Author Archives: AWPC

Petition for a Great Forest National Park for Victoria

To: Premier Daniel Andrews
Petition for a Great Forest National Park for Victoria

Dear Premier and Ministers of Victoria

Victoria urgently needs a comprehensive, representative national park and conservation system. Major threats to nature such as habitat loss land degradation, invasive species, logging, harmful fire regimes, over-grazing, modified water flows still persist. 1

Precious habitat remnants are being bulldozed for urban expansion or roads. Victoria is the most cleared state in Australia, populations of native birds and animals are in free-fall, and less than 25% of our rivers and creeks are in good condition. 2

The Great Forest National Park proposes that Victorians create and add a new 355,000 hectares of protected forests to the existing 170,000 hectares of parks and protected areas in the Central Highlands of Victoria.

The tallest flowering trees on Earth grow north-east of Melbourne. In their high canopies dwell owls, gliders and the tiny Leadbeater’s (or Fairy) Possum. Victoria’s precious and endangered faunal emblem lives only in these ash forests of the Central Highlands. 3

We demand that the State government act on the overwhelming support for the creation of a Victorian Great Forest National Park.

1 VICTORIAN NATIONAL PARKS ASSOCIATION, September 2014, NATURE CONSERVATION REVIEW: Overview and context

2
http://environmentvictoria.org.au/blog/posts/needles-haystack#.VTndPM2hSPo

3
http://www.greatforestnationalpark.com.au/

Why is this important?

Victoria is the most cleared State, and there are major threats to our native species and vegetation. There are ongoing issues such as habitat loss and degradation, invasive species, harmful fire regimes, over-grazing, logging of old growth forests, and modified water flows. Our faunal emblem, the Leadbeater’s Possum, is critically endangered, and lives in the Central Highlands of Victoria. A new 355,000 hectares of protected forests to the existing 170,000 hectares of parks and protected areas in the Central Highlands of Victoria is urgently needed.

by Vivienne Ortega on behalf of AWPC

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Petition: end the slaughter of kangaroos in the ACT

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Frankie Seymour’s petition:

Australian Capital Territory government is still killing thousands of kangaroos every year in a cruel, unnecessary, ineffective and ecologically destructive annual slaughter on public reserves. This has been going on since 2009, and we expect the latest slaughter to be announced any day.

In 2015, the Australian Capital Territory government authorised the slaughter of at least 25772 kangaroos across the Territory. Most of these were to be killed on farms because farmers believe that native kangaroos compete for pasture with introduced livestock.

*Overwhelming evidence has shown that the slaughter is: ineffective in terms of reducing kangaroo grazing pressure on reserves (because kangaroos are pretty mobile within their ranges, and quickly move in from nearby farms to make use of the empty space);

*unnecessary (because eastern grey kangaroos are so slow breeding, have such a high infant mortality rate and manage their own populations effectively in times of food shortage); and

*actively harmful to ecosystems (because kangaroo grazing ensures diversity of habitat for a great diversity of others species, many of which cannot thrive in either ungrazed land or livestock grazed land).

The evidence also shows that the government’s kangaroo counts are inherently inaccurate.

Evolutionary sociologist and AWPC policy advisor, Sheila Newman, has criticised the research base used in the ACT Kangaroo Management program. (See https://candobetter.net/node/4822). Her review of the literature concludes that “culling” may actually increase kangaroo populations by speeding up reproduction, with the selecting in of smaller, earlier maturing kangaroos and the selecting out of big, mature animals, in a harvested population like effect.

ACT kangaroo management of kangaroos is narrowly based on numbers, rather than mob dynamics. “Culling” can increase mob sizes, as it destroys mob control from larger, mature adults, and gives breeding opportunities to younger animals.  Ms Newman says: “…harvesting, damage mitigation and culling probably accelerates population growth in roos” because of the ‘harvesting effect’ on their evolution which tends to select-in smaller animals which reproduce earlier.

The government’s own ecologist has admitted that the government’s assertions about kangaroos being a threat to vulnerable species were just “PR”, and that its claim that killing kangaroos will benefit biodiversity generally is based on a simplistic assumption that more biomass (vegetation) is better for biodiversity than the diversity of vegetation achieved by kangaroo grazing.

Furthermore, evidence shows that even the weak and cynical provisions of the Code of Practice are not obeyed. Although the Code of Practice requires kangaroos not killed instantly to be immediately euthanased by a shot to the head or heart, one young male kangaroo found in a government burial pit had been shot, bludgeoned, stabbed, then died of either blood loss, or possibly suffocation from being buried while still alive.

The ACT government must stop hiding behind its out-dated Kangaroo Management Plan, start looking at the actual evidence, and take some measure of responsibility for its own decisions.

Sign this Petition: End the slaughter of kangaroos on public land in the Australian Capital Territory.

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Petition: Protect our native waterbirds – Ban duck shooting!

Please help our native waterbirds by lobbying to put an end to this cruelty and ban recreational duck shooting once and for all.

US ballistics expert and duck shooter, Tom Roster, has shown that at least one in four birds targeted are not killed but wounded (this figure was recognised by Victoria’s Department of Sustainability and Environment)

Shotguns spray hundreds of small pellets, resulting in ducks with fractured or broken legs, or legs shot off entirely, shattered bills, splintered wings, pellets through eyes and gunshot lodged in organs, muscles and tendons. This is grotesque cruelty and wounded birds face a slow, painful death. Rescuers have often seen birds stuffed into shooters’ bags while still alive.

Injured Eurasian Coot - Kerang -17.5 Kim Wormald

(image: This wounded protected Eurasian Coot was recovered by rescuers at Lake Murphy on May 17. It was treated by a wildlife carer and released at a sanctuary last weekend. Photo by Kim Wormald)

The opening weekend attracted 14,000 hunters across the state, with 26,000 people authorised to hunt ducks. The government says a survey of the state’s 47,000 licensed game hunters found the industry was worth almost $440 million a year. It seems that even the tiniest creature has economic value, equated in dollars!

Laurie Levy, the campaign director with the Coalition Against Duck Shooting, has been an outspoken critic of the industry. “We had rescuers out every weekend of the duck shooting season,” he said.

Again this year, as well as protected and threatened species, lots of so called ‘game’ birds were saved from the shooters’ guns or recovered by rescuers, either dead or wounded.

Despite the dry and quiet season, 10 illegally shot threatened Freckled Ducks, Blue-billed Ducks and Musk Ducks were recovered by rescuers, as well as Swans, Hoary-headed Grebes, over 20 Eurasian Coot and other protected species.

Previous Labor governments in WA, NSW and Queensland have banned the barbaric activity, yet the Victorian Labor party still supports this grotesque cruelty.

(featured image: Freckled duck, Victoria. During the season, rescuers recovered over 100 dead or wounded waterbirds, including illegally shot threatened species such as Freckled Ducks, Blue-billed Ducks and Musk Ducks, as well as protected Hoary-headed Grebes, Eurasian Coots and a Swan)


Petition: Protect our native waterbirds – Ban duck shooting!
Letter to: Premier of Victoria Daniel Andrews, Minister for Agriculture Jaala Pulford

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Petition: Stop the trade of kangaroo meat to China

We who sign below object to the sale of kangaroo meat to China in the free trade agreement.

Studies show that the grazing pressure of one kangaroo is equivalent to just 0.15 – 0.2 of a sheep, and is minute when compared to cattle. In practical terms this means that the damage on grazing lands attributed to kangaroos has been grossly overestimated by as much as 470 per cent. “This would mean that kangaroos are a much smaller component of the ‘total grazing pressure’ than is generally accepted.”

The current commercial slaughter is cruel, unjustified, unscientific, and is devastating to Australia’s kangaroos . Research has established that kangaroos are not in epidemic / “plague” proportions, that farm waterholes play no part in increasing kangaroo numbers, that few joeys survive, in fact only 25%, survive to adulthood.

The kangaroo killing industry has been protected as if it were a national savior of Australia’s rural economy, supported by a series of myths which no one ever bothers investigate. The industry claims that kangaroo grazing contributes to 30% of grazing pressure, when this is totally untrue.

A female kangaroo and joey have as close a bond as primates. Each decade, over 30,000,000 are killed, leaving one million orphaned joeys, to die from chilling, starvation, attached by feral animals, each year.

Kangaroos are not killed hygienically in an abattoir and injuries are not monitored at the point of kill because the kill is un-policed. There is no potable water, to wash knives, hatchets, the ute, hanging hooks for inside the chiller boxes. Kangaroos are shot in the outback at night in unhygienic conditions, disemboweled among the faeces of other animals, dirt and dust and insects.

In 2009 Russia banned kangaroo meat due to hygiene issues. Raw kangaroo meat can carry hydatids, nematodes, parasitic worms, and other bacterial fungal and viral diseases, such as salmonella and E-coli.

Wake up Australia, while there’s still time to save your wonderful kangaroos.

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Petition:Protect koala habitat in an effort to better ensure koalas will not die off.

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Koalas are declining in rapid numbers because the trees where they spend a majority of their time are being quickly chopped down.

Roads are being built where there were once trees, increasing the risk that the animals will be hit by cars. In addition, when houses are built in place of the trees that once covered the particular land, the animals are in greater danger of being attacked by the dogs of the people who now live in the newly built houses.
Cutest_Koala

Up here in Queensland and New South Wales, they’ve got koalas that are declining rapidly, population’s dropping off the face of the Earth right on their doorstep and we’re not able to do anything about it, seemingly. In South East Queensland, the human population is increasing by more than 1000 people a week. This rapid population growth and increased need for houses is placing considerable pressure on the limited remaining koala habitat.

Currently, about 80 percent of the koalas’ habitat is almost completely ruined due to human encroachment. Only a small portion of this land is now protected. This is ironic when one considers that the koala is a protected species. Yet, because the koala’s habitat is constantly being destroyed, about 4,000 of these animals are killed by cars and dogs every year.

The human population of the narrow strip between Noosa and the Gold Coast – South East Queensland’s “200km city” – will swell by 2.2 million to 5.5 million in 30 years. It’s all part of the “big Australia” policy! That extra development will finally get rid of koalas in SE Queensland, something governments been working very hard to achieve for decades. Massive immigration coupled with a PM who doles out infrastructure funding not on need but only to those who follow his radical political ideology on asset sales.

Urge officials to protect larger areas of the eucalyptus forests where these animals live in order to help save them. If we don’t do something now, koalas may soon have no place in the wild that solely belongs just to them.

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The Redlands koala population, estimated in 1999 to be 6,200 animals, has plummeted by approximately 75% (in 15 years). The koala was recently listed by your government as ‘vulnerable’ in Queensland with South East Qld suffering the greatest loss of koala numbers.
Habitat loss (to property developers and infrastructure) is the greatest threat to the koala’s survival followed by disease, vehicle strikes and domestic dog attacks.

On Line Petition to save koalas in the southern area of Redlands

Since European settlement, hundreds of species have become extinct in Australia, including at least 50 bird and mammal, 4 frog and more than 60 plant species. It is likely that other species have disappeared but without our knowledge. Many other species are considered to be threatened and are listed under Australian Government legislation as endangered or vulnerable. More than 310 species of native animals and over 1180 species of native plants are at risk of disappearing forever.

As long ago as 1994 the Australian Academy of Sciences advocated a maximum population for Australia of 24 million, a figure we are fast approaching and will soon exceed. In 2010 the National Institute of Labour Studies at Flinders University looked at different levels of net overseas migration – from zero up to 260,000 p.a. – and found that all levels lead to worryingly unsustainable positions, which worsen the higher the levels become.

(featured image: koala dead at Redlands- Queensland government)

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Plea to Environment Minister, Tasmania, to end the lethal “culls” of Wombats!

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Dear Environment  Minister Matthew Groom,

I am writing as the Secretary of the Australian Wildlife Protection Council, an lobby organisation in operation since 1969 as a advocate for native animals.

MatthewGroom

(image: Minister Matthew Groom)

We are pleading and imploring that you to put a 12-month stay on culling healthy wombats, and then a permanent policy,  with the provision that farmers must  be required to implement non-lethal mitigation measures such as wombat gates, electric fencing and co-grazing. These native animals, and all of them, are already facing enough challenges as they face human encroachments on their habitats, land clearing, disease and climate change.
Wombats are NOT feral invaders, but genuine native species that must have indigenous rights, and not be treated as diseases or pests!

In February, it was revealed 56 wombat culling permits had been issued over the past year. Wombats are shot to stop them damaging fencing and crops.  So property and assets are of more value than native wombats, our precious native species?

Why does this Colonial attitude exist, that Nature must be moved and destroyed for land-holders?  Wombats are a protected species, and farmers must cooperate and adapt. The department says that they prioritize non-lethal measures being identified to manage the impacts of wombats on farmland.   There should be no cases where lethal methods of control are needed!  There must be more community education on the benefits of wombats, and non-lethal methods of management.

Predator scents, however, have been effective in altering behaviours of some herbivores and may offer a non-lethal alternative to culling if they discourage wombats from burrowing in perceived problem areas. The researchers trialled two dingo scents (faeces, urine) over 75 days to determine whether these scents would deter wombats from repopulating collapsed burrows. After 75 days, the five sites treated with dingo scents had minimal activity and no new burrows, while wombats recolonised all control burrows. This research suggests the need for further testing of dingo scents as a tool for dissuading wombats from digging and recolonisation of collapsed burrows.

It is vital landowners are made aware of the immense benefit the wombat provides and to rethink their management around this animal, which could be regarded as a keystone species. Brochures should be made available to land holders, detailing the benefits of this animal to the sustainability and health of their properties.
There’s a clear conflict of interests while the State government funds their protection and at the same time hands out killing permits for wombats!
Why should farmers have the option to cop out of any effort in sharing their land harmoniously with our native species, particularly endemic species such as Wombats?
We wait for a reply, to share with our members and committee.

Thank you

1280px-Wombat-Narawntapu

(image: Wombat in Narawntapu National Park, Tasmania – By PanBK at the English language Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5098883)

 PS: An outbreak of sarcoptic mange in the Narawntapu National Park has killed all but a handful of wombats in the area since 2009.

It was not known what was causing the outbreak or how far the disease had spread, but it had the potential to devastate wombat numbers statewide.  However, our native animals are very stress-prone, and this means more diseases by weakening their immune systems!  They don’t need marauding farmers with shot-guns killing them!

http://nrmrain.org.au/2016/10/southern-hairy-nosed-wombats-and-dingos-can-we-teach-them-to-be-scared/

Featured image:  Ballarat Wildlife Park, Ballarat, Australia, wombats, 2007.JPG

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