Wildlife

ARR.News sought the response of FCNSW regarding recent protests against native forest logging, recent timber harvesting and plans for harvesting in the site of the proposed Great Koala National Park and measures to prevent injury to koalas and other wildlife.

Vic Jurskis. The facts haven’t deterred the ecowarriors of North East Forest Alliance (NEFA) from trying to hasten the demise of the sustainable, renewable, solar-powered native timber industry. They don’t care about habitat for people, other than themselves. They’ve launched an application for an injunction to ‘save’ the overcrowded koalas that are breeding more rapidly than ever on all the soft new growth resprouting after the Black Summer holocaust that they helped to create.

John Anderson. If ever there was a family of birds that exhibits supreme mastery of the skies, albeit those close to the ocean, it is the albatross family. The CSIRO Australian Bird Guide lists 17 species of albatross that can be seen in Australian waters. They range over vast areas of the Southern Ocean, nesting on Sub-Antarctic Islands such as Macquarie Island and in winter push northwards to patrol the southern coastline of Australia.

Member for Benambra, Bill Tilley, fears farms in the Upper Murray will again be under constant threat from wild dogs if the rules for trappers are watered down. On Tuesday night in the Victorian Parliament, Mr Tilley called on the Agriculture Minister to visit the region and hear from the landholders who lived through the carnage of the early 2000s.

The NSW Government has acquired Comeroo, Muttawary and Maranoa stations (known collectively as Comeroo). The purchase will see more than 37,000 hectares containing endangered ecological communities and an array of threatened species added to the NSW national park estate, managed by the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

Scientists have been out in the field surveying wetlands and waterbirds across the region’s floodplains. With many wetlands and creeks still containing water due to recent flooding, there has been an influx of water-birds across our region. Scientists have been monitoring bird abundance, diversity, and breeding activity to assess aquatic ecology health to compare data collected from dry years.

The Mountain Cattlemen’s Association of Victoria (MCAV) is calling on environmental groups to consider the long-term ramifications of their actions after it came to light that a Federal Court case against planned burns was underway... President of the MCAV, Cass McCormack, said it was yet again proof that continued scientific, academic and anecdotal evidence was being ignored.

Narrandera Landcare and Murrumbidgee Landcare were blessed with perfect winter weather for their frog hotel making workshop during the school holidays. The workshop at the Community Food Garden was very well attended and the tree frogs around Narrandera will have no shortage of accommodation places in the immediate future.

The future of Victoria's forests has been captured by political ideology and complex legalities rather than being determined by science and professional expertise, according to Forestry Australia ... "The problem is, there has been no universally accepted definition or clarity regarding how key components of the [precautionary] principle should be interpreted or applied in practice," Forestry Australia said.

The Port Pirie Visitor Information Centre is celebrating 25 years since Shakka the Shark became a local tourist attraction and icon with an event this Wednesday and complimentary entry throughout the school holidays. Shakka is a 5.5 metre Great White Shark which tragically became entangled in snapper lines and drowned in Germein Bay on 12 July, 1998.

WIRES Northern Rivers is delighted to welcome newly appointed Emergency Response Team (ERT) member and ambulance driver Tarn Donaldson and the arrival of a dedicated native wildlife rescue ambulance. Ms Donaldson and the new fully equipped ambulance will be providing local rescue support across WIRES Northern Rivers and Clarence Valley branches and be on-call to attend critical and/ or unresolved rescues reported to WIRES 24/7 Rescue Office.

On 11 May 2023 a deceased beaked whale washed into shallow water at the Western end of Old Settlement Beach ... The preliminary identification is a male Blainsville’s Beaked Whale (Mesoplodon densirostris), consistent with the two large tusks in lower jaw, with stalked barnacles growing on their exposed tips.

When Lord Howe was discovered, there were sixteen land bird species breeding on the Island and early sailors, naturalists and painters documented these ... The extinct Lord Howe Island Grey Fantail was a small (length: about 15 cm) grey insectivorous bird with pale creamy-yellow underparts and a long dark-grey tail ... Over a period of a few days, I found not one but two fantails in the forest there.

Kwoorabup Nature School students have discovered and named a new species of parasitoid wasp while taking part in the Insect Investigators Citizen Science project. The Adelaide University run project involved 51 schools across Australia, also including Denmark Primary School.

The Supreme Court of Victoria has announced its decision on VicForests appeal of last November’s landmark court decision in Kinglake Friends of the Forest and Environment East Gippsland vs VicForests, known as “The Glider Case”. The panel of three judges upheld Justice Richards’ findings that VicForests’ actions were in breach of environment laws.The orders limiting logging in forests that are home to endangered gliders will remain.

Owners of the Darling Downs Zoo, Steve and Stephanie Robinson have reluctantly placed the popular tourist attraction on the market due to Steve’s health. The Robinsons opened the Darling Downs Zoo in 2005 after many years of working with authorities to enable the project to go ahead.

Scientists have been out in the field surveying fish across the region’s floodplains. For the first time, scientists have been able to investigate the movement patterns of juvenile Golden Perch from spawning in the Darling River, through to dispersal and growth in Victorian floodplains.

The work of the Centre for Invasive Species Solutions will be strengthened by the Federal Government’s recent funding announcement regarding the National Pest Animal Management Coordination Program. The increased funding will advance the activities of the Centre’s National Feral Cat and Fox Management Coordinator Program and the National Wild Dog Action Plan and supports the Centre’s drive to reduce the $25 billion annual cost of invasive species in Australia.

Leto takes no time at all to climb out of the cage and scurry up the white trunk of a eucalypt next to the Richmond River at East Coraki. Leto is a six year old koala who had a stained rump – indicating sickness – and so he was taken into care for a month.

Minister for Environment Ingrid Stitt announced that 19 [Orange-bellied parrots] ... were released at Lake Connewarre ... Zoos Victoria and Deakin University are currently trialing ATLAS (Advanced Tracking and Localisation of Animals in real life Systems) – a new fixed receiver station tracking system that uses tiny radio transmitters and aims to build knowledge about how the birds use Victorian habitats.