Wildlife

“After the first flood in late February there was no oxygen in the river between Ballina and Coraki. That’s around 60 kilometres of river and estuary with no oxygen and therefore no fish. A lot of the dead fish were washed out to sea during this event due to the magnitude and duration of the flood”: Professor Damien Maher, Southern Cross University.

For the past three days, a high-tech team from Sunshine Coast Council, University of the Sunshine Coast and the Friends of Maroochy Regional Bushland Botanic Gardens have worked together to uncover how many koalas live in the reserve and how healthy they are.

Steve Smith and Ian Hutton. Thanks to everyone who participated in the 5th Lord Howe Island Sea Slug Census. While conditions were challenging, we nevertheless managed to find and photograph 61 species. Seven of these are first records for the island.

A second influx of little red flying foxes has arrived in McAuliffe Park  in Casino. Little reds are highly nomadic and will move on again before too long but with a lot of habitat destroyed by recent floodwater, the flying foxes may make their way into residents’ yards.

Speakers: Emeritus Professor Helene Marsh FAA FTSE, Chair of the Threatened Species Scientific Committee; Cheyne Flanagan, Port Macquarie Koala Hospital; Audrey Koosmen, Hunter Wildlife Rescue; Vic Jurskis, Ecologist and Author; Peter Rutherford, Forest Scientist, South East Timber Association.

Two new marine parks have been established at Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands in the Indian Ocean, home to life found nowhere else on earth. Minister for the Environment Sussan Ley said the spectacular seascapes cover 744,000 square kilometres, an area greater in size than the Great Barrier Reef.

The very large wildfire in the Perth hills catchments in January 2005 had the potential for severe consequences on water quality in domestic water supply reservoirs ... full recovery will take some decades. This large fire was eventually contained when it reached areas that had been prescribed burnt and carried low fuels.

Peter Rutherford. The article published in The Age and Sydney Morning Herald on 15 March once again highlights how activist networking paints native forest harvesting as THE threat to the sustainability of NSW native forests. Like many reports advocating for the closure of the native forest industry, the article contains a mix of academic opinion, anti-native forest harvesting rhetoric from a green politician, creative accounting, words to trigger outrage, such as "woodchip exports," and opinions from an activist non-government organisation, that monetise the outrage to generate more outrage and a reporter to join the dots.

One hundred critically endangered Southern Corroboree Frogs have been reintroduced to their native habitat at Kosciuszko National Park ... The frogs were badly affected in the 2019/20 bushfires, and the field enclosures have been fitted with irrigation systems for fire-proofing, as well as remote cameras for monitoring.

A Charles Sturt University researcher hopes to conserve wombat populations and minimise road accidents by exploring the use of ‘virtual fences’ ... “Virtual fencing implemented in regions that have high wombat roadkill rates may aid in reducing road deaths and  species conservation”: Dr Hayley Stannard.

Council continues to support a submission for their key breeding ground – named the Cuttlefish Coast Sanctuary Zone – to be placed on the National Heritage List under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. Council continues to support a submission for their key breeding ground – named the Cuttlefish Coast Sanctuary Zone – to be placed on the National Heritage List under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

A rescued orphaned koala joey is one of countless native animals rescuers expect will need urgent care amid the flooding catastrophe in New South Wales and Queensland. The 14-month-old male koala, named Gulliver, was rescued amid the torrential downpours in Tregeagle in the NSW Northern Rivers region on February 28.

Serena Kirby. A rare specimen of a ruby seadragon, found washed up at Ocean Beach, has piqued the interest of experts at the WA Museum. The pristine body of the seadragon was the lucky find of Annika Engstrom who regularly walks the beach picking up rubbish and plastics.

The Game Management Authority (GMA) has announced the arrangements for the 2022 duck season, including changes to the start times, daily bag limit and hunted species ... State Member for Bendigo, Maree Edwards told the Times that she has read the GMA’s release regarding the decision to open duck hunting this year and feels it is imperative that the Government takes significant advice from the GMA.

The costs in human and animal suffering, infrastructure, farmland, wildlife, the list goes on, is immense. What makes it so appalling is that, with good planning, both in terms of infrastructure, such as dams, and planning laws restricting development on floodplains, much of this horrendous waste and loss could have been at least mitigated, and, I suspect, in many cases, avoided altogether.

There are approximately 7.5 million hectares of forest in Victoria, and 94 per cent of Victoria’s native forests are in protected areas that cannot be harvested or are unsuitable. Of this amount, VicForests has access to 417,000 hectares and we only harvest 2500-3000 hectares annually. This is nominally equivalent to 0.04% of all forested areas ... Thorough preparation is undertaken prior to harvesting, and VicForests puts special protections in place for priority habitat and species of concern if found in coupes.

A proposal to expand the Marmion marine park will if adopted result in the marine park’s boundary starting north of Two Rocks, according to information released by the Parks and Wildlife Service. At present the Marmion marine park, which occupies about 9500ha, is situated between Trigg Island and Burns Rocks.

Robert Onfray looks closely at the history and status of this apex predator in Australia and considers our options for living together.

The new draft Victorian Koala Management Strategy will guide how koalas in Victoria will be conserved into the future − outlining ongoing actions to ensure their security, sustainability and health. Since the previous 2004 strategy was released, new issues impacting koalas have emerged and others have become more significant, including climate change, genetic diversity and extreme bushfires.

Koala habitat will be increased and water quality improved with the planting of 153,000 trees along Wivenhoe Dam to rehabilitate former grazing land ... The trees have been planted at seven sites on former grazing land and include eucalypts like Queensland blue gum, ironbarks, bloodwoods and grey gums, as well as rough-barked apple, river she-oak, and black tea-tree.

Geoff Helisma. Volunteer environmental organisation, Clarence Valley Environment Centre (CEC – established 1989), has released the results of a survey it commissioned, “to undertake koala scat detection [using a specifically trained] dog … in the Shannondale area, [in order] to assess koala presence/absence after the droughts, fires and floods”.

A large male croc has been removed from the Endeavour River at Cooktown after it developed a taste for local dogs ... Due to its large size, the crocodile must be dealt with as an ‘iconic crocodile’ under Queensland’s conservation laws.