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Australian
WILDLIFE NEWS A MONTHLY NEWSLETTER
ISSUE 7 OCTOBER 2012
Nocturnal Australians
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EDITORS COLUMN Welcome to issue 7 of WILDLIFE NEWS. Firstly, I would like to say thank you to readers who have sent e mails saying how much they are enjoying this publication. This kind of feed-back is great because we know we are on the right track! We have also received e mails letting us know that readers are contacting some of the organizations we feature to offer support - that’s great news! We are an incredibly lucky country. The amazing diversity of landscape, eco-systems, climates etc brings with it an abundance of wonderfully eclectic wildlife and flora to study and of course conserve. It can be so easy to take things for granted ,believing they will always be there - until they’re not. And then we ask ‘what happened?’ or ‘why didn’t we say something?’ In the words of Bob Dylan ‘People seldom do what they believe in. They do what is convenient, then repent.’ So, here’s to all the amazing work being carried out all over this continent by people who do what they believe in; wildlife experts, scientists, wildlife vets, conservationists, rehabilitators, and those who believe that we must do something to keep this country and the rest of the world from losing the most precious of inhabitants. This month I was privileged to interview Bob Irwin at his home. What a remarkable man he is. The interview will be published next month.
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The silent, night-time hunters! written by Claire Smith
The Owl family are by far my personal favorite of all the raptors and it is easy to see why people like myself fall for these incredible birds. Their forward facing eyes seem to look right inside you when you are lucky enough to get close to them, maybe this is part of the reason we call them ‘wise’. When I was a child, we lived on acreage in middle England. It was mainly paddocks surrounded by hedges with the odd tree here and there. Further over to the east there was a lovely stretch of woodland that in England we call a copse, and out of that copse, most evenings, would come two Little Owls. You just cannot believe how small these perfect little birds were, how fantastically fast and silently they flew and how they just looked like they ‘knew things!’Anyway, every night they would appear and sometimes honour us by sitting outside our living room window and stare in at our four grinning faces! It was always a joy to see them and they probably started my absolute passion for owls of all sizes. We are very fortunate in Australia to have some absolutely magnificent species of owl and this article is hopefully going to
Many thanks to Bob and Judy for making me so welcome. However small our actions might be, however insignificant you may feel your contribution is, know that it isn’t, know that when they are all put together we make a difference, you make a difference. Claire Smith, Editor
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encourage some people to take a wander outside at night and see if they can spot one of these illusive, beautiful hunters. The Southern Boobook, to the left, is more commonly known as the Mopoke bird. A familiar sound to many of us, the distinctive ‘mo poke, mo poke’ call doesn’t conjure up the image of an owl though! It is the most common species of owl in Australia. Then we have the ‘Barking owl’ who really does bark...no to-wit to-woo there either.
Barking Owls are also notorious for their "screaming woman" call, a remarkably lifelike shriek of horrifying intensity. Most often heard outside the breeding season, its significance remains a puzzle. I was told a few years ago, that there was a legend about the barking owls. Settlers to our shores told the story of a creature that would come silently in the night and strew the headless bodies of small mammals under trees. They imagined some hideous, vile monster walked amongst them at night tearing the heads off these animals with their ferocious, pointy teeth...of course the stories would have got more and more elaborate and more and more frightening! The Barking owl was of course the ‘vile monster with pointy teeth’! After taking it’s prey it would fly back up into a convenient tree where it would rip off the head, drop the body and eat the highly nutritious brain...hence the mountains of dead, headless squirrels and rabbits. The Barking owl has also been linked to the legend of the Bunyip, probably because of it’s eerie calls and screams - screams of the Bunyips victims! Owls’ forward facing eyes are completely immobile in their sockets. Because of this, owls have the ability to RESCUE NEWS
turn their head, in either direction, 270 degrees requiring them to be incredibly flexible.They have the same number of vertebrae in their necks as mammals do which allows them this extreme movement. Their forward facing eyes also allows the owl to have excellent depth of perception and in low light these far sighted birds have astounding vision. However, their near sight is no where near as good. The largest of our owls is the Powerful Owl. And it’s name is truly deserved. These silent hunters easily take unsuspecting ringtail and brush tail possums, breaking their necks as they clench them in their talons. They will also feed on gliders other small mammals and even take large birds like cockatoos. Powerful owls can eat up to 250-350 possums per year. This figure was reached in a scientific study carried out by a Dr Cooke who analysed 2500 owl pellets to arrive at this number. Perhaps New Zealand would like some powerful owls to control their possum population! They also feed off flying foxes . This is all well and good but the powerful owl requires a huge territory and in Victoria alone 65% of their habitat has vanished to make way for human development. When are people going to wake up to the fact that there is a natural order of things in the eco system - bats eat from fruiting trees and disperse seeds through their droppings 3
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which in turn continues the growth of forests - the powerful owls eat flying foxes, helping to keep numbers in check and weeding out the sick and weak therefore helping to keep the colony healthy and strong....is this difficult to understand? The main problem, yet again, is people and our insatiable need to expand, build, develop, knock down and start again, super hi-ways and by ways all at the expense of the environment and the precious habitat....so, what can we do to help owls? •
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Avoiding rat and mouse baits - eating a poisoned mouse can be deadly for these birds. Instead use traps to rid your house of these pests. Installing a nest box. Many of our owls and other nocturnal birds use hollows to breed in but it takes over 100 years for most trees to form hollows.
The Society for the Preservation of Raptors (Inc) is a registered not-for-profit organisation dedicated to the rescue, care, rehabilitation and conservation of Australia's native birds of prey. Together with Eagles Heritage Raptor Wildlife Centre in Margaret River, the Society receives in excess of two hundred sick, injured and orphaned birds of prey each year from all parts of Western Australia. Whilst the Society is headquartered in Margaret River at the Eagles Heritage Wildlife Centre, 4
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members form an active wildlife care network encompassing most of Western Australia. The largest number of carers are based in the state capital, Perth, and it is from here that the majority of the Society's activites are run, including education and training. Eagles Heritage, a tourist attraction set amongst 29 acres of natural bushland, is situated 5km south west of Margaret River on Boodjidup Road. The Centre was opened on 1 January, 1987, to cater for the influx and overflow of injured birds handled by the Society for the Preservation of Raptors which could not be successfully rehabilitated and released back into the wild, due to the extent of their disabilities. The majority of the birds on display at Eagles Heritage are permanently disabled individuals. The balance are those which have been captive bred or transferred from other wildlife facilities. Behind the publicly accessible areas of Eagles Heritage, there is a restricted section of seven acres set aside for care and rehabilitation. This area contains the Endangered Species Interpretation Module (the only part of the rehabilitation area viewable by the public, by way of closed circuit television cameras), "free flight" aviaries (specially designed for birds undergoing rehabilitation), indoor/outdoor holding mews and a hospital/ treatment room. This is the largest area in the Southern Hemisphere to be set aside for the purposes of raptor rehabilitation. RESCUE NEWS
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GLIDERS Welcome to the world of FLYING WITHOUT WINGS. The sugar glider is one of a number of volplaning (gliding) possums in Australia. This remarkable ability to glide is achieved through a flap of loose skin which extends between the fifth finger of the hand to the first toe of the foot. The animal launches itself from a tree, spreads its limbs to expose the gliding membrane and directs its glide through subtle changes in the curvature of the membrane. The possum can glide for up to 100 metres. The species rarely descends to the ground. Presumably gliding serves as both an efficient means of locomotion and an effective way of reducing the risk of predation. Sugar gliders have a sweet tooth - their diet consists of flower nectar, acacia gum, eucalypt sap and insects. One study of a Victorian population showed that individuals spent about 43% of their foraging time feeding on gum, 12% on eucalypt sap and 28% on searching for invertebrates. Breeding occurs during the winter and spring months, with two young being the normal litter size. Young spend about 70 days in the pouch before being left in the nest. Longevity in the wild is up to 9 years. Like many species, longevity can be longer (up to 12 years) in captivity. Sugar gliders are highly social -- at least as far as marsupials go -- with nests often comprising up to seven adults and their young. Huddling together serves the nest occupants well during spells of cold weather, although the species is also capable of becoming torpid during cold weather, that is, its body temperature, heart rate and blood pressure drop for a few days at a time while the animal is in a state similar to hibernation. RESCUE NEWS
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The Southern Brown Bandicoot
What does it look like?
mammals as it provides a mosaic of dense refuges and highly productive food resources in regenerating areas.
The southern brown bandicoot or 'quenda' has yellowish brown or dark greyish, coarse hair on its back, tending to creamy white underneath. Its short tapered tail and the top of its feet are a darker brown. It is a stocky animal with small rounded ears and a longish conical snout. It is approximately 300mm long plus about 100mm of tail, and weighs 500 – 1500g, with the males being slightly heavier than the females.
The quenda's diet consists of earthworms and other invertebrates, as well as fungi and subterranean plant material, which it digs up using its powerful forearms and claws. It leaves characteristic conical holes which can sometimes be seen in suburban lawns and gardens. Being nocturnal, it spends its days in a nest constructed of grass and other plant material mixed with earth.
Where does it live?
How does it breed?
The quenda was once found across most of south western and south eastern Australia with a small population on northern Cape York Peninsula. Although fairing better than many marsupials, the quenda now has only a patchy distribution across a reduced range since European settlement.
The quenda breeds mostly between May and October, producing up to 3 litters of 2 to 4 young in a season. Like all bandicoots, they have a backwards pointing pouch that prevents it being filled with sand when digging, and have 8 teats. Young are weaned at bout 60-70 days and females can breed at only 3-4 months of age. This solitary animal lives to about 3 years in the wild, and can have a home range of up to 7 hectares, although if food supply is good, they maybe much smaller and overlap.
The quenda is found in wet or dry schlerophyll forest through to open woodland and scrubby vegetation on sandy soils. Dense undergrowth and low ground cover are important in providing cover for the quenda. A diverse fire history is also valuable to these small
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Any threats to its survival?
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The quenda is not a threatened species in WA, but has a special ‘conservation dependent’ status. The main threats to its survival are the continued loss of habitat through urban expansion and clearing, and their susceptibility to predation and disturbance by feral predators (including domestic pets) in urban areas where they persist. Displaced quenda have been reintroduced to the Shark Bay World Heritage Area by Project Eden since 2006.
Thank you to SHARK BAY HERITAGE & Project Eden for the information found in this article.
swoop down on and catch in their beaks. Their diet is attracted to street lights, car headlights and of course it’s not difficult to work out what this birds’ main threat is cars. Adult birds pair up for life so it can be quite devastating when one gets killed or has to be euthanized because of injury. These birds have the most amazing defensive action of contracting their feathers, closing their eye lids and pretending to be a branch when danger looms. What can we do to help Tawny’s? Slow down when approaching street lighting, especially out of urban areas between dusk and dawn.
Tawny Frogmouth These strange and secretive birds are part of the nightjar family and not raptors as commonly mistaken. They don’t have talons like owls and other raptors although they are nocturnal. Their main diet consists of large moths, flying insects, spiders etc which they RESCUE NEWS
Keep cats in at night, preferably all day too or out in a cat aviary. Whilst the main threat to tawny’s is car strike, cats always pose a threat to birds. If you find or hit a tawny take it immediately to your nearest wildlife hospital or vet for immediate treatment or call 1300 animal the RSPCA wildlife hotline. Ed 7
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A tale of tragedy and triumph in the face of adversity - Nay Nay’s story. Written by Lynette O’Hara & Claire Smith Running late as usual for a kookaburra appointment at the Wildlife Hospital, I did take that call as I was about to walk out the door. Just as well because it was my wildlife carer friend, Rachel Lyons, whose parents-inlaw had just arrived for a visit, and Nay Nay, Rachel's Mum-in-law , had collected a hit by car galah off the side of the road at the back of Kin Kin and it was in a bad way. Could I take it? No worries. Rachel had said there was a large laceration under one wing and clearly one of the wings was broken as well. Lots of blood on her beak too. She (as I remember due to pinky/light coloured irises, the males have brown/dark irises, but I could have it wrong) was severely stressed and obviously in a lot of pain. Not good! Nay Nay (the galah, not Rachel’s Mum in Law) went through triage while I had my kooka appointment. I wasn't very hopeful but decided to wait to find out the fate of Nay Nay. You could have knocked me down with a feather when one of the nurses brought the carry case through the doors and said you can take her home and we'll need to see her for a bandage change in a few days. Wow! With lung contusions, a full thickness laceration almost 5cm long, basically in her right armpit sutured together plus a fractured left ulna, she was in with a fighting chance. The normal requirements, minimal stress, no flapping etc was easy enough initially but as she started to feel better she was not a great patient. She lost 60g in the first few days. I did crop feed her until she started to feed herself. I don't know what it is that some birds just stay calm in a hospital cage and others just hate it. Nay Nay hated it. She did stay quiet as long as you were not in the room. I could see her through a window to check. I did what I had to do and got out. Despite natural leaves, natural seeding grasses and thistles plus the normal seeds, daily morning sun etc she was settled but not settled in. Bandage change number one revealed the ulna and laceration healing but the left wing was badly bruised and still very swollen. A few days later at the next bandage change, which I was hoping would be the last for Nay Nay's sake, unfortunately was not because the bone needed more time. Oh well. She had at least maintained her weight but hadn't put any back on. Darn! Another few days passed in the hospital cage 8
and back to the zoo for a re-check. The laceration was healing really well but was still bleeding a little at times. I actually can't remember if the bandage went back on the wing at this stage because this is where Claire came into Nay Nay's rehabilitation. The zoo had asked me if I'd be prepared to put Nay Nay with another carer so as to pair her up with her own kind. That was the best thing that I could do for her now. I knew it would be a while until she was air born again due to that big wound under her wing - but with time she would get there and she did. Yeh!! Lynette O’Hara I was looking for a buddy for one of my galahs who was having a few behavioural issues...AZWH put me on the buddy list and that’s how Nay Nay came into care with me. When Nay Nay arrived she was able to get around at ground level really well and perch on very low branches but that was about it. The damage to her wing had been incredibly extensive and this was not going to be a quick recovery. I didn’t know Lynette but was very grateful that she had agreed that Nay Nay could continue her recovery with me and help another galah at the same time. The agreement was though that Nay Nay would go back to Lynette for release and my galah would go too if they had bonded. The funny thing was that Nay Nay and Lia, my galah with the issues, were friends for a while but then Nay Nay buddied up with Chinook.. Chinook had been buddies with Lia but then dumped her (it was like a high school drama!) ...that’s why I needed a new buddy for Lia. Long story short, these two birds became best friends in a galah sort of way. Nay Nay needed months to recover fully and as she started to use her wings I was ever more hopeful that she would get to the point of release and go back to the wild. It was clear about the middle of July that I needed to separate Nay Nay and Chinook from the other two galahs I had in care. Firstly I wanted them to be in a longer aviary to practice flying and secondly I knew release wasn’t far away and I wanted to break the bonds with the other two birds who wernt leaving. I stayed in touch with Lynette throughout the time I was caring for Nay Nay giving her updates and progress reports. Three weeks into the separation I contacted Lynette to let her know
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Nay Nay, Chinook & a friend that Nay Nay and Chinook were being visited daily by the local wild galahs...this was magic. There was chatter and banter, lots of showing off and general galah silliness. Every day Nay Nay was getting strong and her flight was good. How would she fair outside? I e mailed Lynette again and asked her to consider allowing me to soft release Nay Nay with Chinook at my home so that they could join the locals. Lynette’s view and input were really important. She had got Nay Nay over the very worst part of her trauma and whilst I wanted Lynette’s blessing I was very happy to accept that Nay Nay should go back up north as I had agreed to a few months before. Lynette totally supported the soft release. Thank you Lynette. So, what can I say? It was a beautiful day. The local galahs were mucking about and I opened the aviary door and stood back. Both birds walked to the door and stood there for what seemed like forever! I could hear my breathing, my heart quickening and then before I knew it they both RESCUE NEWS
took off...there they were, calling and circling it was an incredibly inspiring moment to see this badly damaged bird back to full strength. After a minute or two they landed in the paddock and were joined by some of the wild bunch. Then they all strolled off, stopping here and there to try the grasses and take in the scenery ..it was so funny to watch and also very special. I had only known both these birds as injured, aviary bound patients and here they were, after being in care for several months, just being galahs. Magic! I still see and hear Nay Nay and Chinook. They occasionally come and visit Lia and her buddy, have a chat and then take off over the pine trees and join up with the wild bunch. I guess one day they will stop visiting. It has been a pleasure to share this journey with Lynette and a wonderful experience to be part of this courageous little galah’s life. Thank you to the vets at AZWH for doing such a great job in helping Nay Nay on her journey. Claire Smith 9
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THE TIGER CAT! The Spotted Tailed, or Tiger, Quoll is a most magnificent creature and is mainland Australia’s largest carnivore. These beautiful animals are essentially nocturnal but can be occasionally caught basking in sunshine. I have only ever seen one quoll and that was one of Martin Fingland’s educational animals. It was huge! I felt very privileged to see this Quoll because they are one of our endangered species and the chances of seeing one in the wild are becoming less and less. When James Cook landed at 1770 he named these animals after the aboriginal name for them, je-quoll or jaquol. These names were used by the Guugu Yimithirr people of far north Queensland. By the turn of the 19th century the settlers had started to use the names ‘native cat’ or ‘tiger cat’ and it wasn’t until the 1960s when renowned naturalist, David Fleay, really stuck his neck out and pushed for the use of the more appropriate name, Spotted Quoll . These Quolls prefer eucalypt closed canopy forests , river or creek banks (riparian) with adjoining forest or rain forests. Their diet consists of small mammals including possums, gliders, bandicoots, even birds, lizards and carrion, they are opportunistic if they have to be! No point in a good meal going to waste! Unfortunately, there has been no major studies done on Tiger Quolls since 1993 but it is known that their already dwindling numbers started to decrease even more rapidly in the 1990’s. Once an abundant species, they are now facing a very uncertain future. The southern sub-species can still be found from the Sunshine Coast hinterland down as far as Tasmania. The best place to study Quolls currently would be Lamington National Park where there is a healthy population or at Girraween National Park. The major threat to Quolls is loss of habitat as is the case with so many of our threatened and endangered species.Quolls have also been devastated by human intolerance and baiting has had a huge impact on sustainable populations.
by Wildlife Queensland who are doing a wonderful job in assisting the work of this organisation. You can even adopt a Quoll! All money raised or donated to Quoll Seekers is used for the protection, research and on-going costs of keeping up the pressure to save this species. AUSTRALIAN WILDLIFE NEWS has adopted a Quoll and is proud to be a member of the Quoll Seeker Network. If you would like more information or would like to make a donation you can also go to www.wildlife.org.au and you can also join Quoll Seekers Facebook and keep up to date with what’s happening out in the forests. Ed
So, how can we help protect the Spotted Tail Quolls? Check out Quoll Seekers Network - just google them and there’s a heap of information. Also there are sighting sheets which you can download. Collected data is vital in the continuing struggle to preserve these beautiful creatures. Quoll Seekers is supported 10
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TIGER TIGER, BURNING BRIGHT, IN THE FORESTS OF THE NIGHT.... When William Blake wrote his famous poem The Tyger, in 1794, the Sumatran Tiger was abundant. Just over 200 years later, it’s estimated that only 350 remain in the wild. The Sumatran Tiger is the smallest of all the tigers and has lived in isolation for thousands of years on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. In 2008 it was declared Critically Endangered but despite this, the trade in tiger cubs, the killing and the land clearing still continues with pressure on authorities to de-status the tiger. There are wonderful organisations doing remarkable work to help protect and preserve those tigers still living wild and also those in captive breeding programs in zoos around the world. Australia Zoo is one of those places. In 2008 I had a ‘Tiger Experience’ at Australia Zoo, the same year the Sumatran Tigers were listed as Critically Endangered. I met a Sumatran tiger called Juma. The thing that has stayed with me to this day and still makes me feel incredibly angry, is that I was potentially seeing, touching and walking with the last of his kind. These beautiful creatures may disappear altogether, in the wild, in my lifetime. How unbelievably terrible is that?
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing" !
Sumatran Tigers have been isolated from their cousins on mainland Asia for over 10,000 years; this happened after a rise in sea level. At the turn of the century, there were three subspecies of tiger in Indonesia - the Bali tiger (on Bali) the Javan tiger (Java) and the Sumatran. Today both the Bali and Javan tigers are EXTINCT and only the Sumatran tiger survives. Sumatra, prior to 1900, was largely covered in primary forest and the tiger was more or less found throughout the entire island. Today, just over 100 years later, its distribution has become fragmented and substantially reduced. Although found in all the islands eight provinces, in highly populated areas such as the provinces of North Sumatra and Lampung, the animal has been squeezed out. About 350 wild Sumatran tigers are believed to exist, primarily in the island's five national parks.
SUMATRAN TIGER TRUST The Sumatran Tiger Conservation Programme is the largest conservation programme for tigers in Indonesia and extremely active in the wild....’ We don't just talk about it... we do it!’ They desperately need our help - the tigers need our help. Go to www.tigertrust.info to find out how you can help. Australian Wildlife News has registered with the trust to receive up to date information about the work they are currently doing and in the very near future we will be adopting a tiger too. Ed RESCUE NEWS
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ASIAN ELEPHANTS Once upon a time, in a land not far away, there were thousands and thousands of elephants. They roamed from West Asia along the Iranian Coast into the Indian subcontinent and from there they journeyed eastward into South East Asia and China. The elephants roamed over 3.5 millions square miles....but this is no fairy tale. The Asian elephant is now extinct in West Asia, most of China and Java and can only be found in small, isolated pockets scattered across 13 Asian countries in sub-tropical forests and grassland. Illegal killing is still the major threat to the survival of these creatures. Elephant/ human conflict is also a major concern and organisations, such as the WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY, are working very closely with Asian authorities and local communities to help farmers protect their crops whilst maintaining a healthy and sustainable environment for the elephants. Asian Elephants live to approximately 60 years in the wild and about 80 in captivity. They are lead by a matriarch elephant who is generally the biggest female in the herd. Unlike African elephants, only the male Asian elephant produces tusks and of course ivory is still a sort after commodity on the black market. Frustrated farmers will often work with ivory poachers when elephants have been eating their crops. This is why the work of the WCS is so vital in Asia and without them, and others working for the protection of this dwindling species, we could lose these beautiful beasts altogether. Ed RESCUE NEWS 12
We can help Asian elephants by supporting the work of the WCS. Visit their website at: www.wcs.org and join the crusade. In 1980, Vietnam had approx. 2000 elephants - today it stands at around 130 . Time is running out! Ed
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1000 Years and still wild & pure The viking Horse
In 1999 / 2000 I took a trip to Iceland, as close to the arctic circle I have been. This is the land of Ice & Fire, of eternally long summers and dark, dark winters and a history rich in legends and sagas. In the winter time, the sun only rises 3 degrees above the horizon and is only visible for about three to four hours. Daylight breaks around 10am and by 11ish there’s reasonable light, by 2pm it’s gone.
with them their most prized possession - horses. It is thought that these small, stocky horses originated in Mongolia and over time, some of them managed to migrate as far as Scandinavia. These little horses have been on Iceland for over 1100 years and are decendants of the original Viking horses. They are the purest breed of horse in the world.
There are an estimated 80,000 horses on this small island and many of these are wild, roaming the mountains and the fjord country. Icelanders have depended on the horse for over 1000 years. It is highly respected and wild herds managed with the same care & It truly is a land of untamed and stark respect shown to the domesticated beauty. herds. This is a harsh, rugged country, devoid of trees, mountainous and wild, surrounded by unforgiving ocean. Its’ volcanoes only sleep, keeping one eye open and the strange Northern Lights weave their ghostly fingers of light through the night sky.
was visiting Iceland I saw countless wild horses, strong, healthy and spirited. There are no predators and until the introduction of the horse their largest land mammal was the arctic fox. As far as horses go, the Icelandic’s have managed to get the preservation of wild horse right and I can only imagine that the little Viking horse will stay unchanged for another thousand years. I have included this short article because it is so rare today to be able to see animals as they were before we domesticated them. We engineer breeding programmes, create new strains, cross breed and lose the wild origin.
Naturally, these horses are quiet and gentle, strong and fearless. To see herds of them roaming free, against a When the Viking settlers arrived in No other horse has been allowed to backdrop of iron cold mountains and Iceland, around 935AD, they brought land on Iceland’s shores ensuring the ice blue water is like a step back in purity of this special breed. While I time. Ed RESCUE NEWS
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CASSOWARY NEWS It is estimated, that there as few as 1000 Cassowaries left in the wild. After the devastation of cyclone Yasi ,which had a massive impact on these iconic birds, they now face an even more incideous threat to their survival - development. As well as this new threat, the Cassowaries are also suffering from dog attacks and car strikes in the Mission Beach area. The Save the Cassowary Campaign is tirelessly working to get local, state and federal government to put their hands in their pockets and commit to long term funding to save the habitat of the endangered Southern Cassowary, rehabilitate it and protect it. There are somewhere between 1000 - 1700 blocks which have been zoned for residential development in the heart of the Daintree and Mission Beach areas. If this development goes ahead the ramifications for the Cassowary and other rainforest fauna is unthinkable. These extraordinary birds rely completely on the connectedness of the coastal lowlands - without this habitat the Cassowary will, not might, will disappear for ever. There are people who seem to be quite comfortable with this and put money and profit before the preservation of our national heritage and unique wildlife. I for one am not. When I became a Citizen of Australia, I made a solemn promise to uphold all that this country stands for and I sang, ‘our land abounds in natures gifts, of beauty rich and rare...’ I hope we can save natures’ gifts and all the beauty otherwise someone will have to write a new anthem. Ed
Join the campaign by visiting: http://www.savethecassowary.org.au
Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught will we realize that we can't eat money Native American proverb, Cree Nation
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MAGIC MOMENTS! The name 'koala' is thought to have come from an Aboriginal word, possibly kwala - meaning 'no drink' (sometimes translated as "no water"). This is because the koala does not need to drink, taking in all its moisture from the gum leaves it chews. It tends to only seek extra water during prolonged drought or heatwaves.
Since moving to Australia, I have only seen one koala in the wild - at Noosa National Park and it was about six years ago. Needless to say, I have never seen a koala joey in the wild but, look at these magic pics I got at Australia Zoo . This little bloke is 10 months old and just learning to ‘do his own thing’. I sat and watched mum and bub for a good hour whilst she tried to encourage him to go and see the view on his own! He wasn’t too keen at first but mum was pretty insistent and in the end he shimmied up a branch on his own. What a little cutie! Ed Check out SAVE THE KOALA FOUNDATION www.www.savethekoala.com
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It appears that the Sea Shepherd campaign to stop illegal Japanese whaling operations in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary is having a serious political impact in addition to the massive profit losses by the whaling industry. Last week, the Japanese media reported that the whalers lost $20.5 million dollars USD last season because of Sea Shepherd interventions. This story was also reported in The New York Times and in the current edition of Newsweek. This week, The Yomiuri Shimbun is reporting that the allocation of monies from the Great East Japan Earthquake Relief Fund towards non-disaster-related expenses is finally causing a political scandal in Japan. A year ago when Captain Paul Watson publicly exposed the fact that some $30 million dollars had been allocated from the Tsunami Disaster Relief Fund specifically to oppose the operations of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, he was accused of lying by the Japanese government, despite a release from the Japanese Fishery Agency that the allocation had indeed been made. Other defenders of the whalers stated that the funds were allocated from taxes and not from the relief monies. At the time, the Japanese 16
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media did not express much interest in the allocation. A year later, the Japanese media now seems to view this as a scandal, and indeed it is. The Japanese government has seriously abused the goodwill of people around the world by spending funds meant for victims of the Earthquake and the Tsunami on projects completely unrelated to the disaster. Critics both within and outside of Japan, angered by the misuse of funds, are wondering just how much more of this Disaster Relief Fund money will be wasted in the defense of a bankrupt whaling industry posing as a research project that has not produced a single peerreviewed international scientific paper in the quarter of a century that it has been in operation. The whaler's factory ship, Nisshin Maru, is now in drydock in Hiroshima being upgraded at enormous public expense. Meanwhile, four Sea Shepherd ships are waiting in the South Pacific to once again intervene against this scandal-ridden industry that only continues to exist as a glorified welfare project funded by individuals who thought their donations were going to help people, not to slaughter whales.
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OPERATION ZERO TOLERANCE
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society’s campaign to defend the whales will begin earlier this year than in previous years with the Sea Shepherd flagship Steve Irwin scheduled to depart from Melbourne on November 5th, when Operation Zero Tolerance (OZT) will officially begin.
“It’s time to bring this intervention North, to show the Japanese whalers that we intend to ensure there will be no whales killed this season,” said Captain Paul Watson. “We have never been stronger and the Japanese whalers have never been weaker. We need to take advantage of our strengths and their weaknesses and Operation Zero Tolerance will be the we need to bring this campaign home ninth annual Southern Ocean – to Japan!” campaign launched by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Over “The Japanese fleet is surviving at these nine years, the Japanese the expense of the Japanese people whalers have suffered tens of because of massive allocations of millions of dollars in losses relief funds donated from around the attempting to illegally kill whales in world to aid the victims of the Antarctica's waters. earthquake and tsunami disaster of 2011. We need to shut down this This time, instead of meeting the glorified welfare project and to do Japanese whaling fleet in the that we need to once again deny the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, whalers any ill-gotten gains from Sea Shepherd will meet the whalers their illegal operations in the in the North Pacific off of Japan. Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary,” This year Sea Shepherd Conservation said Bob Barker Captain Peter Hammarstedt of Sweden. Society will deploy four ships, a
This year, our campaign is aptly dubbed Operation Zero Tolerance because we aim to send the whalers home without them killing a single whale.
helicopter, eight small RIB’s, three drones and more than one hundred international volunteers.
Zero tolerance. Zero cruelty. Zero kills.
“The key to success in stopping these illegal whaling activities in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary is basic economics. We will negate In addition to the ships Steve Irwin, Bob Barker and Brigitte Bardot, Sea their profits. Our objective is to sink the Japanese whaling fleet Shepherd will unveil a fourth ship once the campaign is underway. This economically — to bankrupt them,” fourth ship is the Sam Simon, named said Captain Paul Watson. “And we for the famed television producer and are well on our way to doing just that.” wildlife advocate. The Sam Simon will be deployed in the Southern Ocean to wait for the whaling fleet in the event the whalers elude the other During the past eight seasons, Sea Sea Shepherd ships. Shepherd’s direct-action interventions have saved the lives of The Bob Barker will depart later in more than 3,600 whales and November to meet the whalers and exposed illegal Japanese whaling to the Steve Irwin at sea along with the the world. Brigitte Bardot.
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We have a great track record of success to build upon. The last two seasons, we sent the whalers home early with just a fraction of their kill quota. Japanese whaling is a dying industry — continuing only due to government pride and massive subsidies. Hundreds of millions in debt, the industry cannot continue to sustain such huge financial losses. With your help, we will meet our goal of sinking the Japanese whaling fleet economically to finally bring peace to the whales of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.
Please join us! www.seashepherd.org AUSTRALIAN WILDLIFE NEWS FULLY SUPPORTS THE ACTIONS SEA SHEPHERD.
NOVEMBER 5th
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BROUGHT BACK FROM THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION The Rwandan waterlily, Nymphaea thermarum, is the smallest waterlily in the world. It was discovered by German botanist Professor Eberhard Fischer of Koblenz-Landau University. He took two plants back to Germany with him, and it’s very fortunate he did. This remarkable , tiny plant, grew only in Rwanda and was restricted to a single location where it thrived in a thermal spring. In 2008 the local community diverted the spring from it’s original course to make use of the hot water at a laundry - the consequence was that the lilypad became extinct in the wild. Whilst the sample plants the German professor had taken had survived well for over a decade, they simply could not propagate them from seed.
Enter the miraculous Carlos Magdelena from Spain. He is a top propagator at Kew Gardens in London and he set himself the challenge to save this little beauty from extinction. However, nothing he did worked...despite all of his knowledge he could not get the seeds to germinate. He was down to his last 20 seeds when he had an epiphany...grow them out of water! As mad as it sounds, in the wild these tiny lilypads grew in very shallow, gloopy, warm mud. Could he, using this knowledge, save the species? YES! The seeds were sprinkled onto well soaked , fine loam. The seeds had to stay damp and kept at a specific temperature and within a mater of a few days the magical process of germination took place. Carlos has produced 50 plants so far at Kew Gardens and it is hoped that
the reintroduction of this plant will take place very soon back in Rwanda. Ed SAVE ONE, SAVE THE SPECIES!
Next month it’s going to be BATTY!
Photo courtesy of Trish Wimberly, Australian Bat Clinic 18
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