Wildlife

The Northern Territory Government has opened consultation for the Draft Saltwater Crocodile Management Program 2024-2034, which will allow for the public to have input on how crocodiles are managed in the Territory. There are currently more than 100,000 crocodiles in the Territory.

Things are looking up for yet another threatened small-bodied native fish in the region, with the state and federal government agencies’ rescue plan bearing fruit. The Murray-Darling lineage of the southern pygmy perch was once common in the wetlands and slow flowing creeks of the Basin.    

A Yanchep man, who appeared in Joondalup Magistrates Court on January 17, will remain remanded in custody until his next court appearance on February 28 ... 16 unlicensed firearms, including a sawn-off shotgun ... unlicensed native wildlife, including a carpet python snake and 34 geckos ..

Michelle Daw. A southern Yorke Peninsula fisher is worried sharks are becoming more aggressive around boats — and believes shark tourism is partly to blame ... Mr Bishop fishes in Gulf St Vincent and Spencer Gulf and said he’s seen more sharks come close to his boat recently than at any other time in his 21-year career.

One simple idea and a whole lot of passion has created a legacy that’s removed more than  250,000 pieces of litter from Sunshine Coast beaches at a critical time during turtle nesting season ... The community is invited to come together to tidy up their local beach as part of the 10th anniversary of the annual Clean Up For The Hatchlings event...

A Gulmarrad wildlife corridor that is one of the last remnants of habitat for the endangered Glossy Black Cockatoo in the Clarence Valley which is at risk due to a nine-lot subdivision determined in 2007 has seen a new approach, bringing together the landholder and conservationists to attempt to preserve the habitat and wildlife.

Gippsland's hardwood industry is now largely gone, with harvesting of timber from native forests on Crown land no longer permitted. Gippsland's native forest is part of the vast swathe of forest that stretches along the Great Dividing Range from the Dandenongs to behind Brisbane. It’s integral to Australia having the seventh biggest forest estate in the world ...

Clive Crouch. Over the past few days, a group of Little Red Flying Foxes have been roosting in trees near Nhill Lake. Little Red Flying Foxes are widespread throughout eastern and northern Australia, and they sometimes venture further inland but rarely come this far west.

The Australian Government signed the “30 x 30” target at COP15 of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in December 2022, with a commitment to ensure that 30 per cent of the earth’s land and sea is protected through the establishment of Protected Areas (PAs) and Other Area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs) ... The WWF has urged the Australian Government to set up a $5B Green Fund to acquire forests, productive land and reforest wheat fields.   The land needed to meet the 30:30 objective has to be “high biodiversity value” land in accordance with the Global Biodiversity Framework.

The Kangaroo Industry Association of Australia (KIAA) is proudly announcing its transformation into the Australian Wild Game Industry Council (AWGIC). The change reflects the industry’s commitment to the expansion of its national membership base, representing the interests of wild game meat and skin processors throughout Australia.

Vic Jurskis comments on a research article on the causes of morbidity and mortality in rescued koala joeys ... "academics don't see the big picture of forest ecology and management ... the scientific solution would be to restore frequent mild burning in the bush ... "

The Victorian Government has launched a review of the current approaches to dingo management and conservation to quell its radical left-wing backers. At the same time, it has extended a legislative rule allowing control of dingoes by only one year, as opposed to five years in previous instances...

In this article Robert Onfray details the lack of environmental scrutiny of the wind factories and pumped hydro projects built or planned in Queensland as the state sanctions the wholesale clearing of remnant native forest on the coastal ranges straddling the Great Dividing Range ... 10,178 hectares of koala and 6,744 hectares of greater glider habitats are set to disappear if all the renewable proposals in Queensland are approved ... "blunt force trauma" is to be used to euthanise injured animals or those that cannot be relocated, particularly koalas.

Community members will continue to be able to access free testing services for rabbits and hares, thanks to an Australian Government funded national disease monitoring program. The National Rabbit Disease Monitoring Program is being delivered by CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency.

Rohan Cleave, Kate Pearce. A big thank you for hosting us on Lord Howe Island (LHI) in September, where we celebrated Threatened Species Day at the LHI Community School and a community event ... The LHI Stick Insect (Dryococelus australis) is one of the world’s most critically endangered invertebrate species.  

The stunning landscapes and unique environments of Curtis Island will be further protected and celebrated under a new Queensland-first partnership. The Palaszczuk Government has purchased the island’s Spadely Station from  Bakara Investments Pty Ltd to add the land to Queensland’s protected areas estate, with the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service to partner with the company to boost eco-tourism and visitor numbers on the island.

Geoff Park. After filling the skies above the forest for weeks now, the woodswallows have finally descended to nest. It’s early stages, with some birds incubating and many nests still being constructed. White-browed and Masked Woodswallows often select locations in the lower canopy...

Picture this: a solitary heron foraging in the muted, autumnal half-light of dawn. Or an ethereal gull hovering motionless in mid air. Or a lonely stone-curlew gazing wistfully into the artificial lights of a forbidden destination. These and more are the winning entries of the sixth annual BirdLife Australia Bird Photography Awards, which have just been announced.

The Victorian government’s regulation of timber harvesting, which has led to the impending closure of Gippsland’s native forest industry in January, directly contradicts the joint national-state approach to ensure biodiversity alongside a timber industry over the previous 30 years, analysis shows ... When setting up the National Forest Policy Statement in the 1990s, the JANIS working group – conservation scientists and planners from all states and the CSIRO – drew up the criteria to form a CAR (comprehensive, adequate and representative) reserve system.

Safeguarding of osprey population taken to new heights with interactive website and calls for community help. This November, Council is shining a spotlight on one of the Tweed’s favourite top-order predators – the osprey, listed as vulnerable to extinction in NSW.