22
Jan 2009 - Sydney, Australia - With Australia
Day, the official national day of Australia,
coming up on 26 January WWF-Australia has
announced its own Australia Day Honours
list - the top ten Aussie
Battlers of 2008!
“Although our list celebrates
Australian animals, it is also serves as
a reminder that these Aussie Battlers need
our help in order to survive,” said Kat
Miller, WWF threatened species program manager.
“Without urgent action
we risk losing more of the 346 animal and
1,249 plant species listed as threatened
under federal legislation. Australia has
the worst record of mammal extinction in
the world,” Ms Miller said.
Nine per cent of birds,
seven per cent of reptiles and 16 per cent
of amphibians are either extinct or threatened
in Australia.
“Half the mammals that
have become extinct globally in the last
200 years have been Australian species.
We cannot afford to let more of our unique
Australian animals disappear forever,” she
said.
Top of the list of Aussie
Battlers is the green and gold frog. Forget
the future impacts of climate change, one
of Australia’s largest frogs has already
had its home decimated by climate change-induced
drought since 2005. Thanks to another group
of Aussie Battlers, farmers in Lowbidgee,
New South Wales, these patriotic frogs are
getting a second chance.
Next in line is the
cassowary. Being large and flightless isn’t
much help when you’re crossing the road
in Far North Queensland. Road kills are
one of the major causes of adult cassowary
deaths. With only 1,500 left in the wild
can we afford to let this happen?
The green sawfish, which
evolved from ancient sharks with a unique
saw, lined with teeth made from modified
scales, is a species of ray that looks out
of place in northern Australian waters.
But these animals are true blue Aussies
as this may be the last place where significant
numbers of green sawfish exist.
Historically the golden
fur of the beautiful yellow-footed rock
wallaby was more likely to be seen on a
London high street than in outback Australia.
Today many other threats remain, with less
than 2,000 wallabies left in South Australia
and possibly less than 500 in New South
Wales.
With house prices skyrocketing,
spare a thought for the red-tailed black
cockatoo, Official Mascot of the Melbourne
2006 Commonwealth Games. Nesting hollows
in south-eastern Australia are so scarce
many of these endangered birds are left
out in the cold.
Living in the World
Heritage Listed Kakadu National Park doesn’t
necessarily protect you from outside threats
such as fire and weeds. It is thought the
wild population of yellow-snouted geckos
could be as low as 10.
The swift parrot has
the longest migration journey of any parrot
in the world, travelling from southern Queensland
to Tasmania each year to breed. This speedy
parrot has a bad habit of not looking where
it’s flying and significant numbers are
killed every year due to collisions with
cars and home windows. With only 2,000 left
in the wild, the loss of every bird is a
tragedy.
As one of the ACT’s
most threatened insects, the golden sun
moth is critically endangered and has a
very short lifespan, living just a few days
as an adult. The female travels only a few
hundred metres in this time due to her limited
flying ability.
What's green and gold
and woolly? The woolly wattle, which is
closely related to Australia's national
flower, the golden wattle, occurs only in
a small patch in the Southwest Australia
Ecoregion. The leaves and fruit of this
plant are covered entirely by dense, long,
soft, white hairs, making this the cuddliest
wattle around.
The bridled nailtail
wallaby was named for its horn-shaped 'nail'
at the tip of the tail. Although once common
throughout eastern Australia, it was believed
to be extinct before being rediscovered
in 1973 on a cattle station near Dingo,
Queensland. Back from the brink but with
only 400 left in the wild these Aussie Battlers
need a helping hand to survive.
+ More
Snow deluge drives WWF
to seek aid of hunting estates
20 Jan 2009 - Vladivostock,
Russia - Heavy snow that fell just after
new year in the north of Russia’s Primorye
Territory, in the far south-east of the
country, has had a potentially devastating
effect on the local ecological system and
prompted WWF-Russia to seek the help of
local hunting estates.
Following the snow thousands
of people were stranded for several days
and the Russian government provided food
and rescued hunters caught in snow traps,
but for the wild animal population there
was no such provision.
Such unfavourable conditions
have a negative impact on wild ungulates
(hoofed animals) in particular, such as
deer and wild boars, and in some areas populations
can be reduced by up to 70 per cent. In
winter 2002 in south-west Primorye nearly
half the wild boars, roe and sika deers
died.
These kind of losses
can take several years to recover from and
have serious consequences for large predators
such as the Amur tiger and the Far Eastern
leopard. Primorye, nestling on the Sea of
Japan, is home to most of the world's Amur
tigers, otherwise known as Siberian tigers.
With this in mind, as
well as possible worsening of weather conditions,
WWF-Russia in partnership with the Wildlife
Conservation Society has started to allocate
funds to protect ungulates and provide them
with forage.
Ironically, the only
organisations that are really interested
and able to help animals in such circumstances
are hunting estates, who also suffer if
animal numbers dwindle. Therefore at the
start of this year the two local non-governmental
organizations formed a reserve fund to help
hunting estates in order to continue WWF’s
activities aimed at conserving and increasing
the number of ungulates in Primorye.
According to a previously
adopted resolution of Primorskii Province
each hunting estate is to develop a mobilization
plan to prevent the negative impact of heavy
weather conditions, including making roads
along which the animals can move and forage
can be transported. These particular targets
are the focus of the reserve fund that will
submit micro grants varying from $500 to
$1,500 over several years.
“The main task of the
reserve fund is to provide assistance in
saving animals by allocating funds promptly,”
said Sergei Aramilev, biodiversity conservation
coordinator at WWF-Russia’s Amur branch.
“Money will be given
only to those hunting estates which can
provide real help to the animals, i.e. which
have a detailed plan on how to prevent high
mortality of ungulates and possess tools
and equipment to implement it. It is wiser
to spend minimal funds on preventive measures
than invest much more money into restoration
of lost populations.”
