Category Archives: Environment

Dugongs and Sea Turtles are still being slaughtered in Australia under Native Title

dugongsturtles
author: Colin Riddell

Many people don’t realize it, but The Native Title Act of 1993 section 211 still allows the hunting of endangered and vulnerable species within our country.

You can follow the campaign live on Colinwhocares Riddell on facebook.

Dugongs, turtles and over fifty other Australian animals are hunted and inhumanely slaughtered in large numbers, under the guise of traditional hunting practices.

This outdated act does not reflect the endangered status of these animals and we demand they be protected. No one is starving in Australia, one of the most affluent countries on the planet – and there is no need to hunt these animals for food.

The killing has to stop. Dugongs and turtles are endangered, and we are witnessing a rapid and unwarranted decline. We can no longer stand by and watch, witness to the impending extinction of this precious marine life.

We therefore call for an urgent change to the Native Title Act 1993, so that any endangered or vulnerable animal or marine life is excluded from hunting by any means, for any reason.

Sign the petition:

Share This:

End the cruel slaughter of kangaroos on public reserves: Petition

Letter to:
Minister for Territory and Municipal Services Shane Rattenbury
Chief Minister Andrew Barr
Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Simon Corbell
by Frankie Seymour Queanbeyan, NSW

sickemblem

The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) government has announced yet another slaughter of eastern grey kangaroos (EGKs) on its own nature reserves in the winter of 2015.

The government claims, without any coherent supporting evidence, that kangaroo grazing is a threat to the very ecosystems of which kangaroos have been an integral part for around five million years. The government continues to slaughter these creatures, despite having done no work to monitor or evaluate the impact or effectiveness of the killing program.

As well as being an ecological disaster, the slaughter causes immeasurable suffering to the animals. Adults that do not die instantly from the first shot are stabbed and clubbed to death, or escape to die slowly of their wounds. Even the survivors often injure themselves in their panic, or die on the roads trying to escape, or live to suffer the emotional distress and disruption to the mob’s social structure. Pouch young and young at foot are bludgeoned to death or left to starve.

In his response to this petition in 2014, Minister Shane Rattenbury implies that eastern grey kangaroos are a threat to species such as Grassland Earless Dragons, the Striped Legless Lizard, Perunga Grasshoppers, Coorooboorama Raspy Crickets and Ginninderra Peppercress. At the Administrative Reviews of 2013 and 2014, this claim was shown to be completely untrue. In fact, in an adjoining reserve just across the NSW border, where kangaroos are never culled, several of these species are recovering far more quickly than on the ACT reserves where massive kangaroos culling is conducted every year. The government’s own ecologist admitted that the government’s assertions about kangaroos being a threat to vulnerable species were just “PR”.

Rattenbury asserts that “critical conservation areas are under threat from overgrazing by kangaroo populations, which leads to a deterioration in the quality of the grasslands. This in turn puts pressure on the species that rely on this habitat”. In fact, the ACT government has consistently failed to produce any evidence that kangaroos (other than in captive situations) ever have overgrazed any area. The evidence shows that these animals manage their own populations without human intervention. Overgrazing in Australia is the sole preserve of introduced animals, such as sheep and cattle, which damage the fragile, shallow soils with their heavy bodies, low grazing and hard hooves.

Rattenbury asserts that “conditions in the ACT region are very favourable for Eastern Grey Kangaroos, contributing to an extremely high kangaroo population. Eastern Grey Kangaroos are the most numerous species of macropod in Australia, and their conservation status is not threatened.” Many ecology experts who have actually studied the population dynamics of eastern grey kangaroos consider their numbers to be in steep decline and deep trouble, both in the ACT region and throughout their range.

Rattenbury asserts that “the numbers to be culled have been based on scientific kangaroo counts in each location. This has been compared to the sustainable carrying capacity for each area that ACT Government ecologists have established by taking into account the habitat requirements of grassland dependent animals and plants.” Independent ecology experts have disputed:
(1) the government’s models for determining the sustainable kangaroos carrying capacity of reserves,
(2) their methods for counting them, and
(3) their models for estimating actual numbers. The government is well aware of this expert criticism of their calculations.

Rattenbury notes that “the ACT Government has since undertaken a peer review of how cull numbers are determined, which supported the ACT Government’s continuation of kangaroo management activities this year.” This so-called peer review has itself been peer-reviewed, most unfavourably, by a retired CSIRO plant scientist with vast experience in evaluating peer reviews.

Rattenbury asserts that “The conservation cull will be conducted according to a strict Code of Practice that has the endorsement of all relevant authorities including the RSPCA.” In fact, Rattenbury has rejected the Code of Practice prepared and recommended by his own Animal Welfare Advisory Committee in favour of the “national” code of practice which provides a lowest common denominator model intended as a baseline for states to their develop their own codes of practice.

In 2012, at least one of the culled kangaroos was found to have been shot, stabbed and bludgeoned before dying of suffocation and/or blood loss. In 2014, the government’s own expert witness admitted that, during each cull, an entire generation of young at foot are routinely left orphaned to starve or otherwise die without adult protection.

Sign the Petition:

Petition-Canberra

(Featured image: Canberra kangaroos)

Share This:

End the deliberate carnage of our Victorian waterbirds- called a “sport”

Leave a comment

810 birds, including 68 endangered freckled ducks, were shot and left to die on Victorian wetlands on the opening weekend of the duck shooting season. These dead birds were left outside Premier Daniel Andrew’s office.

Australia’s rarest waterfowl, the Freckled Duck breeds in swamps in inland Australia.  The Freckled Duck may be easily confused with the Pacific Black Duck, Anas superciliosa, and the Hardhead, Aythya australis.

Just what is the purpose of giving the label “endangered” when they can be confused, or deliberately eliminated, for this blood sport?

Duck shooters themselves often don’t even realise that the birds they are shooting are native. On top of this, a recent ecological survey found waterbird numbers are the lowest they have been in 34 years.  The same State government department, DELWP, is responsible for administering our Wildlife Act, by default to protect our native bird/animals, so it’s an gross conflict of interest that they also remove their protected status to declare a DUCK SHOOTING SEASON.

shot-bird

Duck shooters don’t discriminate on what birds they kill, and every single season swans, avocets and rare freckled ducks become victims, too. Time and time again, duck shooters have proven that they can’t be trusted.

Victoria’s wetlands are rich in 50,000 years of indigenous heritage. A thriving, nature-based wetlands tourism industry is the way of the future. It will not only revitalise country towns, but will protect the financial future of regional Victorians. Many duck-shooters call themselves “conservationists” yet they leave behind rubbish and pollution, and their carnage!

Duck numbers are still recovering after low water levels in recent years and protected species and other waterbirds often fall victim to duck hunters. In addition to this our native water birds will be under attack from thousands of shooters, who are often inexperienced and reckless. Many birds will be shot but not killed outright and will be left to die slow torturous deaths or will drown, unable to swim or fly any further due to painful injuries.

Duck shooting has been banned in Western Australia, Queensland and New South Wales and that according to a Morgan Poll, 2007; an overwhelming 87% of Victorians support a ban on duck shooting, including many who live locally to wetlands where duck shooting takes place; it seems undeniable that the Victorian Government’s policies on this issue are lagging behind the current values and beliefs of our society.

Our native water birds have the right to live unharmed and in peace in their natural home. Please help to end this barbarism, tell our Premier the killing must end now!
This petition will be delivered to:

Premier of Victoria
Premier Daniel Andrews

Duck shooting is hideously cruel. But that’s not the only reason why we should ban the ‘sport’.

 

PETITION: Ban Duck Shooting

 

(featured image: Freckled duck- Wikipedia org)

Share This:

Endangered Legless Lizards threatened by bulldozers

One comment

Endangered (and legless) lizard facing bulldozers on Melbourne’s fringe

Populations of the endangered striped legless lizard in Melbourne’s outer west are set for destruction by bulldozer for new housing, and our Premier Daniel Andrews has dismissed any efforts to protect them!

The species looks like a snake but its closest relative is the gecko, and is deemed endangered within Victoria and vulnerable nationally.

15 green and community groups, led by the Victorian National Parks Association say that the federal and state governments should adopt further protections for the existing populations of the creature, potentially in the path of new housing developments.  Nothing seems to be able survive the bulldozers when it comes to housing and population growth!

Delma_impar_distribution.svg

(image: The distribution of the Striped Legless Lizard (Delma impar))

How can governments promise that there can be both urban growth and conservation of grassland native species?  You can’t have habitats bulldozed for housing, and large conservation areas, co-existing!  It’s a contradiction in terms.

In any conflict, the threatened species will lose out.  There’s large swathes of money to be made, and benefits for real estate and property investors, leaving intrinsic and environmental values lost in any considerations.  It’s about spawning more mortgages, and being able to by-passing any environmental laws that protect endangered species.

Under a deal with Canberra, the state government was required to explore a relocation trial for the species.  This pays lip-service to consideration for species, and assumes that they can simply be “relocated” to neatly comply with developers!  According to VNPA, “900 lizards would be required for successful translocation but this number is based on the most conservative estimates and is much too high.

“The Striped Legless Lizards will now be left to await the bulldozers as habitat hotspots continue to be cleared for urban growth in Melbourne’s west”.

“The habitat for one of Victoria’s most significant endangered species, the Striped Legless Lizard, is rapidly being destroyed and the animals now face death by bulldozer,” the Victorian National Parks Association’s Yasmin Kelsall said in a Media Statement.

The harmless, endangered legless lizard lives in one of Victoria’s critically threatened habitats – the native grasslands of the Victorian Volcanic Plains.

Green Wedges Coalition spokesperson Rosemary West said the lizards now face local extinction.

The steamroller of housing growth just keeps clawing out further into Melbourne’s fringes, with 100,000 more people each year to be accommodated.

Australian National University researchers believe that big mobs of kangaroos destroy the grassland habitats of reptiles.  They found grass over 20 centimetres tall housed the greatest number of reptiles.  An ultra-brutal and extremist conservation policy has seen thousands of ACT kangaroos  “culled” to protect grassland native species.    But, when it comes to the much greater and devastating impact from mechanical, behemoth bulldozers, and the deadly impacts of urban sprawl, any scientific objections are completely overlooked! There were funded studies to condemn the native kangaroos as being environmentally destructive to threatened grassland species, but there will be no condemnation of housing growth!
It’s a tragic example of the failure of conservation in Victoria, and reflects a Third World problem of environmental negligence, ignorance and the destruction of habitat due to prioritizing industries over Nature, and rampant corporate greed!

Download the Joint Statement: (pdf)

Share This:

Environment group wins battle to protect habitat for threatened powerful, sooty, masked owls

Leave a comment

The Victorian Government has agreed to set aside 2,000 hectares of forest in East Gippsland to help protect three threatened species of owl.

An agreement was reached on Friday between Environment East Gippsland and the Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) before the case was scheduled to appear in the Supreme Court.

SootyOwl(image: Sooty Owl)

Owls, gliders, frogs, bandicoots, potoroos and untold other species were wiped out in the 2009 Black Saturday inferno. It will take decades for the damage from this shockingly managed fire to start to recover. East Gippsland’s rare species that relied on the Snowy Park for refuge will now be under even greater threat and need all the help they can get.

Environment East Gippsland’s Jill Redwood said it was a “fairly significant” win for the threatened Sooty, Masked and Powerful Owls. The State government is responsible for the implementation of the Wildlife Act, and environmental protection laws, but they are the convicted eco-criminals here!

Brown Mountain’s remaining unprotected stands of 580ha (including a Powerful Owl nest site) to be included in a Special Protection Zone, including 185ha that was scheduled for VicForests logging.

When the law-enforcers end up as the law-breakers, the public must take action!

Click here to listen to Jill Redwood, Nathan Trushell and Nina Cullen.

The three key species of threatened forest owls that live in areas of Victorian State Forest that VicForests operate within are the Powerful Owl (Ninox strenua), Masked Owl (Tyto novaehollandiae novaehollandiae) and Sooty Owl (Tyto tenebricosa).

This 10 month case sought to enforce the state government’s obligations to protect 3 threatened owl species – the Sooty, Masked and Powerful Owls.

Environment East Gippsland argued that the government had failed to protect the legal minimum habitat for threatened owls, and that bushfires in 2014 destroyed large areas of protected owl habitat. Meanwhile, VicForests had plans to continue clearfelling unabated in areas where the rare owls survived.


“This agreement is one step in the right direction – but the most cost-effective way to protect threatened wildlife and avoid future legal disputes is to permanently protect their habitat, especially all remaining old growth forests in East Gippsland. The owls are just one of so many rare native animals in need of urgent protection. We hope to see the new Labor government works with the community to find win-win solutions, rather than paying out $5.5 million a year for VicForests to continue clearfelling critically important habitat”.

For comment: Jill Redwood – 5154 0145

Share This:

Golf resort under fire over worker’s plan to shoot kangaroos

One comment

A Herald Sun article reports (18th Sept, 2015)  that the RACV Cape Schanck Resort “had received complaints from residents and golf guests about the threatening behaviour of a small mob of kangaroos on the course”.

However, the resort didn’t know one of its staff members had been shooting them, and ordered all activity to stop.

A local resident was startled recently when he saw a kangaroo bound out of the bush in front him, followed by a pair of “hunters”. He said “two guys come out of the bush with this big rifle, with a scope, stand and silencer on its end”. These gun-totting, ego-driven, self-style game “hunters” escaped – “as they saw us they got a bit sheepish, jumped in a buggy and drove off.”!

The local resident complained to the resort, and he was told they had permission to shoot a number of kangaroos on the course because there had been an “attack”.

“A dog that wasn’t on a lead had been attacked because it chased one of the roos, so maybe that’s where the complaint came from, but that’s not the kangaroo’s fault”. This “attack” is really due to a startled and threatened kangaroo, being self-defensive against a dog, illegally off leash in the golf course!

“As far as I’m aware they’ve never hurt anybody. They’re actually very friendly“, says the witness.

It turns out, according to the RACV southern resorts general manager Mark Bennetts, that the permit was obtained by a staff member without authorisation. Such is the ease of obtaining permits to “control” wildlife in Victoria, where they distribute ATCW permits like lollies!

As soon as RACV management was advised, a directive to cease all activity was immediately issued. Luckily, no kangaroos were harmed.

This is typical of the red-neck attitude we’ve inherited from the Colonial era – shoot, cut down and destroy! We need to love and learn to live with our endemic wildlife and stop the mentality that everything that moves must be destroyed, as it might be a threat – even without evidence!

RoosAnglesea
(image: ANGLESEA GOLF COURSE, Victoria:
Is very friendly to kangaroos. “To guide, support and seek opportunities and resourcing for the development of a Community Kangaroo Management Plan for Anglesea and Aireys Inlet district, which provides opportunities for engaging the community in the planning and implementation process and embodies the concept of people living harmoniously with kangaroos and wallabies.”)

Incident as reported by two local residents:

Resident 1:
Please see below information passed to me on some very disturbing behaviour that occurred today (17th Sept) by the RACV at Cape Schanck.

If this is true then:

Why is the RACV killing native kangaroos on the Cape Schanck Golf Resort?

Why are they hiring shooters with rifles and silencers and allowing this on a residential resort, with the obvious safety issues that raises?

Are these shooters licensed as kangaroo hunters or not?

Does the MPSC know about and approve of or condone this behaviour?

If as they say they “have permission” to carry out such a kill, who gave it and under what conditions?

It at least needs some serious investigation.

From resident No 2:

I know it’s nothing to do with the proposed development, but I thought you might be able to mobilise some action IF you thought this was worthwhile:

At 6.57am today [Thursday 17 Sept], my wife and I were walking our dog and a friend’s on the 3rd hole of the RACV course when we saw, not unusually, one of what we believe to be three kangaroos. This one was belting along the tree line east to west on the south side of the fairway and proceeded to Trent Jones Drive, then south across the 4th and into the bush bordering Cape Schanck Road along the 5th hole.

Then we saw two men emerge from the bushes where the 3rd and 4th holes blend. One had a large rifle with telescopic sights, a bipod and a very large silencer. They got into a John Deere golf-club utility type vehicle and we heard them drive off in the direction of the workshops. We are convinced they had shot at, and may have hit, the kangaroo.

We went to the pro shop and reported the incident and telephoned Rosebud Police likewise.

RACV rang back and said they has permission to kill the three kangaroos because there “had been an attack”. I queried the veracity of this attack. The person was very vague. I had heard that a dog, not on a lead, had been attacked somewhere because it chased a kangaroo near the Casuarina/Trent Jones Drive intersection some months ago. It is not inconceivable that its owner may have been threatened coming to the dog’s aid.

These kangaroos are protected in principle and are harmless in practice. We see them, up close and personal, almost daily. We know of people who leave their gates open (backing on to Harwood) to let them in and out of their property when their children are playing. It is a ridiculous overkill – excuse the pun – to get a permit, and have a man with a bloody big gun with a silencer, 20 metres from houses in the post-dawn hours, trying to shoot three kangaroos who don’t harm anyone.

Cheers

(featured image: https://moleseyeview.wordpress.com/category/work-experience-journalism/)

Share This:

1 … 3 4 5 6 7 … 14