PAWS
Newsletter
for Parks and Wildlife Supporters
Issue 2 Summer 2003/4
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PAWS Newsletter
for Parks and Wildlife Supporters |
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| Editorial Dear Foundation supporters,
The stories look at the role that the Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife is playing in conserving these creatures. In the case of the Western Pygmy-possum, a Foundation-funded study revealed not only that there were more of these minute creatures near Euston than expected but that a surprising number of equally light-weight carnivores, the Southern Ningauis, inhabit the same territory. Rangers taking part in the study were delighted at the unexpected bonus. A further study will help map the territories of the Western Pygmy-possum and assist in conservation of the species. Thought to be extinct, the Lord Howe Island Plasmid, a giant stick-insect, occurs only on a single bush on Ball's Pyramid. David Priddel records the fascinating tale of how four adults were brought to the mainland for a captive breeding program. If the batch of young stick insects that have been bred on the mainland are to be reintroduced to Lord Howe Island, then the rats which snack on the insects have to be eliminated. The Foundation is funding a cost-benefit analysis of a rodent eradication program at Lord Howe Island as well as research into quarantine measures that are needed to prevent other harmful aliens invading the island. Australia has the unenviable privilege of being the continent with the highest number of extinct mammal species in recent times. The extent of the ongoing crisis is revealed in the Australian Terrestrial Biodiversity Assessment 2002, released this year. It found that 2,800 of the continent's ecosystems are threatened. There were 1,595 threatened species listed under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act including 346 vertebrates, 8 invertebrates and 1,241 plants. The study revealed that around one third of the world's mammals that have become extinct in the last 400 years are Australian. The 22 species that have vanished from the earth range from the Tasmanian tiger to the Pig-footed Bandicoot. The report says this record of extinctions is unparalleled anywhere else in the world. And alarmingly it adds: "Evidence suggests that the wave of mammal extinctions in Australia is continuing". Land clearing and alien species are among the threats faced by the 305 species of indigenous Australian mammals. In the face of this gloomy picture it is encouraging to find the Foundation at the forefront of raising money for threatened species and educating children about the importance of conservation. More than 1,000 children entered portraits of threatened species for the Golden Paw Award. Dozens more pupils were introduced to the Mitchell's Rainforest Snail, through an innovative education kit complete with slime-making instructions. The biggest project, the Green Gully appeal which will provide the Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby with a secure haven, is receiving support from a wide range of individuals. However the total is still well short of the target $1.3 million needed to buy Green Gully. You can help these wallabies and other threatened species through a donation towards our Green Gully Christmas Appeal.
Wishing you all a safe and splendid festive season. Linda Vergnani
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In this issue
Linda Vergnani, editor of PAWS e-newsletter, is an award-winning journalist whose work has been published in more than 25 newspapers and magazine on four continents. Passionate about the environment, she has written about everything from the echidna research of Dr Peggy Rismiller on Kangaroo Island to the growing threats to the world's coral reefs. A new Foundation volunteer, she is a managing partner in Express Editors a communication consultancy specializing in environmental writing, editing and project management. |
This issue
focuses on threatened species - from the cute, creamy-furred Western Pygmy-possum
(left) on the mainland to the cigar-size stick insect that inhabits a
single bush on Ball's Pyramid, alongside Lord Howe Island.
Buy
a ticket in our Green Gully Christmas raffle