Editorial

The A.C.T. Government (arguably the most disfuntional government in Australia) has placed a heavy dependence on grazing cattle as part of its bushfire management strategy in Parks and Reserves around Canberra this year. A warning from the Emergency Services Agency has stated that additional hazard reduction measures are needed to protect Canberrans this summer. ESA Commissioner Mark Crosweller predicted one of the worst fire seasons in 25 years lay ahead of ACT residents because of high fuel levels caused by last year's wet summer. So the Government environmental agency TAMS is grazing cattle (presumably agisted, so the cattle owners pay for the privilage) and slashing to reduce fuel loads. During the last few years the ACT government has deliberately killed thousands of kangaroos in the Parks around Canberra....now now they have to introduce cattle to control grasses for fire prevention! * WPAA

Wildlife Calendars

Wildwood Wildlife Shelter have their amazing wildlife calendars on sale again! The shelter for injured and orphaned wildlife recieves no other funding, and rather than thinking of just purchasing a calendar, they would like purchasers to think of it as a 'donation' to wildlife. These rescued Wildlife Calendars are beautiful. You can order now from Pam Turner at Wildwood Wildlife Shelter, PO Box 64, Glenthomson, Victoria, 3293, or phone 03 55774343. They are $25 each, plus postage. Postage costs are 1 calendar $8, 2 to 3, $10, 4 to 6, $12, 10 calendars for $15.

Kangaroo Footprints

A very nice Christmas present, the new book Kangaroo Footprints. Fun puzzles and activities and fascinating facts about Australia’s remarkable kangaroos. 75 pages of information and activities for students age 7 to 12.Every double page has an information page and an activity page. All pages are photocopy masters for teachers to use with HSIE /SOSE units and include cross curriculum activities. Read about it here http://www.kangaroofootprints.com.au/kangaroo-book.htm

It’s Raining Kangaroos: the Ups and Downs of Kangaroo Management

Spokespeople for the Kangaroo Industry Association of Australia and some other pastoralist organisations, are warning that in the current land of “flooding rain”, landholders will be overwhelmed by burgeoning kangaroo numbers unless commercial offtake (or harvesting) is ramped up (with government support). Should landholders be worried? Should we be commercially killing more kangaroos? On the mainland, the commercial industry kills four species of large kangaroo – the red kangaroo, the eastern and western grey kangaroo and the common wallaroo. The offtake is from a mixed stock of four species of quite different biology, even though they are usually presented generically as “kangaroo” to consumers. In 2011, the combined commercial quota for killing kangaroos is 3,730,710. The 30-year average total population of the four species of kangaroos in the commercial zones is about 27 million. The quota varies between species (highest for red kangaroos), state management programs and harvest zones and this distils down to about 14% of the combined population of the four species. *The Conversationist Read more ... http://theconversation.edu.au/its-raining-kangaroos-the-ups-and-downs-of-kangaroo-management-3976

Hippos

A pet hippopotamus called Humphrey mauled to death his South African owner on Saturday. * WPAA

Camels

A Central Australian pastoralist says thousands of camels have been culled in an operation near Uluru over the last few weeks. The owner of Curtin Springs Station, 400 kilometres south-west of Alice Springs, says the property was used as a base to shoot more than 5,000 feral camels from helicopters. Lyndee Severin says with numbers on the rise, it's still not enough culling. "5,000 is nothing," she said. "It doesn't even deal with percentage on the natural increase. "So if they had come back and said they'd been able to put 500,000 on the ground, that would have made an impact." But a Central Australian grazier says the recent camel cull in the region is inhumane. More than 5,000 feral camels were shot by a government contractor near Uluru over the last few weeks. But Ian Conway, from Kings Creek Station, likens the culling of camels to the treatment of cattle in Indonesian abattoirs. "They're not deadly accurate, as they say, one shot one kill," he said. "When you see the way they die and so on, it's as bad as what the Four Corners program put to us just recently with the cattle in Indonesia so why should these people be allowed to go out and shoot these animals to rot on the ground?" *ABC

Jetskis

Could you please complete the Survey at www.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au by the 20/11/11 regarding the banning of Jet Skis in the Pumicestone Passage, Queensland.
http://www.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au/sitePage.cfm?code=marine-zone-investigation

Coal Seam Gas

From Sydney’s water supply catchment to the rich agricultural lands of the Liverpool Plains and the Darling Downs, the coal seam gas industry is expanding at breakneck speed. People's health is under threat, our nation's farmland being eroded away and the country's precious aquifers permanently damaged. Locals are doing everything they can to spread the word about the dangers of coal seam gas (CSG) mining. Debbi, a GetUp member from Tara QLD, even drove 5 hours down to NSW to tell a community meeting what coal seam gas is doing to her kids' health. But the mining industry just launched an advertising blitz -- now the community campaign has to step up in response. Let's stand with them. Can you show your support by calling on the Health, Environment, Water and Agriculture Ministers to stop the coal seam gas industry until proper regulations are put in place?
Sign a Getup Petition here; http://www.getup.org.au/campaigns/coal-seam-gas/csg-ad-petition/dont-risk-coal-seam-gas?referring_service=facebook#.TrkXIwPfhRw.facebook

Spiders

Customs officials at Zurich airport found a Swiss man carrying hundreds of endangered spiders in his luggage. There were 261 live Mexican Redkneed Tarantulas in his luggage, and a later search of his home discovered 665 more Tarantulas and 72 Giant Flesh-eating Centipedes. Its believed he wanted to sell them as pets. *AAP

Possums

Nice little video here of a possum on the loose in Martin Place, Sydney http://au.news.yahoo.com/video/nsw/-/watch/27203845/possum-loose-in-martin-place?mid=525

Kangaroo Shot

Little John is a little fighter. The orphaned eight-month-old eastern grey kangaroo was found on a Pomona property in September with a pellet hole through its ear. Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre owner Gill Brownhill said the joey, named after the farmer who found him, was probably shot while still in his mother's pouch. "I believe the mum would have been shot because he was way too small to be out of the pouch - he was only just cutting fur," she said. "(The farmer) has quite a few acres and he hasn't found the mum but we assume she was shot and the joey has just copped one of the pellets." This comes amid a sickening spate of animal cruelty cases, including Mia the cat who was shot with a metre-long arrow at Maroochydore on Monday night and Fleet the koala found at Kippa-Ring with seven slug-gun pellets in his body. RSPCA spokesman Michael Beatty urged the public to speak up if they knew who was responsible. "Our main problem is that unfortunately animals can't talk," he said. "Unless you get someone who witnesses it first hand and is then prepared to come forward it is very difficult to catch them." *Courier Mail

Crocodiles

An Italian man is facing a year in jail after police discovered a rare crocodile living in his bath. The three-year-old Cuban crocodile - critically endangered in the wild - will one day reach nine foot long and said by experts to be the most intelligent and aggressive croc in the world. Owner Fabio Lazelli was caught out when his neighbours dialed 999 after a bust up at their apartment block in Cremona, Italy. "They demanded to be let into his flat and were astounded when they found a crocodile swimming around in the bathtub," said one resident. Lazelli - also facing a £70,000 fine - is understood to have smuggled the croc into the country as an egg, hatching it out at home. Wildlife experts have now moved the two feet long beast to the reptile house at the specialist Bio park in Rome. One said: "He's very lucky we got it when we did. These crocodiles are the most intelligent of their kind, fast, and aggressive. As it got older he would have been in real danger." *Orange.co.uk

Dugongs and Turtles

Nine months after floods and cyclones battered Queensland, dugongs and turtles are dying in record numbers along the coast. Seagrass beds which these animals feed on were under the water from the tip of the state to the New South Wales border. Many of the creatures have starved to death, with those weakened also falling victim to boat strikes and fishing nets. Contaminated water from dredging in Gladestone Harbor is also believed to be another threat. Despite nearly 1,000 turtles and 170 dugongs dying so far, (that we know of) the Queensland Government believes the animal populations will recover?????? They must live in a dream world. Dugong only have a reproduction rate of one calf every 6 to 8 years, and the calves often don't survive. Every dugong lost is one too many, and pushes the species closer and closer to certain extinction. Add in the illegal killing of dugong in Nth Queensland for illegal meat domestic sale, and sales to Indonesia and China, and the dugong haven't got a chance of survival. Just like the koalas and other species, the government agencies will carry on in wildlife denial until the animals are gone. * WPAA

Trophy Hunting

Some of the world's rarest animals are to be shot by trophy hunters to pay for the rest of the herd to be fed, the owner of a Territory safari park has said. The scimitar-horned oryx is extinct in the wild. There are 150 of them at the Mary River safari park on the outskirts of Kakadu. Owner Kevin Gleeson said a few of the oryx would have to be shot by trophy hunters to pay to feed the rest of the herd and dozens of other exotic animals. The antelope is prized by hunters because of the magnificent swept-back antlers. "We have to shoot a few to get in the dollars," Mr Gleeson said. "But we're not going to wipe them out - no way in the world. "You've got to put a price on an animal's head for someone to save it. It's sad but that's the way it is. "If you want them saved, are you going to pay for them to be fed?" Hunters can shoot many species of animal at the safari park, which is on Mary River station. Target species include several antelope - rusa, blackback, sambar, hog and chital - and buffalo, banteng and goats. The exotic animals were bought from a wildlife park in North Queensland, which received them from Tipperary station, 190km southwest of Darwin. Mr Gleeson said they were kept in a 4000ha fenced stretch of Mary River station. The safari park, which is closed for the wet season, attracts high-profile clients. * NT News

Climate Change

Cooling rooms - airconditioned public centres where heat-stressed people can take refuge - may become necessary by 2050, when deaths from extreme heat events are likely to double today's toll. The cooling room concept has been raised in a high-level report into Australia's preparations for a future, hotter era. It is one option for those whose lives may depend on respite from 45-degree temperatures. Heatwaves kill more Australians than any other natural disaster and that is likely to get far worse, particularly for Melbourne and Brisbane due to their particular climatic conditions, says the report produced by PricewaterhouseCoopers in collaboration with government and meteorology experts. By 2050, the number of heatwave days could more than triple in Melbourne, but changes would have a minimal impact on Sydney because of its lower maximum temperatures. The effect of extreme heat is likely to increase the death toll, particularly among elderly people, but also hit infrastructure, draining water and power supplies.
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/environment/weather/public-cool-rooms-suggested-for-future-heatwaves-20111110-1n9k9.html#ixzz1dKjNXnQB

Gillard Supports Russian Kangaroo Meat Imports

Trade ministers attending the APEC summit in Honolulu, Hawaii are talking up the prospect of a deal to advance a new free trade agreement. The Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact, known as the TPP, now includes Chile, New Zealand, Brunei and Singapore, but Australia, Japan and the United States are among other countries negotiating to join. The group's 21 trade ministers have held discussions specifically on the partnership, which is aimed at creating a free trade zone in the Asia Pacific. Australia's Trade Minister Craig Emerson says with the addition of Japan, the economies of the TPP partnership will be 40 per cent larger than the European Union. While Mr Emerson is positive about the idea, he will not set a time frame for its signing, saying "setting artificial deadlines is counter-productive." Prime Minister Julia Gillard and US President Barack Obama will meet with other interested countries tomorrow to discuss the agreement. Earlier Saturday, Ms Gillard wrapped up her one-on-one meetings with the heads of Russia and Singapore on the sidelines of the summit. During her meeting with Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, they discussed Russia's entry to the World Trade Organisation. Ms Gillard also raised the ban on Australian kangaroo exports to Russia. She told Mr Medvedev she hopes trade will resume soon. *ABC
Ed Comment; Gillard has also launched a push to reverse Labor's ban on sales of uranium to India, re-igniting debate over the controversial mining in the lead-up to the Qld state election. ALP heavywieghts believe the push will be carried, as the Labor Left doesnt have the numbers to prevent it. *

Kangaroo Industry Lies

Swelling kangaroo numbers are causing havoc across Western Queensland properties, but game meat industry officials say little can be done to stem the tide until the Russian export market is resumed. Aerial survey results released by the Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) this week reveal kangaroo numbers across Queensland increased by more than 60 per cent in 2011, following above-average rainfall during the last two years. DERM estimates the red kangaroo population has increased 58pc to 5.8 million in 2011, compared with 3.6m last year. Eastern grey kangaroos have increased 62pc from 6.6m to 10.8m, and common wallaroo figures had risen by 97pc from 1.9m to 3.8m. Some landholders have already been forced to construct additional fencing infrastructure at great expense to prevent the onslaught of the animals, which can be responsible for up to 60pc of total grazing pressure.

Applications from landholders for damage mitigation permits have been low to date this year. DERM has announced the yearly harvest quota will almost double. The red kangaroo quota will increase in 2012 from the current 645,750 to one million. The quota for the eastern grey kangaroos will increase from 920,350 to 1.5m and the common wallaroo from 261,150 to 524,150. However, the challenge remains to find enough professional harvester to fulfil the quota. Hundreds left the industry after the collapse of the Russian export market in 2008, mostly to work in the resources sector. According to DERM, the commercial harvest figures have been well below the available quota for the past two to three years, with only 36pc of the total available quota met in 2010. Wool Producers Australia has written to the Federal government repeating the importance to western graziers that the kangaroo trade with Russia is urgently reopened. United Game Processors (UGP) was processing 10,000 kangaroos a week at its $12m Charleville facility before the closure of the Russian trade in 2008.

Ed Comment; Many wildlife groups have tried unsuccessfully to get some media reply on this subject. The media dont want to know the truth about kangaroos, which is not surprising as both Packer and Murdock own large grazing properties. As we all know, its physically impssible to have a 60% increase in kangaroo populations in one year. Each female produces only one baby kangaroo yearly, and that baby is dependent for 12 to18 months. It's physically impossible for kangaroo numbers to "soar" over one year, rain or not, and we have had several years of drought before this years early rain. Aerial counting only provides a very rough estimate of kangaroo numbers, and it depends on the areas flown, and the time of day, and vague computer modelling to obtain a final population estimate....and that's all it is...a very rough estimate.....more like a guess. Last year we had feedback from some kangaroo shooters that many of the counting flights that were booked and paid for, never actually left the ground.....the numbers were fudged. There's no reason to believe fudging hasn't happened again this year.....but again, we can't get anything in the media.*

Flying Foxes

Ninety-eight cute refugees arrived in Brisbane from Cairns - every one of them needing a bottle-feed and a cuddle. The vulnerable spectacled flying fox babies are all orphans, having lost their parents through starvation, scrub ticks or possibly predatory behaviour by humans. They came from the Tolga Bat Hospital on the Atherton Tableland where carers have been overwhelmed with orphans. Australian Bat Clinic and Wildlife Trauma Centre spokeswoman Trish Wembley said the bats would need to be housed at Advancetown on the Gold Coast for six to eight weeks. "Getting them back up north will be a different thing," she said. "They'll be a lot bigger then." The bats will be fed human baby formula every four hours. "We're always busy but the good thing about bat carers is that when a situation like this arises, everyone pulls together to help out. Even the public helps out, despite scares about Hendra (virus). "Bats are the giant bees that pollinate forests and it's extremely important that we do what we do."

RSPCA spokesman Michael Beatty said flying fox adults succumbed to tick paralysis and it was thought food sources were short after Cyclone Yasi destroyed forests in February. This forced them to forage closer to the ground where they came in range of deadly ticks. "We've arranged for the orphans to be flown down courtesy of Dogtainers and local wildlife carers will take over from there," Mr Beatty said. Brisbane Bat Care spokeswoman Louise Saunders said Biosecurity Queensland was investigating the seasonal deaths of flying foxes. There are fears the animals were being shot or electrocuted in the Cairns-Atherton Tableland area simply because of the large and regular numbers of orphans being found. "Something sinister is going on in relation to the high numbers of adults not returning to camps," she said. In 2008, about 50 orphaned flying foxes were brought south to be cared for after Cyclone Larry ripped through forests. The growth of the exotic wild tobacco, a shrubby plant that fruits low to the ground where the deadly paralysis ticks live, is also thought to entice bats away from their normal high-level tree foraging, allowing the ticks to strike. *Courier Mail * Ed Comment; At last, the Courier Mail does a positive bat story!

More Whales Stranded

A notorious Tasmanian whale trap claimed the lives of 16 sperm whales yesterday, leaving another four of the ocean giants struggling for survival overnight. The deaths occurred after 20 whales became stranded at Ocean Beach, near Strahan, on the West Coast, late in the morning. Only four survived despite the rescue efforts of West Coast Parks and Wildlife Service personnel. Late last night, another eight sperm whales were being monitored in nearby Macquarie Harbour. Four of them were stranded on sandbars. Marine experts consider Ocean Beach and Macquarie Harbour to be among Australia's main hot spots for whale strandings. PWS West Coast parks and reserves manager Chris Arthur said it was not known why so many strandings occurred at the locations. "We don't know why, but there are several locations in the world where whale strandings occur frequently and Ocean Beach is one of them," Mr Arthur told the Sunday Tasmanian.

Marine mammal specialists from the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment were sent to Ocean Beach to attempt a rescue mission yesterday afternoon, but they were delayed when the sea conditions were deemed too dangerous. "The water levels were much too high and the surf was incredibly rough, making it impossible to attempt any rescue," Mr Arthur said. He said the location of the stranded whales on Ocean Beach made it difficult for the rescuers to use vessels effectively. The rescue effort would rely on the work of more than 16 whale experts and land-based equipment. "The incredible size and weight of the sperm whales does make it difficult, but our major concern is the water conditions at this stage," Mr Arthur said. "Rescue operations are expected to last at least four or five days, but we will do our best to ensure these whales have the best chance at survival." Four of the eight sperm whales inside the harbour were stranded on the Frazer Flats Sandbar. Mr Arthur said PWS officers and locals in private boats were closely monitoring all eight whales. Boats not involved in the rescue operation were urged to stay clear of the channel between Hells Gates and Table Head. "These are big, strong and potentially dangerous animals of up to 18m in length and more than four tonnes in weight, and they should not be approached," Mr Arthur said. *Mercury


Rescuers using new techniques to aid stranded whales remain hopeful they can save sperm whales in Macquarie Harbour on Tasmania's west coast. Jet boats and a recently invented scoop net already have been used to save two whales and guide them to the open ocean. The rescue team is now waiting for a break in the weather to free another two whales ''parked'' on sandbanks in the harbour. ''Unfortunately the wind is blowing directly into the narrow harbour entrance, effectively blocking the whales' path to the open ocean,'' said wildlife incident controller, Chris Arthur. Sperm whales, normally deep ocean-dwellers that use sonar navigation, may fall victim to tricky beach topography and herd panic when they come inshore. Refining methods learned in a similar stranding in 2007, marine mammal specialists are using heavy duty waterjet-powered workboats from salmon and trout farms in the harbour to break the sand's suction on the whales. A specially developed net strung between two vessels is used to scoop up the whale, and slowly ease it across the bank. * The Age

Snakes

Large numbers of snakes are being found in suburban homes and gardens across Tasmania, and experts are predicting a bumper snake season. Reptile Rescue co-ordinator Chris Daly is already receiving five or six calls a day from people finding snakes around their homes. Numbers are expected to jump to as many as 20 calls a day as the weather heats up. It's not just rural regions where snakes are being found. Kingston, Glenorchy, and Hobart's Eastern Shore are all hot spots for snakes. The reptiles are showing up in suburban backyards and driveways, schools, golf clubs, sports ovals, community centres and RSLs and near busy shopping centres. Reptile Rescue volunteers who catch and relocate unwelcome snakes and lizards attended 1690 call-outs statewide last summer to remove reptiles. "Last year we were flat out," Mr Daly said. "But this year I would definitely say we'll beat those numbers again." He said the rise was partly due to the growing awareness about Reptile Rescue and strict laws that protect snakes and mean they cannot be killed.

But mostly the rise is due to an increase in houses being built in areas bordering bushland where snakes live. "It's not so much that they are intruding on our space, but we're intruding on theirs," Mr Daly said. "There are no blocks left in the heart of Hobart so people are going into the outskirts where there are more snakes." But in the past, snakes have also been found in Liverpool St in Hobart, and along Main Rd in Glenorchy. "On hot days some callouts come from people coming home from work, it's still daylight and they tend to find snakes cruising past their driveways," Mr Daly said. "People also find them when they are gardening, in storage areas at the back of sheds and in wood heaps." In new subdivisions, snakes living on vacant blocks flee to neighbouring yards when building work starts. In the summer breeding months as many as three or four males may be attracted to an area where a female snake lives. Homes near creeks are also hot spots for snakes as the main diet of copperhead snakes is frogs. About 95 per cent of snakes caught in the south are tiger snakes, the deadliest snake in Tasmania. In the north, copperheads are the most common.

Tips for keeping snakes away:
• Keep grass short. • Remove building materials around the yard, such as piles of timber, bricks or sheets of corrugated iron which are a haven for snakes. • Be aware that chicken sheds and aviaries attract mice, which attract snakes. • On bigger blocks, put margarine containers of water around the edge of your property to eliminate the need for snakes to come close to the house to drink. • Snakes generally won't bite unless they are trodden on or backed into a corner. • If you see one, leave it alone and call Reptile Rescue on 0407 565 181. *Mercury