Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Wildlfie Bytes 27/7/11

Leading Story

Environmentalists have again warned of an ecological disaster at the southern end of Queensland's Great Barrier Reef, following the discovery of a dead dugong. It was found washed up on a beach in Gladstone Harbour, the fourth dugong, along with three dolphins and 40 turtles that have been found washed up around the harbour since May. Friends of the Earth spokesman Drew Hutton said he had seen first-hand the destruction around the harbour since construction of the LNG facilities had started. "Gladstone is the end-point of the export coal seam gas/LNG industry in Queensland and liquification plants, pipelines and port facilities are being built in this part of the Great Barrier Reef world heritage area," Mr Hutton said. He said the harbour might be a dugong sanctuary but at the moment it is full of shipping and loud noises and the only dugongs being found are dead ones.

Mr Hutton said that what was currently happening at Gladstone revealed the hypocrisy behind both state and federal governments' assertions that the conditions they placed on these developments would protect important environmental values. "How do you develop an environmental management plan that allows you to sensitively dredge your way through sea grass beds, removing 50 million cubic metres of spoil?" Mr Hutton asked. The Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) said six dugongs have died since the start of 2011 in the Gladstone area, compared to just two in 2010 and one in 2009. Turtle deaths have also increased in the same period to 48, from 26 last year and 24 in 2009. DERM said it takes the increase in the number of reported deaths very seriously The specially convened Scientific Advisory Committee for Marine Strandings has reported a number of reasons for the deaths including boat strikes and the loss of seagrass habitat following the floods.

DERM has told AAP that, based on evidence from previous floods, it is likely there will be more deaths later in the year between August and November. Health checks have been carried out on turtles and the results will help DERM plan the most appropriate way of managing the issue. Mr Hutton acknowledged that the floods were part of the problem. However, he has backed calls by the Worldwide Fund for Nature for a halt to dredging work on Gladstone harbour until an inquiry can determine what is causing the animal starvation and deaths. "Even if the work in this harbour is not directly killing marine animals, it is at least helping to create a situation where they are slowly being forced out of their traditional habitat to die of starvation," Mr Hutton said. *Courier Mail

Maria Island

Tasmania's Parks and Wildlife Service has begun its annual cull of wallabies and kangaroos on Maria Island, off the state's east coast. They say the cull in the national park aims to prevent problems from overpopulation. About 650 animals will be shot between now and Sunday, mostly forester kangaroos, bennetts wallabies and tasmanian pademelons. Parks' southern manager Ashley Rushton says without the cull, animal numbers would increase by about 30 per cent by the end of the year. But Nikki Sutterby from the Australian Society for Kangaroos says shooting the animals is unnecessary. "Nearly 12 months ago, the Australian Society for Kangaroos offered a full team of experts to come down there and carry out a large scale vasectimisation program on the male wallabies and kangaroos on the island, but they have failed to take us up on it," she said. "They have taken the cruel, cheap and quick option of shooting again." *ABC

Ed Comment; To read more about the terrible Maria Island killing program, go to http://www.kangaroo-protection-coalition.com/mariaisland.html
You can be a voice for these gentle creatures about to endure another massacre by writing/calling:

Tasmanian Premier, Lara Giddings 03 6233 3464 lara.giddings@dpac.tas.gov.au http://www.premier.tas.gov.au/contact

Minister Environment Parks and Heritage, Mr Brian Wightman Brian.Wightman@dpac.tas.gov.au PH 03 63365221

The Mercury (Tasmanian newpaper) mercuryedletter@dbl.newsltd.com.au

Crazy Ants Found in Hervey Bay

A dangerous ant that sprays acid at animals and humans is proving difficult to wipe out in Hervey Bay. One of the world’s 100 worst invasive species, the yellow crazy ant, was found at an industrial estate near Booral Rd in 2007 and a quarantine zone was set up to wipe out the colony. But nearly four years later, the ants are still making their home in the scrubby patch of land. Biosecurity Queensland Control Centre director Neil O’Brien said the yellow crazy ant was a difficult pest to eradicate in the natural environment. “This infestation is located in a heavily vegetated area, how-ever with ongoing operations we expect to eradicate it,” he said. While the ants initially colonised 77 hectares before being discovered, Biosecurity Queensland staff managed to kill most of them until the infestation was contained to two hectares. During 2010/11, two very small areas of infestation were detected,” Mr O’Brien said. “We are treating approximately two hectares around these infestations to destroy the remnant infestation.” Mr O’Brien said treatment and surveillance would continue to destroy the pest, which sprays formic acid that may cause burning or irritate the skin and eyes of animals and people. It is known as the “crazy ant” because it moves its legs and antennae erratically when disturbed. “The risk of further spread of the pest from known infested areas is managed through quarantine notices and movement controls,” he said. “Biosecurity Queensland officers work with industry, local council officers, conservation volunteer groups and land owners to successfully deal with this pest.” He said three rounds of treatment and surveillance were carried out during 2010/11, and another three rounds of treatment and further surveillance would be conducted in 2011/12. It is believed the ants were unleashed on the Fraser Coast by human error, possibly through transportation of infested timber. “These pests can cause significant environmental damage, but may also create a public nuisance,” Mr O’Brien said. “Hazards are managed through quarantine notices restricting the movement of high risk materials, such as plants and timber.” Sunshine Coast Daily

Climate Change

Time could soon run out for the north Queensland’s own Golden Bowerbird. The tiny yellow bird - the smallest bowerbird in the world - is found only in the mountain tops of Queensland’s sub-tropical rainforests. Climate modelling has indicated the high-altitude habitat of the Golden Bowerbird could shrink dramatically, forcing the bowerbird to seek shelter and food higher and higher up the mountains, until there is nowhere else to go. However, pioneering framework developed by Queensland ecologists could save it, and many other species, from the effects of climate change.
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/environment/climate-change/why-saving-a-species-is-a-mathematical-matter-20110725-1hwce.html#ixzz1T9VuZBzn

Flying Foxes

Fraser coast families are living in fear of flying foxes after a Hendra virus outbreak – but for many, their concerns are unfounded. Esplanade clothing store owner Mandy Maurer said the bats often fouled her shopfront and their smell was overpowering. But her main concern was for safety, after a Hervey Bay horse contracted the virus last week. “The Hendra virus is really scary, especially with horses in this area already affected,” she said. “If there is a threat to human life by them being here they should be culled or moved else- where before someone catches the virus.” But Hervey Bay veterinarian Greg Podger said many people were panicking unnecessarily, and he had fielded dozens of calls from people concerned for their own safety or that of their pets. “People are becoming fearful of Hendra, but it is a very rare disease of horses and humans,” he said. “There are no known cases of cats or dogs catching it; it is impossible for people to catch it from bats; and you cannot catch it from a healthy horse.” Local councils can apply to the Department of Environment and Resource Management to remove the bats if they are believed to be causing a hazard, but a Fraser Coast council spokesman said it was not necessary in Hervey Bay. “The colony of flying foxes generally inhabiting Tooan Tooan Creek area has dispersed and only a small number of animals remain at the site at any time,” he said. * Fraser Coast Chronicle

1080

Fox baits laced with 1080 will be laid in bushy Hobart suburbs from today. The areas being peppered with the baits as part of the fox eradication program include Mt Nelson, Tolmans Hill, Taroona and Bonnet Hill. Last week the southern suburbs of Blackmans Bay and Tinderbox were targeted. It is the first time the baiting program has come so close to the city. The laying of the baits, which are buried, has sparked anger from residents concerned about the welfare of pets and other wildlife. Veterinary pathologist David Obendorf also has criticised the baiting so close to suburbs. "It beggars belief. I am surprised they are continuing to do this ridiculous baiting program without any evidence of foxes out there," Dr Obendorf said. He said dogs were highly susceptible to 1080 baits and any dogs that ate them would die within four hours. Native animals were also at risk, despite government assurances, with species that liked to dig, such as quolls, bettongs, bandicoots and potoroos, in the most danger.
Read more ... http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2011/07/25/248071_tasmania-news.html

Small Fish in Decline

The growth in demand for small fish for feeding pigs, poultry and farmed salmon, could lead to the collapse of some fisheries. Marine scientists around the world have called for fishing effort to be halved for those fisheries at risk. The research, lately published in the journal Science (July 22, 2011) models future populations of forage fish including sardine, herring, mackerel and anchovy. They're vital food sources for seals, whales and seabirds. A global team of researchers looked at fishing off Peru and Chile, California and in the North Sea. Dr Beth Fulton of the CSIRO's Wealth from Oceans Flagship, is a co-author on the paper on forage fish. "They end up in fertiliser, fishmeal, they get fed to fish in aquaculture, if you've got tuna out in in a pen, pet food. "Three of them are some of the world's biggest fisheries for these kinds of fish, and the reason we were doing the work is the Marine Stewardship Council which gives eco-certification to fisheries, they wanted to know the safe rules for these kinds of fish." Their models showed if fishing continue at this rate, marine mammals and seabirds will decline, and the fishing effort needs to be halved. *ABC Read more .... http://www.abc.net.au/rural/content/2011/s3278132.htm

New Frog Species

Researchers have discovered a new miniature frog species in Western Australia's remote Pilbara region. The Pilbara toadlet is thought to have gone unnoticed for a million years and has adapted to the harsh desert conditions. The finding was made by researchers from the University of Western Australia, the West Australian Museum and the Australian National University. ANU PhD student Renee Catullo says the two centimetre toadlet is unique. "It has big glands and it has brown spots all over it, it also has a different call from all the other species," she said. "It actually lives in rocky landscapes instead of sandy soils, so it's a burrowing frog that's adapted to live in a different type of landscape." Ms Catullo says researchers had thought very few amphibians lived in the Pilbara region. "The deserts of Australia are often believed to be empty regions with few species," she said. "However genetic work on reptiles and amphibians has shown that there are large numbers of species in what looks like a barren landscape to most people." Ms Catullo says genetic testing confirmed the discovery. *ABC

Become a Wildlife Warrior

By making a one-off donation or joining our monthly giving program you can become part of a global wildlife force that is working hard to preserve our natural environment. Monthly Giving Program; Sign up to become a regular giver for wildlife conservation! Donations start from as little as $2.50 a week and can go to helping our native wildlife at the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital. Nearly 100 wildlife emergency calls are received every day at the Hospital, Up to 30 different species are admitted to the hospital every day, Currently around 80 koalas undergoing treatment, Approximately 70% of patients are victims of car accidents or domestic pet attacks, The cost to treat one animal ranges from $100 to thousands of dollars To sign up or find out more please visit http://www.wildlifewarriors.org.au

Fishing

The Evans Head Fishing Classic is an “ecological massacre masquerading under the banner of sustainable sport”, and urgent action should be taken to ensure “some sanity” prevails, says Evans Head Fishermen's Co-op. The co-op general manager, Gerry Morgan, says the event should be cut back to three days and entries limited. Mr Morgan highlights his concerns in a scathing letter to The Northern Star, also addressed to organisers of the Classic, Page MP Janelle Saffin and Clarence MP Steve Cansdell. “The number of tickets historically sold have ranged from 500 to well over 1000,” he wrote. “This is far too many for a small, fragile reef ecosystem. “We can prove on record that after a ‘successful' Classic, the local fish stocks are absolutely depleted and the three full-time pro hand-line fishermen do it tough for a few weeks,” he said. Mr Morgan said there appears to be no concern for the fact most bream, mulloway, luderick and other species are spawning or will be and that the snapper have moved inshore as a preamble to their spawning season. Fishing Classic president Peter Leeson conceded a large number of jewfish were caught, but said: “NSW Fisheries enforced bag limits over the course of the classic and they and the waterways people were very vigilant and they were happy with the way people conducted themselves and the way they stuck to the rules.” *Northern Star

Dingoes

“..they are the only australian native classed as vermin, how sad that such a noble and loving companion is now regarded as a pest, it is not just cruel but a betrayal of the highest order”
The Save the Fraser Island Dingo website is here ... http://www.savefraserislanddingoes.com/ with lots of info about the FI dingoes......*

Weeds

Just as one dangerous weed gets under control, Fraser Coast residents are asked to be on the lookout for another invasive weed that threatens farms and waterways. Weed removal works have just been completed in storm detention basins around Hervey Bay to remove the weed Azolla (Ed. actually a native waterplant that thrives in nutrient rich water) but residents will have to turn their attention to a new threat, hymenachne. Hymenachne is the latest in a long list of weeds that could potentially impact farmers on the Fraser Coast and Biosecurity Queensland has warned canefarmers to watch their fields closely over the next few months. The long weed is invasive and is known to take over canefields, swampy areas or areas that flood frequently. It is a green grass with long leaf blades which can grow in water up to 2m deep. Biosecurity Queensland National Hymenachne co-ordinator Craig Magnussen said the weed may have been spread across the area by recent flooding and wet weather. Mary River Catchment Co-ordinating Committee spokeswoman Eva Ford said the group had found outbreaks of the weed in Boompa, west of Biggenden. Burnett Mary Regional Group has labelled hymenachne a target species in its Mary River Catchment weed management strategy. Hymenachne also impacts fisheries by creating a barrier for aquatic animals, preventing territorial movements and breeding. To report a suspected hymenachne infestation, contact Mr Magnussen on 4661 6612. Hymenachne is a green grass that can grow up to 2.5 metres. It thrives in riverbanks and seasonally flooded areas and can grow in water up to 2m deep. It can be identified by the base of the leaves, which clasp around the stem. Flower heads can be up to 40cm long but are less than a cm wide.

Ed Comment; Hymenachne was introduced to Queensland illegally in the '90's by the Queensland DPI as a potential cattle stockfood for ponded pastures. It has now widely displaced native water plants throughout tropical and sub-tropical Queensland, and is now considered a noxious weed. As the native water plants are displaced by Hymenachne, so is the wildlife also displaced that depends on them.

Poaching

Ecuadorean authorities have seized 357 dead sharks from a boat that was fishing illegally in the protected waters of the Galapagos Islands national park. The government news agency says criminal proceedings will be pursued against the crew of the Ecuadorean fishing boat. The report says the boat was detained on Tuesday southeast of Genovesa island inside the marine reserve. The Galapagos area has been a United Nations natural heritage site since 1979 because of its unique marine and land species. It is prohibited to catch, sell or transport sharks in the reserve. * 9News

New Kangaroo Study

A new study has revealed surprising results: kangaroos with joeys in their pouch almost double their food intake and significantly reduce the time they spend resting to meet the nutritional needs of their rapidly growing babies. The bigger the joey became, and the more of the mother's milk it drank, the more time she had to spend foraging. But, by increasing their food intake, the mothers also increased the risk of gastro-intestinal parasite infection because it is harder to avoid faecal-contaminated pasture while consuming so much more forage.
Read more http://www.theage.com.au/national/education/roo-study-finds-mums-are-kept-on-the-hop-20110725-1hwrm.html#ixzz1TBgJwY1C

Kangaroo Industry in Victoria?

The Southern Grampians Mayor, Bob Penny, says kangaroo meat processing would create jobs in the region. The council has asked neighbouring municipalities to support its appeal to the Victorian Government to lift the ban on processing culled kangaroos. The Moyne Council will vote on the request tonight. Councillor Penny says new businesses are needed. "It most certainly would create jobs and our structure plan in Hamilton, we're looking for local businesses to be created and it creates employment and creates an increased population but it does make sense," he said. "I do emphasise that this is not about culling kangaroos for the sake of culling kangaroos, it's about keeping kangaroos at a level which is containable." *ABC

Another Kangaroo Processor Bites the Dust!

The kangaroo meat sector has copped a further blow with another processing facility shut down in western Queensland. Several plants have closed across Queensland in the past two years. Game Meat Processing says it had no option but to mothball the Blackall business, south-west of Rockhampton. Company spokesman Rex De Vantier says the export ban to Russia and the high Australia dollar have put enormous pressure on the company and 20 people have lost their jobs. "There's been a number of plant closures, probably five," he said. "This is the last plant operating in regional Australia - or regional Queensland - but the headwinds have just continued to strengthen." But Mr De Vantier says he is still optimistic about the future. "We have got faith in the opportunities of the kangaroo business going forward and we just hope this is a small blip," he said. Blackall Mayor Jan Ross says she is devastated. "It's a big blow to our community which is struggling after the wet year of 2010," she said. "I'd describe it as a micro-depression."

The company's plant in the south-east is still operating and it says it will keep Blackall ready for a reopen if conditions improve. "Longreach no longer has a works, St George no longer has a works, Charleville - it's been closed, and now us," Ms Ross said. Kangaroo harvester Tom Garrett says the closure of the Blackall facility will make it more difficult to find work in the industry. "Out in western Queensland at the moment, unless you in the resource sector for a mining or an oil or a gas company, you rely on any work you can get," he said. "I'd like to think that I've been able to earn an income from the commercial harvest of kangaroos and other game meat, but it's getting harder and harder." He says he is confident the industry will recover despite the closure of the Blackall facility. "You're always optimistic when you live in a rural area and your industry's attached to the land," he said. "Our industry is no different to any other rural industry - it has its ebbs and its peaks. "Unfortunately, at the moment, we're in one of our ebbs." *ABC

Morriset Kangaroos

Hunter New England Health will restrict access to the grounds of Morisset Hospital at night after a kangaroo was shot through the head with an arrow in the latest incident of animal cruelty at the site. Staff from the hospital discovered the animal with a 60-centimetre arrow lodged in its head yesterday morning and informed officers from the National Parks and Wildlife Service, who euthanised the kangaroo. Evidence suggests the animal was hit on Wednesday night and suffered hours of pain before it was discovered in poor condition the next morning. A spokeswoman for Hunter New England Health said plans were well advanced to restrict access to the site at night. "Security gates are being installed on the two main access roads into the site and it is hoped to have the security upgrade finished and operational next month," she said. The attack is the latest in a string of incidents of cruelty to kangaroos on the hospital grounds in recent years. Reports of groups of people entering the grounds in cars to run down animals have been common with the Native Animal Trust Fund estimating more than 100 kangaroos had been killed there in the six months to December last year. National Parks Lakes area manager Bronwyn Conyers said she was seeking assistance from the public to help identify those responsible for the attack. "I find it very hard to believe that someone did this without knowing they had harmed an animal," she said. Ms Conyers said she would discourage anyone from feeding the kangaroos in the area as this may be setting them up as targets.*Newcastle Herald

Kangaroo Meat not a viable Industry

Nikki Sutterby is a co-ordinator for Australian Society for Kangaroos. She is writing in reply to a recent blog by John Kelly, executive officer of the Kangaroo Industries Association of Australia. Kangaroos are the victims of the largest land-based wildlife slaughter in the world. Every year millions of kangaroos and their joeys are killed in the wild for their meat and skins by the kangaroo industry. Contrary to popular belief this large-scale “cull” of our national icon is not about crop protection, damage mitigation or population control. It's about profit for an industry that supplies meat to pet food companies and meat processors, and skins to sports shoe companies.

Despite claims that kangaroos need to be "controlled", are overpopulated, and wreaking havoc on our agriculture, government data shows kangaroos have declined by 55 per cent since 2001, and are at critical densities of less than five per square kilometre across most of Australia. Research by the University of New South Wales and the CSIRO also shows kangaroos rarely compete with sheep and cattle for pasture, or damage crops. In fact there are five times as many sheep and cattle in Australia compared to kangaroos, and according to the Australian State of the Environment Report 2006, kangaroos exert a grazing pressure of just 5 per cent on low intensity grazing land (60 per cent of Australia) compared to sheep and cattle, at 95 per cent.

The massive push by the kangaroo industry to eat kangaroo is also misleading, claiming that eating kangaroo will save the planet and reduce greenhouse emissions. According to scientists at the THINKK tank at the University of Technology, Sydney, if everyone in Australian ate just one small portion of kangaroo meat per week, the entire kangaroo population would be wiped out within a year. This point exposes the fact that there just isn't enough meat on kangaroos, or enough kangaroos for that matter, to support our requirements.

Claims by the kangaroo industry that slaughter practices are humane are also misleading. The RSCPA in its 2002 report clearly states that the way in which kangaroo joeys are killed by the industry is inhumane. When a mother kangaroo is shot, the industry will decapitate or bludgeon to death the pouch joey. The report also found that a proportion of at-foot joeys, orphaned when the mother is shot, will die a horrible death from starvation, predation and exposure. What should also be considered is that kangaroos have complex social structures and close family bonds, and are known to suffer significant stress and grief when one of their mob dies. Australians have never been asked whether they approve of their national emblem being killed on a massive scale for pet food and sports shoes, but they at least deserve to know all the facts about the kangaroo industry, so they can make conscious choices at the checkout. *Sydney Morning Herald

Kangaroo Attack

Back in the days of Phyllis Johnson's childhood, kangaroo boxing was a common sideshow attraction. But never did the 94-year-old imagine she would end up going a round or two with a big red roo. A giant red buck bounded into her Charleville backyard as she was hanging out the washing on Sunday, knocking her to the ground and kicking her several times. The plucky bushie tried to beat the massive kangaroo off with a broom, but was outclassed when it came to sheer size, strength and bulk. Bruised, scratched and bleeding, she commando-crawled along the backyard until she reached a post on the side of her granny flat where she could pull herself upright and escape her attacker by retreating indoors. "I thought it was going to kill me," Ms Johnson told The Courier-Mail from her bed at Charleville Hospital yesterday. "It was taller than me and it just ploughed through the clothes on the washing line straight for me. "I happened to have a broom nearby and I just started swinging at it. I bashed it on the head but it kept going for me, not even the dog would help, it was too frightened."

Ms Johnson said the raging roo maintained a vigil outside her Old Cunnamulla Rd home, until her son, who lived upstairs, arrived. Despite wielding a big stick for protection, Ms Johnson's son couldn't get the kangaroo to hop along and the frightened duo were forced to call in the police. Charleville Police OIC Sen-Sgt Stephen Perkins said two police officers arrived at the property, only to have the enraged roo barrel towards them. Police were forced to use capsicum spray to subdue the frightened kangaroo, he said. "One officer had to deploy his OC spray on the animal and it ran away and saw the other police officer out of the corner of its eye," Sen-Sgt Perkins said. "The other officer also had to deploy his spray to keep from getting hurt. It's one of the many unusual calls we get out here."

Ms Johnson said she hadn't planned to go to hospital as a result of her injuries, although conceded it was the best place to be. "I wasn't going to go but I was pretty bruised and scratched up," she said. "My son made me. I'm okay, although the roo took a chunk of flesh out of my leg and there's a chance they'll have to operate." Ms Johnson said she'd always had a soft spot for kangaroos. "I used to feed them next door, give them some bread, and they've always been so gentle," she said. "They weren't as big as that one though and they've never gone for me like that. This one seemed to target me, it was putting it's feet into me and kicking." Officers from Queensland Parks and Wildlife Services and the police worked together to trap the large kangaroo and are investigating how the animal came to be in the vicinity. *Courier Mail

It later appears this kangaroo is a "misunderstood" pet raised in captivity. "Eddie" escaped from his enclosure on Sunday and went on a rampage through Phyllis Johnson's yard in Charleville in western Queensland, knocking her to the ground and repeatedly kicking her. The frightened buck was caught by officers from the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service later that day and is now facing the prospect of being put down. Eddie was orphaned as a joey and was brought up in captivity by a local wildlife carer. When Eddie was first released into the wild he was injured - either hit by a car or attacked by dogs - and returned home to recuperate in the Charleville neighbourhood where he had grown up. Eddie's injured hip never healed properly and he was kept in captivity for his own safety. Somehow the gate was left open on Sunday and he escaped. His carer said "He's really gentle, he grew up with people and he will follow you and come when you call him. It may be he was misunderstood. *

Turtles and Dugong

Green turtles and dugongs have been on the global ''red list'' of threatened species for many years, but the situation is looking up for Australian populations as a community-based protection approach evolves. Hunting is one reason numbers have dropped in parts of Australia. Both species enjoy legal protection nationally but indigenous communities are able to hunt dugongs and turtles for cultural and economic reasons. "Urban development, fishing impacts and hunting are some factors, but remember indigenous people have a right to hunt and people in Torres Strait Islands have been harvesting dugongs for 4000 years," Helene Marsh, professor of environmental science at James Cook University, said. Research suggests that harvests in some areas are unsustainable but indigenous communities are key to the solution, joining James Cook University and the government to protect marine life.

"The Australian government has invested large amounts of money in the indigenous ranger programs, and they not only provide valuable training and employment opportunities in remote communities but they also have species conservation benefits," Professor Marsh said. One example is community development of the Traditional Use of Marine Resources Agreements in the Great Barrier Reef region, which guides sustainable hunting. "I think a huge amount of progress is being made and it will evolve over time. This is truly the way to go because most hunting occurs in remote areas and, in order to manage it effectively, you need the help of the local people," Professor Marsh said. "I don't think we have an imminent conservation crisis for either the dugong or turtle in Australia. We're lucky we have good stocks, so we need to look after them." The Department of Sustainability and Environment estimates the dugong population in Australia to be about 5700, based on figures from 1995 to 2008, but a department spokesman said there were no definitive figures on dugong or turtle numbers. "The Australian government is part of a national partnership approach for the conservation and protection of turtles and dugongs," the spokesman said. ''There is also state and Northern Territory legislation in place to protect turtles and dugongs." *Age

Cuttlefish Gone

South Australia's Giant Cuttlefish breeding colony - regarded as a natural marvel - has disappeared. Experts and tourism operators say they are at a loss to explain why the tens of thousands of Giant Australian Cuttlefish have not appeared for their annual breeding migration. They fear the species is in danger, saying less than a quarter of the usual numbers have made it to the shallow, rocky waters off Whyalla and those that have are smaller than usual. This is the only place in the world that the cuttlefish gather in such large numbers to breed. No government department, however, claims responsibility for monitoring their numbers. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the Environment Protection Authority and Primary Industries and Resources SA all told the Sunday Mail they were not responsible for counting cuttlefish to ensure the species was safe. Adelaide University ecologist Professor Bronwyn Gillanders said the cuttlefish looked to be in danger. "I have heard reports the numbers are way reduced," she said. "Initially it was thought they were coming in late this year, but they should have been at their peak abundance in mid-to-late June. It's really hard to tell whether this is a natural phenomenon or something else."

She said more research was needed to determine the cause. "I don't think anybody has any idea about what could be causing it," she said. "The reason it is so concerning is that cuttlefish die after mating. A species like snapper can have a bad recruitment year but the same fish can still come back and lay more eggs. "The cuttlefish can't come back and breed again." Whyalla dive boat operator Tony Bramley believes they are being fished by boats targeting an area just outside the Point Lowly exclusion zone. "We are very, very concerned because the numbers this year are disastrously low," he said. "There is a tiny little finger of coastline out near Point Lowly outside the zone. "I believe that's where they access the reef from the deep water. They should close that. It's been described as the best marine spectacle in the world and we're risking losing it. The cuttlefish have turned up (this year) - it's just the fisherman took them all. "In other years the bottom was a carpet of them. "The reef was covered but if you go out there now, there's hardly any."

Shayne Grant, a former tour operator and local diver, said locals were concerned a major tourism drawcard and ecological wonder could disappear. "Last year they were everywhere but this year they haven't moved in at all," he said. "Tourist numbers seem to be dropping off, too. People are finding out about it." In an emailed statement to the Sunday Mail, a DENR spokeswoman said: "PIRSA protects the cuttlefish aggregation with a fishery closure across False Bay. "DENR is considering advice from the local community to develop a marine park sanctuary zone in the area that will provide extra protection to both the cuttlefish and the habitat they depend upon. DENR has heard the concerns expressed by tourism operators that there are fewer cuttlefish near Whyalla this year, but does not monitor their numbers and is not aware of concerns around a particular fishing location." *Adelaide Now

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Wildlife Bytes 14/7/11

Flying Foxes

Culling flying foxes may increase the threat of Hendra virus, Queensland's Chief Veterinary Officer said yesterday as the cause of the latest outbreaks continues to baffle authorities. Rick Symons' warning came as Bob Katter, the federal Independent Member for Kennedy, joined the chorus of people calling for bats to be culled, or moved on, from all Queensland towns. "If it comes to a choice of our children dying or us going out there and killing flying foxes, then I have a very grave moral problem about not going out there and killing the flying foxes," Mr Katter said. He threatened to launch legal action if the Bligh Government failed to address the problem. Dr Symons said authorities did not know the reason for the latest spate of outbreaks, which have left nine properties in Queensland under quarantine and 76 horses being monitored for symptoms. However, he said that given bats were more likely to excrete the virus if they were stressed, culling might actually worsen the Hendra threat. "I believe in terms of biosecurity, it's counter-productive," he said.

His concerns came amid a spate of Hendra virus outbreaks across Queensland and northern NSW during the past three weeks which have left eight horses dead. The latest horse to die was on the 500ha Blazing Saddles trail-riding property of LNP candidate Michael Trout at Kuranda, west of Cairns. Mr Trout's brother Luke, 32, three staff members and the vet who tended to mare Cheeky, which died in convulsions on Monday, have undergone blood tests. "Luke thought the horse had colic so he had his arm down its throat," Mr Trout said. "When the vet confirmed it was Hendra we were all absolutely shattered. It could cripple our family business." Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said six people identified as having contact with the horse had been assessed as at "very low" risk of contracting the virus. "It's a very, very difficult disease for humans to catch," she said. "We're confident that there's no one who's had any degree of high-level exposure." There have been four outbreaks of the virus in less than a month in Queensland and NSW authorities are also dealing with two outbreaks. It's the highest number of Hendra outbreaks to happen at any one time. "I think there is something happening," Dr Symons said. "We don't know the reason for that but we're looking into it." *Courier Mail

Editorial....Climate Change

Well, wether we think it will work, or wether we agree with it, rightly or wrongly, the Carbon Tax is with us, and we now have to work with it...all of us. Its obvious to most thinking people that we have to do something to slow down Climate Change. Those that are known loosely as Climate Change Deniers, or Flatearthers, will have to work with the Carbon Tax too, like it or not. Now its time for us to pay for our profligate use of unrenewable resources during last two or three generations. Its now over 35 years since conservation groups first started lobbying about the impacts of Climate Change. In spite of the constant lobbying, during that 35 years, houses were still built on flood plains, highrise built on fragile beachfronts, landclearing continued unabated, coal mining escalated along with lucrative coal exports, and governments hid behind "doing whats best for the economy", rather than doing whats best for the environment. Now its time for us all to pay, but that's still not enough. We all have a responsiblity to do whatever we can to mitigate the impact of Climate Change. That means planting or helping to plant native trees, lobbying State governments to plant more trees and stop landclearing, and turning backyards into wildlife habitat. We can't afford to just sit back and hope the Carbon Tax alone will save the Planet.

Wildlife will bear much of the impact of Climate Change, regardless of wether the Carbon Tax makes any appreciable difference to rising sealevels and changing temperatures and climate patterns. We are already aware that many species can't move from their current habitat, there are few corridors, and nowhere near enough safe habitat left for them. National Parks across Australia are sparce, isolated, poorly managed, and massively unfunded. Some species will be attracted to backyard gardens where appropriate plants are growing. All credible wildlife experts agree many species will be lost. More than ever, its now crucial that Governments stop handing out Permits to kill wildlife. In Queensland alone, the Government has handed out Permits to kill 7500 birds on airports this year. Then there are crop mitigation Permits that are handed out to kill wallabies, kangaroos, possums, birds etc. Thanks to the Hendra virus, there are strident calls to eradicate flying foxes, but so far both the Queensland government and opposition are opposed to flying fox culling. For all of us, including the readers of this eZine, that have worked so hard to protect wildlife in the past, the bad news is that with changing climates, things are still going to get worse for wildlife. We have to work better, work smarter, work harder, and not get discouraged. Every native bird or animal life we save is important, and we must never give up! *WPAA

Fraser Island Dingoes

There is an Electronic Petition for Queensland Residents which draws to the attention of the House that the Fraser Island Dingo is recognised as possibly the purest strain of dingo on the eastern Australian coast and perhaps Australia-wide, but is currently on the verge of extinction due to loss of habitat and continued culling.

Your petitioners, therefore, request the House to cease all experimentation on the Fraser Island Dingoes including, culling, trapping, collaring, hazing and ear-tagging. Undertake an independent scientific peer review of the current management strategy and establish an Advisory Committee to oversee the humane and ethical treatment of the dingoes. Undertake a scientific population study of wildlife on the Island. Ensure that rangers responsible for dingo management are suitably qualified biologists with a knowledge and understanding of dingo behaviour. Establish an Interpretive Centre to educate and inform visitors regarding the natural attractions of Fraser Island and correct behaviour when encountering a dingo. Establish a Care Centre for sick or injured animals and ensure a continued independent monitoring of all management plans implemented.
To sign go to:- http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/work-of-assembly/petitions/e-petition?PetNum=1715

Clever Crows

Birds of a feather not only flock together, in the case of the American crow it seems they are also into group learning. A five-year study of crows living near Seattle in Washington State show the birds can remember a "dangerous human" and are able to share their knowledge of the learned danger with their offspring and other crows. It is a trait, says co-author Professor John Marzluff of the University of Washington, that can help species successfully adapt to, and co-evolve with, humans. "The behaviour of individual people towards animals is often changing," says Marzluff. "Because human actions often threaten animals, learning socially about individual people's habits would be advantageous." Marzluff says the study, published today in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, was inspired by earlier research with crows on the university campus.
Read More ... http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2011/06/29/3255693.htm

Koalas

Moreton Bay residents are being urged to keep an eye out for koalas and kangaroos in North Lakes and Mango Hill as breeding season and development pose a risk to the animals in coming weeks. A koala survey in 2010 showed the koala population in the Moreton Bay Region fell to 1500 from 4600 in 2004. The Moreton Bay Koala Rescue group runs a 24-hour hotline and has volunteers throughout the region. It's a not-for-profit organisation that relies on donations. President Megan Aitken said ongoing developments in North Lakes and Mango Hill meant it was vital that members of the community did what they could to help our native animals. Last year the group received 750 calls for help, relocated 49 koalas, admitted 262 koalas to the Australian Wildlife Hospital and drove 50,642km. The group's figures for the year show 70 koalas were hit by cars and 29 attacked by dogs. *Courier Mail


A wildlife sanctuary in western Victoria has been closed and three of its koalas put down. Wildlife officers from the Department of Sustainability and Environment inspected the property recently and found nine koalas in unhygienic conditions and without food. Biodiversity manager Grant Hull said the wildlife shelters permit had clearly been breached, threatening the marsupials' welfare. "Three of the koalas had previous injuries and were in need of veterinary care, but unfortunately they had to be euthanased," Mr Hull said. He said four other koalas were released into the wild, while two remain in care and are improving slowly. Mr Hull said department officers had warned the shelter several times it was not adhering to the permit conditions. But it had ignored the directions and its permit had been suspended. Mr Hull said wildlife officers visit shelters periodically to ensure they are operating according to the guidelines. "On the very rare occasion where an operator is operating inappropriately DSE will take action, as we have done in this instance," he said. *9News

Sharks

A shark sighting has forced the indefinite closure of a popular Gold Coast lake. Evandale Lake, behind the Gold Coast City Council chambers, has been closed to swimmers and fenced off after a member of the public reported seeing a fin cutting through the water at the weekend. The saltwater lake, popular with triathletes and recreational swimmers, feeds into the Nerang River. A council spokesman said the lake had been closed immediately as a precaution and Department of Fisheries had been called in. "The lake's outlet grills are in place to prevent large fish and marine life from entering, however, it is possible that small fish fingerlings can enter and become trapped as they mature," he said. The spokesman said it was fortunate it was winter and not many people were swimming in the lake. He said Evandale Lake had been drained after a reported sighting about 10 years ago, but no shark was found. *Courier Mail


A review of grey nurse shark protection moves to Coffs Harbour today, Tuesday July 12, 2011. The O'Farrell government has revoked fishing bans off South West Rocks and rolled-back management zones in the Solitary Islands Marine Park. The department of Primary Industries' Sarah Fairfull says more review sessions are at South West Rocks tomorrow, Port Macquarie Thursday and Forster on Friday. She says the Solitary Islands is one of the region's habitat areas for the critically endangered species. "There's 10 critical habitat sites along the NSW coast. "In our area here we've got Fish Rock and Green Island at South West Rocks and the Pinnacle at Forster and Big and Little Seal Rocks. "So there's a number of sites of interest to fishers, as well as scuba divers and spear fishers who obviously want to get engaged in this discussion," she said. The Department of Primary Industries says all views will be taken into account during the review of grey nurse shark protection zones. An information session was held at Byron Bay yesterday, and similar events are planned for Coffs Harbour, South West Rocks, Port Macquarie and Forster throughout the week. Ms Fairfull says all submissions will be considered. "Essentially we're here to provide information to the community and make sure they're aware of the discussion paper and they've got the opportunity to make a submission online or provide hard copies at the venues. "Every submission will be looked at and we'll be basically coming up with a range of views which we'll then take forward into a review process about where we go with grey nurse shark protection options in NSW." *ABC

Geckos

Geckos in the Philippines are under increasing threat as demand intensifies from the Asia-wide alternative medicine trade that ravaged lizard numbers in neighbouring Malaysia, the government said Wednesday. Trapping, selling or exporting geckos, regarded by some Asians as cure-alls, is punishable by hefty fines and jail terms of up to four years, Environment Secretary Ramon Paje warned in a statement. "The law expressly provides that the collection, trade or transport of geckos without appropriate permits... is punishable by imprisonment of up to four years and a fine of up to 300,000 pesos (about $7,000)," he said. Paje said the 300-gramme (10.6-ounce) tropical reptiles, known for their flamboyant skin hues and sticky footpads, now sold for 50,000 pesos each in a lucrative Asian market. Population declines in the wild in countries such as Malaysia have forced traders and suppliers to source the carnivorous, usually night-feeding lizards from countries such as Thailand and the Philippines, Paje said. Some folk healers in the Philippines are known to advise asthma sufferers to drink tap water sprinkled with pulverised, fried geckos. "They play an important role in maintaining our fragile ecosystems," Paje said of the lizards, which mainly feed on insects and worms as well as moss. Twenty-six gecko species are found only in the Philippines, which also has eight other varieties that are also found elsewhere, he added. Some of the larger species hunt small birds and rodents, the ministry said. *AFP.

Whaling

Environment Minister Tony Burke has indicated he will not let Japan's recent tsunami misfortune affect Australia's tough stance on the country's whaling practices. Australia's opposition to commercial whaling and its humanitarian response to Japan's tsunami disaster are two totally separate issues, he said. Mr Burke is attending a meeting of the International Whaling Commission in the Channel Islands where Japan is expected to push for continued whaling in the North Pacific Ocean. Some commission countries are reportedly sympathetic towards Japan's request because of the tsunami that devastated parts of Japan in March. "I think the situation that Japan finds itself in brings about a strong argument for people to have a humanitarian response," Mr Burke told ABC Radio today. "That's about looking after the Japanese people and has nothing at all to do with commercial whaling." It was a "very long bow" for anyone to try to link the two issues, he said. Australia will continue with its legal action against Japanese whaling operations in the Southern Ocean, but Canberra won't be seeking an injunction before the case is heard. "We want to do everything we can that will advance the case or win the case," Mr Burke said. Mr Burke said the IWC meeting presented a chance for Australia to push for evidence to support scientific research that did not involve the killing of whales. *AAP Meanwhile Japan has not ruled out sending its own military ships to protect the whalers.

Cane Toads

Cane toads invading the far north of WA are learning disturbing new behaviours to avoid capture by humans. Kimberley Toadbusters field co-ordinator Ben Scott-Virtue said the toads had started hopping away from the group's volunteers. "The most amazing thing is when we go out with our high-powered torches at night to collect them, the toads are running," Mr Scott-Virtue said. "The moment we stop the car and open the door, they are off." This behaviour did not happen "behind the line" in the Northern Territory and appeared to be a new tactic from the toads. "Any of those areas which have been colonised for quite a while, the toads happily sit there as you come up with a torch and pick them up," Mr Scott-Virtue said. "It's certainly a learned response and it's a response from human predation on the toad." Teams of about 16 people go out every night of the year to collect cane toads, which have advanced to Molly Springs, about 30km west of Kununurra. The toads have also been found within about 20km of World Heritage-listed Purnululu National Park, which is famous for the Bungle Bungle Range. Eighty-two-year-old Bob Wainwright still volunteers with Toadbusters. "These little bastards are taking a might more effort to bag than they used to," he said. * thewest.com.au

New Bettle Found

A tiny bug with red eyes, striped antennae and a rust-speckled green coat is one of two new species found on Witchelina Reserve. Today at the South Australian Museum, the insect will be named in honour of the late Jim McHugh, former chief executive of the Nature Foundation SA. Witchelina, in the state's north, was bought by the Nature Foundation SA and added to the National Reserve System in 2010 with funding support from the Government's Caring for our Country initiative. This former sheep and cattle station is now a much-needed wildlife refuge in arid Australia, protecting rare species such as the peregrine falcon, thick-billed grasswren and the dusky hopping mouse. University of New South Wales entomologist Professor Gerry Cassis says the four-millimetre "true bug" with sucking mouthparts called Witchelinamiris mchughi is "not going to win a beauty comp", but it showed just how much there was to learn about life on this continent. "You would think in a developed country like Australia we would know our flora and fauna very well, but in fact we don't," he said. "In many cases these plant bugs are found on only one species of plant. . . "What we're trying to do is find a general pattern of how these plants and bugs come together across the Australian environment." The survey late last year was part of a four-year $10 million Bush Blitz species discovery program. Bush Blitz senior project officer Kate Gillespie predicted the team would find new species, because scientists hadn't been there before. "We collect baseline data and then we monitor how well, conservation-wise, the property is doing." *SA news

People Power

People power will be in action Sunday 24 July on the Sunshine Coast to protest the overdevelopment of the region. Vegan Warriors has been campaigning Council to immediately stop approvals for landclearing with high profile barrister Peter Lavac representing the animal rights group. With Council being one of the few in Australia without wildlife corridors, ratepayers are fed up with the limp excuses coming out of council's mouths.
Following this weeks front page article on this issue, Jaylene has been inundated by people from all over S.E. Qld wanting to lend their support http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/story/2011/07/11/green-threat-to-sue-council-activists-lawman/ Pensioners, families, wildlife carers and people from all different ages and backgrounds will be travelling from as far as the Gold Coast and Hervey Bay to stand shoulder to shoulder with many others who feel that our region is becoming the next concrete jungle and our precious wildlife are the ones that are paying the ultimate price. Venue: Cotton Tree Park, Cotton Tree Pde, Cotton Tree, Sunday 24 July 11am onwards. 6,000 native animals annually are cared for by Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital. Disgraceful. Council has blood on its hands. Guest speakers will include Jaylene Musgrave, Anthony Walsgott, Enviro/Animal Welfare Solicitor, Ray & MUrray Chambers of the Sunshine Coast Koala Wildlife Rescue Service, with others to be announced shortly. *Network Item

Kangaroos

The kangaroo industry seems to be grinding to a slow and painful halt due to government inability to secure it export market access to key destinations. The industry started losing market access to Russia in 2008. Russia had for many years underpinned the industry and became its major market, just like China is for the coal and iron ore industries, or Indonesia for the live cattle trade. The loss of this market was a huge blow. The take of kangaroos in 2010 was half that of pre-2008 levels and the lowest in over 25 years. Since then the industry has absorbed a swath of new AQIS compliance fees to try to get back into Russia and also into its most promising alternate market, China. But after three years of effort the Australian government has failed to deliver either market. Now it wants to increase AQIS fees to kangaroo meat processors by 40%, this on top of all the new compliance costs. Without Russia or China this will send the industry quickly broke. Then the take of kangaroos will fall even lower. With numbers rapidly increasing in response to great grazing conditions farmers face real problems, no kangaroo industry, no kangaroo control. There was a ray of hope in March this year when the Russian Minister of Agriculture did a deal with Craig Emerson, Australian Minister for Trade. Australia would lend support to the Russian effort to join the WTO, and they would sort the roo job. Since then, and subsequent to Australia keeping its side of the deal, the Russian have gone quiet. AQIS and the Minister have had no response to multiple approaches to the Russians on the issue. Perhaps they have been diddled. The kangaroo industry is rapidly dying. It has shed 1500 jobs, principally in the bush, it’s loss well over $100M in export income, 60% of its processing capacity has been mothballed. The live cattle job gets $30M, the kangaroo industry gets, …… a huge AQIS fee increase. Farmers get an uncontrolled roo plague. Seems like Canberra doesn’t want this industry doesn’t it, ….. nor agriculture in general. *Qld Country Life


John Kelly, executive officer of the Kangaroo Industries Association of Australia, wants to know why you don't eat more kangaroo. It’s interesting isn’t it? Researchers in South Australia recently announced exciting new work confirming the Tamar wallaby has special bacteria in its digestive system which causes it to emit negligible levels of methane. Cattle and sheep on the other hand belch methane by the tonne, making them a significant source of greenhouse gas pollution. The researchers, and the press, have run away all excited because this opens up the possibility of introducing this bacteria into the stomachs of cattle and sheep and therefore hopefully reducing their methane output. But hang on a second. Aren’t we missing an obvious point here? Before we start playing around with the guts of animals and causing goodness knows what unforseen consequences, shouldn’t we be asking, ‘Why don’t we promote the consumption of more kangaroo meat to reduce our carbon foot print?’. Kangaroos are a sensational resource. They are super-abundant: there are currently in excess of 30 million of them. They are adapted to this land. They emit almost no methane. And they taste great and produce the world’s best leather. Why aren’t we screaming out to make more use of this resource? It’s not because of sustainability concerns. The kangaroo industry has been harvesting kangaroos on a large commercial scale for more than 40 years.

State and federal governments have extremely complex and rigorous systems in place to ensure the harvest is sustainable. During the recent drought the kangaroo population fell to only historically average levels, in spite of an ongoing commercial harvest. It’s not because of animal welfare concerns. Kangaroos are harvested under a code of practice enforced by extensive government monitoring. Unlike cattle, they are not shipped all over the place and killed by untrained people in abattoirs. Kangaroo Harvesters have to undergo TAFE training and accreditation by government officers in welfare regulations before they can get a licence. It’s not because the meat isn’t good for you. Kangaroo meat is at most only 2% fat. Plus it’s full of a compound called conjugated linoleic acid, which actively reduces blood pressure. And it really does taste pretty good. The national emblem thing is rubbish. The Canadians pour their national emblem over pancakes by the tanker load; no one tells the French not to eat coq au vin; the Welsh sing of the culinary delights of their national emblem; the South Africans have been eating springbok for centuries; and the dear old Kiwis even have a couple of lambs on their national emblem. Is it just because we were settled by boring old Poms? I suspect if the French had got here first kangaroo would be the country's national dish. I like to claim that kangaroo has been the red meat of choice amongst the Australian dining public for 40,000 years. It’s only in the past couple of hundred or so that there’s been a bit of a hiccup in its marketing program, and I hope we're on the way to turning that around. Seriously, though, rather than playing God with the stomachs of cattle and sheep, why don’t we celebrate the fact we have an extraordinary resource already which offers an immediate part of the solution to global warming? *The Land

Ed Comment; This ridiculous article above appeared in all the Australian rural newspapers, but we didnt see it in any of the main media outlets.


Mandurah wildlife champion Allison Dixon is demanding an end to the cruelty after dealing with kangaroos she alleges have been tortured, run-over and chased to death in Meadow Springs. The award-winning fauna relocator found the remains of a kangaroo she claimed had been torn in two after being tied to two vehicles last month. She said a joey had to be put down after it was hit by a car. Ms Dixon suspects a kangaroo was bashed after she found a blood trail near where three men had been drinking. Ms Dixon invited the Mandurah Coastal Times to the Mirvac development near Camden Way on Thursday and within minutes a dead kangaroo was found. It had been dead for less than 24 hours. “It would have died an agonising death with broken bones,” Ms Dixon said. “This is cruelty, we are not respecting our wildlife and we should be. Everyone has to take responsibility.” Ms Dixon said there were about 80 kangaroos and eight brush-tail wallabies in the bush being cleared, but she cannot relocate them. She spends as much time as possible at the site, including 22 hours on Wednesday. “I get told the kangaroos will move on but where the hell to?” she said. “I have grave concerns, I can’t walk away with this on my conscience.”

Ms Dixon said the mob might go to the Meadow Springs Country Club, which already had kangaroo problems from encroaching development. She fears a cull is imminent. Golf club superintendent Greg Simmons admitted there was a major problem with increasing numbers of kangaroos at the course. He estimates there are now 180 kangaroos, that had decimated the biodiversity of the grounds. For 25 years he has maintained native plants that have now been destroyed by the kangaroos. “We don’t mind a sustainable population of kangaroos, but I feel like we have become a dumping ground,” he said. “We wrote to the DEC and council in April but so far we haven’t had any help.” Mirvac WA chief executive Evan Campbell said more than 200 kangaroos had been relocated from Meadow Springs as part of development works and the program would continue. “The kangaroos were relocated to approved national park reserves within the South-West. “The kangaroos are relocated through a licensed professional and in consultation with the relevant authorities.” Kangaroos are not protected under the Wildlife Conservation Act. *Mandura Coastal Times

Jellyfish

They have no backbone and their slimey bodies are made up of more than 90 per cent water but they threaten to turn beaches into no-go zones within two decades. Huge amounts of jellyfish have forced the shutdown of nuclear power plants in Japan, already hit by the earthquake and tsunami, Scotland and a coal-powered plant in Israel in the past few weeks. And a sustained explosion in the population of jellyfish throughout the world's oceans has the potential to be "quite catastrophic" if it is not checked, said jellyfish expert Dr Jamie Seymour from James Cook University in Queensland. A digger clears away jellyfish after they blocked the water supply to a power plant in Hadera, Israel. Last week at the Orot Rabin Electric Power Station in Hadera on Israel's west coast - which uses seawater to cool its reactors - tonnes of jellyfish clogged up the filters. At the Torness power station on the south-east coast of Scotland both reactors were shut down after jellyfish were found in their seawater filters at the end of last month. Around the same time, the cooling system at one nuclear reactor of the Shimane plant in western Japan was blocked after a jellyfish invasion.

The seasonal warmer waters in the northern hemisphere - conducive to the growth of the cold-blooded creatures that have existed for about half a billion years - could be one explanation as to why the power plant incidents occurred in quick succession, experts said. But global warming, the nitrification of oceans through fertiliser run-off and overfishing have also created the environment for a huge expansion of the animals nicknamed the cockroaches of the sea, studies showed. "All these things individually can potentially lead to more jellyfish, and then we add them all together," Monty Graham, co-author of a jellyfish blooms study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) in June, told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. "Global warming increases the water temperature. These animals are cold-blooded so the warmer you make it the quicker they grow," Dr Seymour said. "An increase of nutrients in the ocean [from fertiliser run-off] increases the amount of algae, so that increases the amount of zoo plankton or little critters, and that's what the jellyfish are eating." "The third one is overfishing. So you remove all the fish and all the major predators in the ocean and there's nothing left to eat the jellyfish."

Dr Seymour said it was difficult to predict how much the worldwide jellyfish populations would grow in the next few years, but warned that if their numbers continue to increase, humans could be in "a world of hurt" within a few decades. "It has the potential to be quite catastrophic. We really don't know [what will happen in the long term]. The general consensus is it's not a matter of if it happens but when it happens. Jellyfish, which appear according to seasons, might allso become present for longer periods of time. "You'll see the way people use beachfronts change completely. So instead of being able to get onto the beach and seeing one or two jellyfish, you are going to [see] beaches closed through the world." He said fishing industries in the Gulf of Mexico, the Mediterranean, Japan and Korea were already destroyed due to the dominance of jellyfish over other species. Australia had so far not experienced such massive jellyfish blooms as it hasn't depleted its fisheries in the same manner yet. So can the trend be reversed? Dr Seymour said stopping fertiliser run-off into our oceans and a halt in overfishing would go a long way in limiting the ocean environment that encourages jellyfish blooms. Another co-author of the PNAS study, Professor Deborah Steinberg, told Wired magazine: "We're a long way from jellyfish taking over the world, but humans are changing food webs in the ocean by our activities. "It's an experiment, a big experiment, and we don't know yet what the outcome is going to be. We need to be careful." *Age

Dingoes

Dingo doo-doo has been linked to a spike in medical cases of a deadly cystic parasite that has been found as big as a football in the liver and lungs of humans. Scientists are investigating cases in Brisbane, the Sunshine Coast and Townsville, where wild dogs encroaching on urban sprawl have spread the potentially lethal hydatid disease into the human population. "Dingo poo is not good stuff," Charles Sturt University lead researcher Dr David Jenkins said. "You can lose chunks of the liver and a whole lung because major surgery is the only way to cut out these fluid-filled cysts." He said the worry was that because it took 10 to 15 years before the cyst grew to an identifiable size, it was only the tip of human cases being reported. "As there is more contact, we expect to see a bigger spike in cases," he said. Australia, on average, has 100 new cases a year of hydatid disease caused by a tiny tapeworm, Echinococcus granulosus, passed from the gut of the wild dog into the environment. There are 10 cases in Queensland yearly, with the latest victim a Sunshine Coast Regional Council worker, who contracted the disease in the trapping and control of dingoes near Maroochydore.

Dr Jenkins outlined his research as part of a three-day Australian Parasitology Conference with 200 fellow experts in Cairns this week. "Wild dogs are getting more brazen and coming into towns, raiding garbage bins, eating and fighting with domestic pets and leaving behind dingo poo," he told The Courier-Mail. "The eggs can stay alive for a year and are transmitted by inhaling, hand-mouth contact or from petting or kissing domestic pets. "As wild dog behaviour changes, the risk to humans is getting bigger." A New Zealand farmer had a 50kg cyst cut from his liver and lungs in the late 1940s in Otago. Professor Peter O'Donoghue, of the University of Queensland, said the vast array of microscopic parasites was "pretty" and "horrific". "We don't study them for innate beauty but the horrific effect they have on their hosts and the diseases they cause," he said.

"Most people know what a killer shark, crocodile, spider or stinger look like but these killer microbes are invisible to the naked eye and are even scarier because you can't see them and they get you in the gut, blood, skin tissue or organs." He said a scientific team had also identified Leishmania, previously thought not to occur in Australia, in wild animals in the Top End where contact causes nasty skin ulcers with tropical sores. In another case, scientists are investigating a recent outbreak of tapeworm in cows in a feedlot in northeast NSW, with 35 cattle euthanased. They warn that, if infected beef is improperly cooked, it can lead to a 9m-long tapeworm growing inside the gut of humans. *Courier Mail Ed Comment; Another unnecessary dingo scaremongering story.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Wildlife Bytes 7/7/11

Flying Foxes

Six horses are now dead from the latest Hendra virus outbreak.....amid strident calls to eradicate flying foxes......details below.....

Fraser Island Dingoes

Here is an interesting article about the FI dingoes, and you can make a comment about their management too.....
http://www.ecovoice.com.au/eco-news/4385-collaring-or-culling-the-fraser-island-dingo

Wildlife Trafficking

A Hong Kong couple has been arrested in Perth for attempting to smuggle wildlife out of Australia concealed in teddy bears. In a joint operation between Customs and the Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC), officers raided a home in the southern Perth suburb of St James on Wednesday night. They seized 31 lizards in the raid - 24 bobtails, six crevice skinks and one sand swimmer skink - along with several soft toys, packaging and postage material. Rick Dawson, a senior wildlife investigator with the DEC says bobtail lizards can fetch up to $7,500 on the Asian black market. "While common in Western Australia, these lizards are highly sought after in Asia because they are easy to care for, attractive, and exotic," he said. "In some instances the reptiles' eyes had been taped up, and the cold and cramped conditions they would have had to endure on a long journey without food or water in a cargo hold is abhorrent." Last night's seizure was the result of a 12-week investigation into the alleged wildlife smugglers. The 27-year-old man and 30-year-old woman were being monitored by officials after allegedly making several attempts to post teddy bears containing lizards overseas. Environment Minister Bill Marmion has congratulated the authorities for the arrest, describing it as a significant bust. "Wildlife smuggling is not only illegal, it is cruel and poses a risk to the state's native plants and animals, including rare or threatened species," he said. "The success of this operation sends a strong warning to people that if you attempt to smuggle wildlife out of Western Australia, the chances of getting caught are very good indeed." The maximum penalty for illegally importing and possessing wildlife under WA's Wildlife Conservation Act is $4,000 and smugglers can face up to 10 years imprisonment and/or a fine of $110,000 under environmental legislation. *ABC

Dingoes

High numbers of dingoes south of the dog fence in northern South Australia have prompted the SA Government to allow aerial baiting in some areas. Environment Minister Paul Caica says landowners had raised concern about the impact of rising dingo numbers on sheep. Mr Caica says the aerial baiting will be well coordinated. "I'm told that the best time to do it is at spring and around February, March, so we'll be taking advice from those that know more than I do about what is the best time to do it, but we'll do it to get the best bang we possibly can from our buck and indeed to ensure that we're able to hit as many dog-infested areas as we can," he said. Mr Caica has rejected calls from some to reintroduce a dingo bounty. "I'm not going to introduce a bounty. The evidence that I've been provided [with] to date is that bounties aren't anywhere near as effective as what some people think they are, so we believe that the resources that are available better off put into a coordinated baiting process," he said. *ABC

Arctic Megamine

Britain's richest man is planning a giant new open-cut mine 480 kilometres inside the Arctic Circle in a bid to extract a potential $US23 billion ($A21.4 billion) worth of iron ore. The ''mega-mine'' - which includes a 314-kilometre railway line and two new ports - is believed to be the largest mineral extraction project in the Arctic and highlights the huge commercial potential of the far north as global warming makes industrial development in the region easier. The billionaire steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, who is behind the project, wants to exploit a commodity whose value has doubled due to soaring demand from China and India. But the wildlife group WWF describes the planned mine as a ''game changer'' and a test case that could affect future industrialisation of the far north. 'It is of a scale that would be massive anywhere in the world,'' said Martin von Mirbach, a director of the Arctic program at WWF in Canada. WWF is demanding that the company proceed with extreme caution. Documents show that Mr Mittal's company, the world's biggest steel-making group, ArcelorMittal, admits that the operations will be undertaken in an area inhabited by unique wildlife. *Guardian
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/environment/conservation/wildlife-fears-over-british-billionaires-plans-for-arctic-megamine-20110705-1h0mf.html#ixzz1RGiWYsws

Giant Wombats

Imagine a wombat that's 3m tall and weighs about as much as a Hummer. That would be the diprotodon - the largest marsupial to walk the planet. Scientists in Outback Queensland have just discovered one of the most complete skeletons of the megafauna, which is believed to have roamed Australia between 2.5 million and 50,000 years ago. "It's a scientifically very important find," said Dr Sue Hand, the University of NSW paleontologist who oversaw the project. "The diprotodon overlapped with the first people that came to Australia and, as an iconic animal, is central to a lot of the debate and argument about what happened to megafauna and why they died out. There's going to be a lot of information that comes from this find." Dr Hand said while the diprotodon was the last surviving member of its family, its closest living relatives were wombats and koalas. The prehistoric marsupial is thought to have raised its young in a pouch, was a vegetarian, grazed savannahs and lived in herds. "We wouldn't be surprised to find more individuals in the area," Dr Hand said. The remains were found late last year at a paleontological dig at Floraville Station, about 70km south of Burketown in Queensland's Gulf country. Dr Hand said the local community, including school children and mining company Xstrata, were heavily involved in the project, helping to excavate the remains. Scientists hope the discovery will show what northern Australia looked like millions of years ago. The diprotodon skeleton will be exhibited at the Queensland Museum after tests on the remains. *Courier Mail

Cane toads

The classic example of an introduced-species-gone-awry gets even worse. Not only do living cane toads regularly kill many of Australia’s endemic predators that hunt and eat the hopping meals, dead toads—common roadkill along Australia’s highways—are threatening local aquatic fauna. Cane toads have blighted Australia every since the animals were introduced to the continent in order to control beetles that were damaging sugar cane crops. In addition to being largely unsuccessful in controlling the beetle population, the toads bred prolifically, decimating natural predators such as snakes and lizard, which were poisoned by toxins produced by the toad called bufatoxins. * TheScientist Read more ... http://the-scientist.com/2011/07/05/dead-cane-toads-are-deadly/



Marine Turtles

A green sea turtle found dead on an Australian beach had more than 300 pieces of plastic in its digestive system, a wildlife group said Thursday. The 16-inch (40 centimeter) turtle was found washed up at Ballina, on Australia's eastern coast earlier this month. Australian Seabird Rescue, which conducted a necropsy in a bid to determine what killed the turtle, released video footage of the 317 pieces of plastic which were removed from its stomach and intestines. The debris included three varieties of plastic bag, fishing line, packing tape, plastic-coated wire and several lollipop-style sticks. A spokeswoman for the group, Rochelle Ferris, said it was the most shocking case she had seen in 15 years and there was "no doubt" that plastic had killed the turtle. "We see 40 or 50 sea turtles each year that are suffering from plastic ingestion," Ferris said. The organization called for the Australian government to change stormwater systems to stem the flow of garbage into the ocean from urban waterways. *PoconaRecord

Kangaroos

Kangaroos adopt. It doesn't happen often, but to the astonishment of biologists at Wilsons Promontory National Park in Australia, sometimes a mother bends forward, opens her arms and invites someone else's youngster to hop into her pouch. Once made, the mix-up endures, lasting through the remaining weeks of "pouch life" and on during months of the "young-at-foot" stage, when the growing juvenile kangaroo continues to nurse. "It's a complete surprise to us," said Graeme Coulson, a zoology professor at the University of Melbourne in Australia. Coulson described the baby swapping -- in which two mothers end up with each other's young -- this month at a joint meeting of the American Society of Mammalogists and the Australian Mammal Society in Portland, Ore. Although rare cases of marsupial fostering have previously been reported in captivity, and biologists have used fostering in breeding programs, this appears to be the first documented report of spontaneous adoptions in the wild, said Roberta Bencini, vice president of the Australian Mammal Society and professor of animal biology at the University of Western Australia. "That's really quite an unusual discovery," said Bencini, who was not involved in Coulson's research. "I would like to find out why."
read more ..
http://www.livescience.com/14866-kangaroos-mysterious-offspring-swapping-habits.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Livesciencecom+%28LiveScience.com+Science+Headline+Feed%29

Ed comment; This is a long article, but worth reading. It's been long known that on rare occcasions a kangaroo mum will adopt an orphaned joey, but why it should surprise these academics is unknown. Coulson does a lot of work for the kangaroo Industry, and he publicly supported the Belconnen kangaroo massacre. One does have to wonder how useful some of these "studies" are.......


Mother kangaroos face higher health risks to carry and raise their young than their non-reproducing sisters; a new University of Melbourne study has shown. The study, led by Dr Graeme Coulson and Professor Mark Elgar from the Department of Zoology, University of Melbourne demonstrated for the first time that mother Eastern Grey Kangaroos almost double their food intake and significantly reduce their time spent resting in order to meet the nutritional needs of their baby. “By increasing their food intake, mothers increase their risk of parasite infection because it is harder to avoid faecal-contaminated pasture whilst consuming so much more forage,” said Dr Coulson. “This elevated risk of parasite infection may be a very significant additional cost for reproducing females.” “We have been able to prove that reproducing females altered their behaviour in direct response to the energetic demands of reproduction.” Professor Elgar explained that scientists have long assumed that reproducing female mammals must adjust their behaviour to compensate for increased energetic demands, but no-one had been able to prove this until now. “This is the first field experiment that has been able to comprehensively compare the behaviour of females with young and females without young at the same time and place.” “In our novel study, we manipulated reproduction by giving some females within the group birth control but leaving others to reproduce naturally.” “This study has allowed us to develop a better understanding of the energetic and health costs in populations of kangaroos and other mammals more generally and can therefore help us better manage species.” The study will be published in the next issue of the international journal Biology Letters. * ScienceAlert

Tassie Devils

A leading tasmanian devil expert believes some of the animals in captive breeding programs should be released into the wild on the mainland. The deadly facial tumour disease wiping out the wild devil populations has led scientists to protect more than 100 of the carnivorous marsupials in interstate captive breeding programs. But the University of Tasmania's Menna Jones says there is a danger these devils will adapt to become a captive species. She says international programs with other species have found reintroduction from captive-bred animals has a fairly low success rate. Dr Jones says it is critically important to have healthy devils living in the wild. "Animals change when they live in captivity and they adapt to become not a domestic species but a captive species," she said. "They may be contained but if they're in 50 to 100 square kilometres or an enclosure that's at least 100 square kilometres, they're living as wild animals, they're retaining their natural behaviours and those animals are going to be the most suitable for repopulating the tasmanian devil population." She says devils could be released in areas where there are no dingoes and fox control measures are in place. *ABC
Ed comment; Sounds good, but there are very few places where some government agency is not dropping poison for wild dogs...and what happens when the devils move out of their allotted area?

Camels

The world's association of camel scientists fought back angrily over Australian plans to kill wild dromedaries on the grounds that their flatulence adds to global warming. The idea is "false and stupid... a scientific aberration", the International Society of Camelid Research and Development (ISOCARD) charged yesterday, saying camels were being made culprits for a man-made problem. "We believe that the good-hearted people and innovating nation of Australia can come up with better and smarter solutions than eradicating camels in inhumane ways," it said. The kill-a-camel suggestion is floated in a paper distributed by Australia's Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, as part of consultations for reducing the country's carbon footprint.
Ed Comment; Australia is heavily reliant on coal-fired power and mining exports and has one of the highest per-capita carbon levels in the world, but we can save the Planet by killing the camels?
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/environment/climate-change/outrage-over-cull-of-farting-camels-20110704-1gzdm.html#ixzz1RAqqgpIW

Hendra Outbreak

Tests have confirmed a horse that died near Brisbane yesterday is the sixth victim in a worrying escalation of the Hendra virus. The horse fell ill and died at Park Ridge, south of Brisbane, on Monday night, not far from where other Hendra cases have been confirmed. Initial tests produced conflicting results. But results from further tests, returned late yesterday, confirmed the animal had Hendra virus. The horse's owner and a vet who had contact with the animal have joined the list of people waiting to learn if they've contracted the potentially deadly virus. They now number 17 in Queensland and nine in NSW. Queensland's chief veterinary officer Rick Symons said there was only one horse on the Park Ridge property, which was now under quarantine. "However there are horses on neighbouring properties so we are currently addressing the need to quarantine properties in the immediate area," he said. Since June 20, six horses have died or have been put down after contracting Hendra - five in southern Queensland and one in northern NSW. Park Ridge is about 70km from Mt Alford and 50km from Kerry, where other Hendra cases have been confirmed. A total of six properties are now under quarantine - five in southern Queensland, including the Park Ridge site, and one at Wollongbar, in northern NSW. *CourierMail

Ed Comment; Not surprisingly, there have been strident calls for flying foxes to not only be "culled" but some want them eradicated. I had a brief discussion with Campbell Newman, the Qld LNP leader, about flying foxes at the weekend. If elected, they have no intention of "culling" them, but may approve some relocations. I asked him to talk to us before they made any such decissions, and I have a meeting with the LNP Environment spokesperson Andrew Powell next week to discuss Flying Foxes and other issues.

Below is a comment from FF expert Les Hall

I can understand Biosecurity Queensland's concern over testing all horses that may have come in contact with the infected horse at Beaudesert and the implications for human health. However I hope that Biosercurity Queensland's field team takes the opportunity to thoroughly investigate all other animals that may have come into contact or could have passed on Hendra Virus to the horse. This list includes dogs, cats, rats, mice, brush-tailed possums, bandicoots, hares, carpet pythons and any blood sucking insects such as ticks, mosquitoes and march flies. This sampling should be done as close as possible to where the horse was kept. Previous random sampling for antibodies in some of these species from various localities should not exclude them from being tested at the site of the outbreak. Not enough is known about how Hendra Virus circulates in the environment to exclude any possible host or vector.

Logical science would indicate that the search should be made from the infected animal outwards, ie who or what was the horse exposed to where it may have contracted Hendra virus. We need to know if the horse was stabled every night (will reduce number of contact species), if it was being fed supplementary food (could be contaminated with cat, rat and mouse faeces) and if the horse was being medicated.
The current approach of trying to find a direct transmission route from a flying-fox to a horse is flawed and this should be very obvious after 15 years of searching and testing. It makes better science to start with the horse and work outwards. If this leads back to flying-foxes, then we have a culprit. The tenuous link between flying-fox urine containing Hendra Virus and the possible chance that this may infect horses seems to be preventing other investigations on possible infection routes or sources. As it has been previously noted - its possible that both horses and flying-foxes could be getting infected from a third source. While research is totally focussed on flying-foxes the real culprit could remain unidentified. Its important horse owners are able to protect their animals and we need to find the source that is responsible for horses contracting Hendra Virus. The research should forget about flying-foxes for awhile and concentrate on looking closer at horses and the environment at the stables.

The next comments are from me as a flying-fox biologist. The Beaudesert area is in rain shadow and not a particularly good area for flying-foxes. I know of camps at Mount Tambourine, Flinders Peak and near Woodenbong that are regularly used by flying-foxes and are within flying range of Kerry. It would be useful information to see if these camps are occupied at present, what species are present, what is their body condition and what are they feeding on locally. Has anyone seen flying-foxes feeding near the outbreak area in the last couple of nights? We need to know if there are any flying-foxes in the vicinity of the outbreak.
Its time to move on from the outbreaks of Hendra Virus being blamed solely on flying-foxes and concentrate on good investigative science. *


An operation to evict a colony of bats from Adelaide's Botanic Gardens has been a success, the Environment Department says. The colony of about 350 grey-headed flying foxes has moved from the Gardens to neighbouring Botanic Park. A scheme to unsettle the threatened mammals using noise started in May after it was found they were damaging rare plants. Environment Department ecologist Jason van Weenen says the bats are now roosting in trees that are less sensitive to defoliation. "If damage was to occur to them, it wouldn't be as significant as others within the Gardens." "We'll have some more discussions in the near future about whether or not it's going to be a suitable site in the long-term so at this stage we're just letting them settle down and have a bit of a break." "It's been about a month of the program so it's important that they get a bit of a rest from the whole disturbance activities," he said. The bats flew in from the eastern states last year. *ABC


Green Politics

Bob Irwin says Queensland must review its animal cruelty laws to stop the suffering of endangered species taken by indigenous hunters. The environmental campaigner, who's been asked to run for The Queensland Party at the next election, says the state has failed to stop the horrific deaths of endangered dugongs and turtles. In a joint statement, he and party leader Aidan McLindon said current provisions allowed such species to be hunted and suffer over several days before being cut up alive. "Our governments are no longer concerned in regards to blatant cruelty, whether it be domestic stock or native wildlife," Mr Irwin said in the statement. "Their motivation of greed and dominance at any cost is bringing shame and disgust around the world to all decent Australians." Mr McLindon said Queensland's laws lacked consistency. He said it was the only Australian state to ban ritual killings, but was also the only state or territory without animal cruelty protections related to indigenous hunting. "It is important to ensure the highest standards of animal protection in Queensland because it is the right thing to do," he said. "The Queensland government should get full marks for having the courage to ban cruel ritual slaughters, but it now needs to ensure that proper measures are in place to regulate indigenous hunting."

The statement noted some traditional owners had recognised the need to protect dugongs and turtles, despite having the right to hunt the endangered animals. The Mamu People, south of Innisfail, have enacted their own self-imposed hunting restrictions, the men said. Mr Irwin could reveal his political hand as early as Friday morning, when he'll hold a press conference alongside Mr McLindon in Tin Can Bay. On Sunday, Mr Irwin said that The Queensland Party wanted him to run in the Brisbane seat of Ashgrove which will be a critical seat at the next election as Liberal National Party leader Campbell Newman must win it if he's to realise his ambition of becoming premier. Ashgrove is currently held by Labor's former environment minister Kate Jones and the former Brisbane lord mayor is leading the opposition to the election from the sidelines. The LNP has not said who'll be premier if the party defeats Labor, but Mr Newman fails to win Ashgrove. However, Mr Irwin - the father of the late adventurer, conservationist and "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin - has also indicated he might run as an independent. * AAP

Vultures

Police chiefs are to scrap a plan to use vultures to replace sniffer dogs after it turned out to be a miserable failure. Police in Germany imported the birds from Carinthia, Austria, in the hope their amazing eyesight, fantastic sense of smell and ability to find dead prey would help them to find missing bodies. But the three birds - named Sherlock, Miss Marples and Columbo - have failed to find a single cadaver laid out in the wild for them - unless put in front of their beaks. And one refuses to fly at all. Sherlock walks around at a speed similar to a waddling duck making him far less efficient than the average sniffer dog. In addition the other two birds - Miss Marple and Columbo - spend most of their time fighting. An insider working with the project at Walsrode in Lower Saxony, Germany, confirmed: "The project has been a disaster."

Early trials with the birds - which have a five foot wingspan - had already ruffled feathers with fans of more traditional methods. "Everyone knows what vultures do when they find a body and they're not going to be as easy to call off as a Labrador. You could find half the evidence disappearing down their beaks," said one. When contacted this week for a comment project creator Hermann Meyer said that the vultures were temporarily no longer available for journalistic access. Trainer German Alonso admitted: "They don't seem to be able to do anything other than attack each other." And he admitted they had done more research on the birds that indicated they might not have been the best choice. He said: "It seems they are rather cowardly birds - they would rather hide in the woods than be out and about in the open." *Orange.co.uk
Ed Comment; Perhaps they didnt pay them enough?

Powerful Owls

The nests are built, the eggs are laid and for Sydney's powerful owls it is time to hoot and be counted. Birds Australia is calling on the public to help locate and monitor breeding pairs of Australia's largest species of owl, Ninox strenua. The birds are listed as vulnerable in NSW and there are 20 to 30 breeding pairs living in the Sydney region, an owl expert from the Department of Primary Industries, Rod Kavanagh, said. ''But we don't know for sure and we don't know where they are breeding. We need to identify the critical roosting and breeding requirements of the owls and the locations of important areas requiring protection." The manager of the Birds in Backyards program at Birds Australia, Holly Parsons, said powerful owls are about 55 centimetres tall. They possess large yellow eyes, massive talons and white and grey-brown plumage. ''They're much larger than any other owl that we are likely to see in our suburbs,'' she said.

But people are more likely to hear the bird's slow resonant hoot than catch a glimpse of these nocturnal creatures. ''It's a very distinctive deep 'whoo-hoo' call.'' The breeding season lasts from April to September and the program is asking people who spot the birds to get in touch. The owls prefer forested areas, and nest in the hollows of large, old trees, such as Lilly Pillys, Turpentines and Coachwoods. They live in the same area year-round, and can range over more than 1000 hectares in search of food, such as possums, sugar gliders and grey-headed flying foxes. "We need to know where and when you saw or heard the bird and anything interesting you noticed about where it was or what it was doing,'' Dr Parsons said. Birds in Backyards is also training volunteers who are willing to regularly check on a breeding pair and report back what the birds are doing at their nests. To report a sighting or volunteer as an observer email birdsinbackyards@birdsaustralia.com.au *Age


LadyBirds

CSIRO research has revealed that the tremendous diversity of ladybird beetle species is linked to their ability to produce larvae which, with impunity, poach members of 'herds' of tiny, soft-bodied scale insects from under the noses of the aggressive ants that tend them. Reconstructing the evolutionary history of ladybird beetles (family Coccinellidae), the researchers found that the ladybirds' first major evolutionary shift was from feeding on hard-bodied ("armoured") scale insects to soft-bodied scale insects. "Soft-bodied scales are easier to eat, but present a whole new challenge," says Dr Ainsley Seago, a researcher with the CSIRO's Australian National Insect Collection. "These soft-bodied sap-feeding insects are tended by ants, which guard the defenceless scales and collect a 'reward' of sugary honeydew. The ant tenders aggressively defend their scale insect 'livestock' and are always ready to attack any predator that threatens their herd." Therein lay the evolutionary problem confronting ladybird beetles, whose larvae were highly vulnerable to ant attack.

To avoid being killed as they poach the ant's scales, ladybird larvae evolved to produce two anti-ant defences: an impregnable woolly coat of wax filaments, and glands which produce defensive chemicals. Most of the ladybird family's 6,000 species are found in lineages with one or both of these defences. "We found that most of ladybird species' richness is concentrated in groups with these special larval defences," Dr Seago said. "These groups are more successful than any other lineage of ladybird beetle. Furthermore, these defences have been 'lost' in the few species that have abandoned soft-scale poaching in favour of eating pollen or plant leaves. "This is an unusual way for diversity to arise in an insect group. "In most previous research, insect species richness has been linked to co-evolution or adaptive 'arms races' with plants." This research helps to place Australia's ladybirds in the evolutionary tree of life for insects, and helps us to understand the complex system of mechanisms by which beetle diversity has arisen. *SCIRO

Seals

Namibia plans to kill 86,000 seals this year, including 80,000 pups, for their fur pelts and to protect the southern African nation’s fishing industry, according to Bernand Esau, the minister of fisheries and marine resources. The government will allow 80,000 young seals and 6,000 bulls to be culled between July and November, about the same number as last year, he said in a telephone interview today. The exercise, which is condemned by animal rights groups, is necessary for the survival of Namibia’s fishing industry, the government has said. Namibia, together with Canada and Greenland, supplies most of the world’s seal-fur harvest, an industry it defends as necessary to preserve fisheries, one of its main exports. The Namibian government has said seals consume about 700,000 metric tons of fish a year, more than the total annual allowable catch for its entire fishing industry. The nation is the biggest supplier of hake to the European Union, which has banned the seal trade because it says the clubbing and skinning of seals causes unnecessary suffering to the animals.

The Namibian hunt isn’t adequately monitored and seals are treated in a less humane fashion than in some other culls, animal rights groups, including the International Fund for Animal Welfare, have said. In Namibia, the pups are clubbed to death while adults are shot, the Johannesburg-based Sunday Independent reported in 2006. The genitalia of adult bulls are exported to east Asia where they are sold as an aphrodisiac while the rest of the seals are used to make fur coats, gloves, handbags, seal oil and carcass meal, the newspaper said. At Cape Cross, Namibia’s biggest seal colony, a shop sells seal products ranging from seal-skin boots to hats. *Bloomfield Businessweek