect rare and endangered animals and plants in the region like the spotted-tailed quoll and pearson's green tree frog. *ABC
Airport Bid Control
Last year in the US, Wildlife Services technicians euthanized 24,000 Canada geese, a full 10,000 more than the year before. Most are gassed in CO2 chambers, but those in close proximity to planes at airports are dispatched with a gunshot. Red-tailed hawks, turkey vultures, pelicans, horned grebes, and many other species have wrought havoc on planes in recent years, and collisions with mallards, rock pigeons and mourning doves are common. Each US airport have special crews to specifically kill birds seen to be a potential threat to human life.
Read more http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/ap/gov-officials-saves-human-lives-chasing-away-birds-104259908.html#ixzz11QMWC4hS
Office for the Non-Profit Sector
The new Federal Government is currently establishing an Office for the Non-Profit Sector in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. The office will drive and coordinate the sector reform agenda, and will report directly to Minister for Human Services and Social Inclusion Tanya Plibersek. A Non-Profit Sector Reform Council made up of sector representatives is expected to be established by the end of the year. Minister Plibersek’s office says the council will play an important role in advising the government on the recommendations contained in the Productivity Commission’s report on the Contribution of the Not-for-Profit Sector which can be found at http://www.pc.gov.au/projects/study/not-for-profit/report. Changes related to some of the report’s recommendations are already under way, including the establishing of the Office for the Non-Profit Sector. The minister’s office expects options for a nationally-consistent approach to fundraising regulation to be developed by the end of the year, and consultation on that approach will be undertaken next year. A scoping study for a national ‘one-stop-shop’ regulator for the sector, which would alleviate the current complex regulatory arrangements and streamline reporting, will be finalised by early 2011. Also in 2011, a review of the efficiency and effectiveness of tendering, contracting and acquittal arrangements between the Federal Government and not-for-profit organisations will be undertaken across all government agencies. Ms Plibersek was previously Minister for Housing and Minister for the Status of Women. *Landcare News
Queensland Functions
Killarney Biodiversity Weekend | 23-24 October 2010. The Condamine Headwaters Landcare Group and Killarney Bushcare group are hosting a weekend focused on the wildlife of the district. The weekend will include speakers, workshops, a live animal show, BBQ, information and guided field trips around the district. Meet at Killarney Recreation Hall, Willow st at 8.30am. Contact Catherine on 07 4661 9909 or Susan on 07 464 4074. Northey Street City Farm Courses and Workshops The Northey Street City farm offers many courses and workshops throughout the year. Visit http://www.nscf.org.au/ for more information.
Under Road Tunnels
A biologist with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes says wildlife are learning to use special crossings to safely get to the other side of U.S. Highway 93 as it passes through the Flathead Indian Reservation in western Montana. Whisper Camel says surveillance cameras in 41 tunnels have shown grizzly and black bears, moose, whitetail and mule deer, elk, mountain lions, bobcats, coyotes, beavers, badgers, river otters, skunks, and weasels passing under the road. She tells the Missoulian that her favorite wildlife photos are those of females that appear to be teaching their young to use the tunnels in the same way humans teach their children to safely cross a street. Camel says it will be several years before all the data is in and analyzed, but anecdotal evidence indicates there are fewer collisions between motorists and wildlife on the road. *WKRG News
ACT Environment Failure
The latest environmental reports from the ACT Government indicate the Territory's sustainability is behind national and international averages. The environment commissioner's annual report found the ACT continued its poor performance in the ares of energy, water and waste management. The report found the ACT has the highest greenhouse gas emissions per person in Australia and they are continuing to rise. It indicates efforts to decrease those emissions are challenging due to Canberra's fuel-reliant transport. The Territory's ecological footprint is also four times higher than the global average. The report refers to a replacement initiative for the 'No Waste by 2010' program which will be forced to be re-branded after waste increased by over 80 per cent since 1995. Water consumption per person in the Territory is 25 per cent higher than in New South Wales. The commissioner says the Territory faces an uphill battle to reach its sustainability targets. The Department of Environment, Climate Change, Energy and Water has also released its report. It found the electricity feed-in tariff scheme has resulted in a nearly 500 per cent increase in the use of renewable energy generators. The report notes the department's efforts to raise awareness of climate change. But the department itself has reported an increase in greenhouse gas emissions by 15 per cent in its own office space. *ABC
Dolphins
Ric O'Barry, the activist famous for his role in the Oscar-winning documentary, "The Cove," was "attacked by thugs" in Hurghada, Egypt, according a Facebook post by Earth Island Institute's "Save Japan Dolphins" campaign. The alleged assailants opened O'Barry's car door and tried shoving a pit bull inside, said the report. Barry was not harmed. Earth Island had not responded to a request for details at the time of this post. O'Barry, 70, who also starred in "Blood Dolphins" for the Animal Planet, is in Hurghada to protest the recent delivery of live dolphins from Taiji, Japan. The dolphins are going to help populate a new marine aquarium. The Facebook report implied the assailants were hired by a Hurghada dolphin dealer. Several conservation groups are protesting the ongoing dolphin hunt in Taiji, which is the site of the infamous Cove. The hunt, which is backed by the Japan Fisheries Agency, began Sept. 1. *Network Item
Kangaroos
A scary moment for some families at the Kansas City Zoo. Viewers called KMBC-TV when they saw a kangaroo's tail run over by a train. Zoo officials said a red kangaroo was near the tracks when the train came by. The train runs through the kangaroo exhibit. The animal lost about 3 inches of it's tail and was rushed to surgery. The 15-year-old kangaroo was out of surgery Sunday night and was recovering. Kansas City Zoo General Curator Liz Harmon said, "We just had to treat the tail where it was injured. She can still balance and she'll be OK with what's left." The zoo will investigate what happened to prevent the accident from happening again. *KMBC.com
Animal experts were left baffled when a kangaroo hopped onto a German highway and was struck by a car. The mysterious marsupial suffered a broken leg and had to be put down after it bounded into the path of a 53-year-old driver, The Local reported today. Vets in Haren, northwestern Germany, are at a loss to explain where the animal, native to Australia and New Guinea, came from, the news website said. “So far, no kangaroo from a zoo or animal park has been reported as missing,” a police spokesman said. Bizarrely, Germany has seen a spate of roo-related incidents in recent years. Toto, an escapee from a German zoo, was "on the hop" for two weeks in 2008 before he was lured back into captivity with the help of his favourite food, peanut butter. *Australian
Wallaby Causes Accident
A woman, 55, is in a critical condition after she was knocked off her bicycle by a wallaby in Yeppoon. The woman was riding along Farnborough Rd around 5.25am today when the wallaby jumped out from the roadside. "This wallaby came across the road and knocked her off her bike," a police spokeswoman said. The woman - who was wearing a helmet - suffered serious head injuries. Paramedics treated her at the scene before transporting to her the Yeppoon Hospital. She was later transferred to the Rockhampton Base Hospital and has since been moved to the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital where she was being assessed in the emergency department. *Courier Mail
Crossbows to be Prohibited in WA.
Crossbow sales will be restricted in WA under laws being drafted because of the public outcry this year after a man was convicted of using one to kill a 26-year-old Karratha man. A spokeswoman for Acting Police Minister Christian Porter said yesterday crossbows would be re-classified from a controlled weapon to a prohibited weapon. A licence is not currently required to buy a crossbow but anyone who has one without a lawful excuse faces a $4000 fine or 12 months jail. The legislation is yet to be drafted, however it is understood the proposed laws will largely restrict the use of crossbows to sporting endeavours - but there may be exceptions. If crossbows became a prohibited weapon with items such as knuckledusters and Tasers, then buying, possessing, selling, supplying or manufacturing them would incur a $4000 fine or two years jail. Over the last few years, dozens of kangaroos have been killed or injured with crossbows in WA, but it took a human death to finally get them restriccted in WA. *
Fraser Island Dingoes
Figures from the inappropriately named Qld Dept of Environment and Resource Managment website show that sand was the main source of food for the Fraser Island dingoes, closely followed by fish, then bandicoots, echidnas, plant material, insect matter, bush rats, garbage, other inorganic material such as plastic, skinks, swamp wallaby and cats. They claim this investigation of scats was taken between 2002 and 2005, and an earlier one in 1995. We dont know how fish became a major food item, because the dingoes are now not allowed on the beach in case they upset a tourist. *WPAA
Climate Change
Freshwater is flowing into Earth's oceans in greater amounts every year, a team of researchers has found, thanks to more frequent and extreme storms linked to global warming. All told, 18 percent more water fed into the world's oceans from rivers and melting polar ice sheets in 2006 than in 1994, with an average annual rise of 1.5 percent. "That might not sound like much – 1.5 percent a year – but after a few decades, it's huge," said Jay Famiglietti, UC Irvine Earth system science professor and principal investigator on the study, which will be published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. He noted that while freshwater is essential to humans and ecosystems, the rain is falling in all the wrong places, for all the wrong reasons.
Read more http://www.underwatertimes.com/news.php?article_id=12765894310
Possums
Ii isnot every day you get a chance to make an animal extinct twice. According to scientists, Victoria is steadily working on it. Leadbeater's possum, a marsupial endemic to native forest on Melbourne's fringe, was declared extinct in the 1950s, apparently wiped out by agricultural land-clearing around the Bass River in South Gippsland. It was rediscovered near Marysville in 1961 - an event considered so momentous it was chosen as one of the state's two faunal emblems. Its population peaked at about 8000 in the 1980s, but the last possum in captivity in Victoria died in 2006, and last year's Black Saturday bushfires devastated its main home in the central highlands, burning 42 per cent of the permanent reserve system in which it lives. Leading scientists say its survival is now at risk from the state's forestry industry, particularly the ongoing "salvage logging" operation aimed at maximising timber yields from blackened areas.
read more http://www.theage.com.au/environment/conservation/hello-possum-youre-an-emblem-of-extinction-20101001-1614u.html
Barbed Wire
A wildlife carer can't keep up with the sheer number of bandages she needs to patch up kangaroos injured after colliding with barbed-wire fences. Wildlife specialist Glenda Elliott has issued an urgent SOS to pharmaceutical companies and animal lovers to donate urgently needed dressings or cash to help her meet her big bandages bill. "It costs $100 a roo a day to dress the wounds caused by barbed-wire injuries that cut the animals to the bone," Ms Elliott said. "Because cuts invariably become infected and the roos suffer semi-paralysis from the stress of getting caught up on a wire fence, it takes several months before we get them hopping again." Ms Elliott has scores of roos on her 5ha property at Yackandandah, near Wodonga, and more than a dozen of them are recuperating from barbed-wire injuries. "It's the result of country towns growing as quickly as city suburbs, with all the development displacing roos and sending them packing," she said. "Frightened or chased by dogs and trail bike riders, they run blindly and get tangled up in the fences on the boundaries where township meets rural. "Their legs are injured mostly and then they usually hang upside down overnight until cut free. That causes roo myopathy, or stress, which leads to partial paralysis and long recovery time." Ms Elliott said barbed wire inflicted nasty injuries on native animals. "It cuts to the bone," she said. "You go through a lot of bandages and padding." People can donate to the Kangaloola Wildlife Shelter at RMB 2040A, Yackandandah 3749 or through BSB 803070, account number 78749. *Daily Telegraph
Kangaroos
Australia's kangaroo export industry says Arnold Schwarzenegger has come to its rescue in his role as Californian Governor. After a vote in the Californian Senate, Mr Schwarzenegger has signed into law an exemption allowing kangaroo products to be imported for the next five years. The exemption has come as a relief to kangaroo exporters from Australia. In 2007, the industry was granted a three-year exemption from Californian legislation which bans importation of exotic animal parts. That arrangement had been due to expire at the end of this year. Ray Borda runs Macro Meats, Skins and Leather, based in Adelaide, and says the exemption is great news for those in the industry who have faced tough times in recent years, mainly due to prolonged drought and the global financial crisis.
"If you can understand like an Adidas or Puma or Diadora or any of those or even just fashion shoes or ladies handbags, motorcycle apparel, golf gloves, if a manufacturer is restricted to where they can go in the US, they generally will lose a little bit of interest," he explained. "[They] can use this unique leather now and we're pretty upbeat about that. That was a pretty much an injection that we needed." He said the benefits would also extend to marketing products in Europe. Executive officer of the Kangaroo Industry Association of Australia, John Kelly, said it took a big lobbying effort to be granted a five-year extension. "It's a very significant reason for some of the grey hairs popping out up above my ears," he laughed. "The Californian legal system is complex and has a significant number of problems, one of which is that California has an enormous budget deficit, so getting them to look at any sort of legislative issue in California apart from the budget has been extremely difficult.
"It involves ... a lot of informing their politicians of the real issues behind the kangaroo industry, how it operates and how sustainable it is, the extensive level of government control, how many kangaroos there are and all of the positive environmental benefits which harvesting kangaroos delivers to this land." Mr Kelly said sporting boots were a big seller in California. "The most important aspect of the market for us is in fact soccer boots," he said. "California is probably the largest single market for soccer boots and many of the best soccer boots are made from kangaroo leather, so it was very important to retain that market." Mr Kelly conceded the trade battle would have to be fought again. "A few years down the track we're going to have to have a look at it again and try to get them to bring in a new piece of legislation with no sunset clause to give us permanent, ongoing, forever access to the place," he said. *ABC Ed Comment; Pople
Kangaroo Harassed to Death
A kangaroo that died after it was harassed and chased by picnickers has prompted wildlife rescuers to call on the public to leave native animals alone. Rescuers were called to the Greenvale Reservoir on September 26 after reports a kangaroo was being chased, forcing it to keep running into a fence. By the time rescuers arrived, the animal “was bleeding everywhere” with broken teeth, a broken jaw, fractured eye socket and inflamed face from trying to escape through the fence. Wildlife rescuer Laurelle Erwin said they had no choice but to euthanise the male kangaroo. “People were just harassing him all day and it led to his death,” she said. Ms Erwin said hundreds of people were at the picnic site chasing the kangaroo and frightening it. The situation could have ended worse, with injuries making kangaroos “nervous and unpredictable”, she said. “There were kids chasing him, he could’ve turned around and killed them, when they panic they can do all sorts of things.”
With more people expected to picnic and visit reserves in the lead-up to summer, Ms Erwin has called on the public to stay away from native animals. Ms Erwin was disappointed the public harassed the animal and said people needed more knowledge about how to treat wildlife properly. “It could’ve been prevented and we could’ve moved him on,” she said. RSPCA spokesman Tim Pilgrim said the public “should not attempt to chase or herd it away as the animal may become frightened or disoriented and injure itself”. He said the RSPCA was “very upset” that the kangaroo had to be put down. If you see injured wildlife call Wildlife Rescuers on 0417 506 941 or Wildlife Victoria on 1300 094 535. *Hume Leader
Wildlife Poaching
The end of August saw the arrest of a woman who tried to smuggle a sedated baby tiger cub through Suvarnabhumi Airport and aboard a flight to Iran. Now comes the detection and seizure this week of 1,140 endangered star tortoises aboard an arriving flight from Bangladesh. In between was a massive haul of African ivory. This not only shows that Thai customs authorities are maintaining their vigilance; it confirms that the intensive training given to airport staff under the "Wildlife Trafficking Stops Here" campaign is a worthwhile project that should be extended to land border posts to foil cross-border smuggling. Stepped-up action is necessary for several reasons. The number of tigers in Asia has plummeted due mainly to habitat loss and poachers who sell their skins and body parts to medicinal and souvenir markets in China, a traditional but illegal activity that Beijing insists it is determined to stamp out. Trade in tigers has been outlawed, no matter whether the animals are domesticated or come from the wild. With so few left in Thai forests, saving them has to be given top priority.
It is troubling that a clandestine market exists for them as high-priced exotic pets in Iran or anywhere else for that matter. A similar fate awaits trafficked star tortoises in Southeast Asia even though they are supposedly protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species and cannot be exported without a special permit. In both of these cases, those arrested face jail terms of up to 4 years each and/or a maximum fine of 40,000 baht. This is hardly sufficient to deter an illicit international trade in rare species which has a turnover of billions of baht a year. Worldwide, the wildlife trade is reputed to be the second largest form of black market commerce, only falling behind drug smuggling.
Successive Thai governments have held out promises of tougher laws to protect the country's disappearing wildlife, something the well-intentioned but ineffective 1992 Preservation and Protection Act and earlier 1961 Parks Act have failed to do. Evidence of this inadequacy can be seen any weekend at Chatuchak Market. Not far from the pitiable rows of often sick, caged creatures for sale can be found groups of wildlife traders who openly operate here because the penalties are so small. Arrests have been made for dealing in Madagascan Ploughshare tortoises, so rare that conservationists say only 300 remain in the world, and slow lorises, endangered primates that live in Southeast Asian forests. But when the cases eventually came to court, only fines were imposed. Conservation campaigns at Chatuchak have not shown much success of late.
We can only look back in horror at the events of the past decade and the criticism they have brought as one scandal has followed another. There was the disastrous attempt to import 135 wild animals including zebras and giraffes from Kenya for the Night Safari Zoo in Chiang Mai, the clandestine export of up to 100 tigers to a Chinese zoo, the smuggling of orangutans from Indonesia to a private Thai zoo and the protracted delay in returning them, and the mishandling of an elephant-koala swap with Australia. Nearly 20 years ago, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh and husband of Britain's Queen Elizabeth, not known for sugarcoating his criticisms, embarrassed Thai officials presenting him with a conservation award when he said: "Your country is one of the most notorious centres of trading in endangered species in the world." The shocking part is that if that were true in 1991, it is equally true today. *Bangkok Post
ACT Environment Failure
The latest environmental reports from the ACT Government indicate the Territory's sustainability is behind national and international averages. The environment commissioner's annual report found the ACT continued its poor performance in the ares of energy, water and waste management. The report found the ACT has the highest greenhouse gas emissions per person in Australia and they are continuing to rise. It indicates efforts to decrease those emissions are challenging due to Canberra's fuel-reliant transport. The Territory's ecological footprint is also four times higher than the global average. The report refers to a replacement initiative for the 'No Waste by 2010' program which will be forced to be re-branded after waste increased by over 80 per cent since 1995. Water consumption per person in the Territory is 25 per cent higher than in New South Wales. The commissioner says the Territory faces an uphill battle to reach its sustainability targets. The Department of Environment, Climate Change, Energy and Water has also released its report. It found the electricity feed-in tariff scheme has resulted in a nearly 500 per cent increase in the use of renewable energy generators. The report notes the department's efforts to raise awareness of climate change. But the department itself has reported an increase in greenhouse gas emissions by 15 per cent in its own office space. *ACT
Dingoes Targeted
Dingo numbers are out of control south of the famed dog fence, killing thousands of sheep and threatening the livelihoods of graziers across South Australia. Sheep graziers say the dingo population is the largest in living memory and they are rampantly breeding below the dog fence, which is supposed to be dingo-free. There are no precise estimates on numbers, but 200 dingoes were shot, trapped or baited below the fence in the last year. Sheep grazier Geoff Mengersen from Depot Springs, about 120km below the fence, has shot 13 dingoes in the past 13 weeks. "It's the worst it's ever been," he said. "I think it will eventually drive us out of the country. While you're hunting dogs, there's a lot of other things that are being neglected." He said dingoes had killed more than 1000 lambs on his 500 square mile Leigh Creek property in the past year.
He said the main cause was large swathes of disused pastoral land and station owners not adequately baiting and trapping dingoes. The situation is expected to worsen in coming weeks as dingo pups become independent. State Liberal MP Dan Van Holst Pellekaan, whose vast electorate of Stuart covers most of eastern SA, said dingoes were causing "extraordinary difficulty" for the pastoral industry and property owners were "completely under-resourced". He raised the issue in Parliament last week and has called for the State Government to fund dingo eradication south of the dog fence. SA Arid Lands Natural Resources Management Board general manager John Gavin said dingoes south of the fence were a declared pest and it was the landholders' responsibility to control them. He said the Sheep Industry Fund had helped fund Biteback, a program aimed at reducing dingo numbers.
"Biteback engages landholders in local area planning to increase participation in controlling dingo numbers and improve access to a range of control methods," he said. He said the program was operating in the North Flinders district and would be rolled out in the North East, Kingoonya and Gawler Ranges districts. The dog fence was built to keep dingoes out of south-eastern Australia and is the world's longest fence. It is more than 5600km long and runs from the Darling Downs in Queensland through SA to Streaky Bay. * Adelaide Now Ed Comment, the dingo fence needs to come down.
More 1080
Feral cats and foxes are wiping out vast numbers of native animals in the South-West, with a four-year study linking the introduced pests with the decline and extinction of a variety of species. The Department of Environment and Conservation examination of five rural sites has confirmed the extinction of three native animals, the broad-faced potoroo and species of both the nail tail wallaby and the hopping mouse. It is estimated about 15 others, including the pygmy and western brush-tailed possums, are under threat from the pests. The study established for the first time that cats were killing the endangered woylie and concluded that as baiting programs wiped out foxes in some areas, feral cat activity rose because of a lack of competition. Department senior research scientist Keith Morris said the project was an analysis of pest and native animal activity at Lake Magenta, Mt Gibson Station, the Dryandra Woodlands, the Upper Warren area near Manjimup and the northern jarrah forest near Dwellingup. It also examined how foxes and feral cats responded to current and modified baiting programs. "The study showed that cats were a more important predator in the South-West than we thought and that cats are a major predator of woylies," Mr Morris said.
Researchers were able to prove feral cats were slaughtering the small marsupials after they left their DNA, from saliva, on tagged animals. "After our initial response to fox control, cats have then increased in the South-West and then they have now become the problem, but that's not to diminish the role of foxes," Mr Morris said. The findings have prompted the development of a new cat bait - a soft, sausage-like meat with an increased dose of the poison 1080. That bait is also eaten by foxes. Mr Morris said research in the 1980s suggested foxes were to blame for a rapid decline in species. That trend was curbed by the late 1990s but by 2001 species numbers began to decline again, prompting the most recent documentation. He said trial baiting had been successful in many areas of the State, curbing fox and cat levels by as much as 80 per cent but if baits were placed in dense bush they often went untouched. At the Lake Magenta site, fox activity was reduced by about 50 per cent during the four-year study while re- introduced bandicoots were found to be surviving. It is thought simultaneous baiting, a combination of ground and aerial drops, was the most effective form of eradicating the pests. Trials are under way in Fitzgerald River National Park to ensure that native animals such as the chuditch do not die from the new cat baits. * WA News
Ed comment; What can we say? Losing these small species has got nothing to do with landclearing, controlled fires, and uncontrolled housing and highway development, has it? Decades of using 1080 in WA, which uses more 1080 than Tasmania, and the native animals are still on the way out, and the cats and foxes are apparently thriving! We've just had a letter from a family that drove along a new highway between Nambung Nat Park (Pinnacles). They were on way back to Perth and they were absolutley horrified at the amount of reptiles (lizards in particular, and snakes) killed on this stretch. The carnage was shocking, they said. There is no doubt cats and foxes do impact on wildlife, but cats and foxes also make a handy scapegoat for damaging human activities.
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