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For Fun, Kangaroo Tortured By Group of Young Men
Kangaroo attack caught on tape |
The RSPCA is searching for a group of young men who videoed a kangaroo being beaten.
The video shows a person kicking and punching the kangaroo which looks to be stunned.
The animal tires to defend itself but is eventually knocked out as the person filming the sickening attack laughs.
Native wildlife expert Steve McLeod believes the animal was injured prior to the attack.
“The kangaroo is very disoriented,” he said.
“It is very unusual for a kangaroo to fight like that as they invariably flee.
“I would hazard a guess that it has been knocked over by the car and injured.
“Certainly it has been stunned in some way.”
The RSPCA across Australia has joined forces to launch a nationwide appeal to catch the cowards who shot the appalling footage.
RSPCA Queensland spokesman Michael Beatty asked any body who knew those responsible to contact the organisation.
“Thankfully this sickening footage has now been removed from the website where it was first seen,” he said.
“The next stage is to ensure that those responsible for this film are brought to justice.”
In August, a koala was attacked and magpies were found nailed to a tree.
RSPCA contacts:
Queensland 1300 852 188
Western Australia (08) 9209 9300
New South Wales (02) 9770 7555
Australian Capital Territory (02) 6287 8100
South Australia (03) 8231 6931
Tasmania (03) 6332 8200
http://www.thedaily.com.au/news/2008/sep/11/sickening-k... Kangaroo attack caught on tape | The RSPCA is searching for a group of young men who videoed a kangaroo being beaten. ... more -
Thousands of Australia's koalas killed by land-clearing: WWF
Sydney (AFP) Sept 7, 2008
Australian koalas are dying by the thousands as a result of land clearing in the country's northeast, while millions of birds and reptiles are also perishing, conservation group WWF said Sunday.
The environmental body warned that unless urgent action was taken to stop trees being felled, some species would be pushed to the brink of extinction.
In an annual statement, Queensland state last week revealed that 375,000 hectares of bush were cleared in 2005-06 -- a figure WWF said would have resulted in the deaths of TWO MILLION MAMMALS.
Among those that perished as a result of loss of habitat would have been 9,000 tree-hugging koalas, WWF Australia spokesman Nick Heath said.
"It's a horrifying figure," Heath told AFP. "Two million mammals and that's all sorts of kangaroos, wallabies. We couldn't come to an exact figure on the birds, but I would say it would be OVER FIVE MILLION."
Heath said WWF's figures were based on earlier scientific assessments of animal density in each area of the state combined with the amount of land cleared over the 2005-2006 period.
He said the animals that died in the LARGEST NUMBERS were reptiles, including lizards and TURTLES.
Of particular concern was the impact on the koala, an iconic marsupial found only in Australia and which is most populous in Queensland state.
"People want koalas to exist, they don't want them to be on the endangered list. And if we kill 9,000 a year, even if they are not on the endangered list now, they will be if we don't stop."
Heath said that turning native bush into grazing paddocks meant that many of the animals killed DIED IN FIRES SET BY FARMERS to clear debris after bulldozers cut down the trees.
"So these animals die horrific deaths," he said. "They are either dead from being RUN OVER or FALLING FROMA TREE, or if they survive that, they are BURNT ALIVE."
The Queensland government has set up a task force to help conserve koala populations amid greater urban development in the state's southeast.
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Thousands_of_Australi... Sydney (AFP) Sept 7, 2008 ... more -
Koalas tortured and mutilated in senseless attacks
Koalas, wallabies, crocodiles and birds have been found tortured and mutilated in a spate of cruel attacks on animals in north-eastern Australia.
Wildlife rescue officers discovered a four-year-old male koala with its hind legs cut off on a property at Clear Mountain, near Brisbane earlier this week. A post-mortem found the gumleaf-loving marsupial was clubbed to death, and its hind legs had been butchered off after it died.
It is the second savage attack on a koala this month. Last week a mother koala and her baby joey were found severely beaten in a park about 18miles (30km) away in Kallangur, while another joey was found dumped in a bin. It had its skull crushed and injuries consistent with it being beaten to death.
Police and officials from the RSPCA, the animal welfare charity, are looking for a group of local men, aged 20-25, who are apparently known to police and are suspected to have been involved in the attacks. Koalas, wallabies, crocodiles and birds have been found tortured and mutilated in a spate of cruel attacks on animals in north-eastern... more -
Koalas to be Culled!
Kangaroo Island Koalas To Be Culled
Please Vote Against the Cull: http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,240933...
Let the NRC know that public opinion is against killing koalas!
While koalas in Queensland and other parts of Australia are fighting for survival,the Kangaroo Island koalas, introduced many years ago from mainland SA,are thriving so well that now the Natural Resources Committee (NRC),and some pollies,want them culled.
Mass slaughters of kangaroos... now koala?
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KOALA management on Kangaroo Island is costing up to $1 million a year, prompting calls from a parliamentary committee to drastically cut their numbers.
A top-level parliamentary committee report on the issue says it is "concerned at the high cost of the present management program".
It has been estimated that more than $5 million has been spent since the program began in 1997.
The Natural Resources Committee describes the koalas as "pests" and says "a sustainable solution must be found".
Committee member and Democrat Sandra Kanck said humane culling was the solution.
Evidence presented to the committee estimates between 22,000 and 30,000 koalas remain on the island. It was told up to 70 per cent of those would need to be sterilised and one-third relocated costing up to $1 million a year.
Nearly 3500 koalas have been moved from the island since 1997 and more than 7700 sterilised. This year, 162 sterilised koalas have gone to the South East.
Kangaroo Island Natural Resources Management Board member Fraser Vickery told the committee the current management program was ineffective.
He said culling was "an obvious solution".
But he said surveys of visitors to the island indicated there would be "a massive resistance by American, Canadian and other visitors" if a culling program was begun.
Ms Kanck said she did not believe the state "should allow Japanese tourists to determine this state's environmental policies".
"If they start calling for boycotts then I think that what we need to do is look them straight in the eye and say one word to them – whales," she said.
The committee has warned it may launch another inquiry into the handling of the island's koala problem. Kangaroo Island Koalas To Be Culled ... more -
Do STDs allow mammals to survive accidents?
A koala has survived being struck by a car traveling at 60 mph. The marsupial is being called the luckiest koala in all of Australia, even though he has suffers from chlamydia.
Now I'm no logician, and a bit of an idiot, but does that mean if I get an STD, I can run into traffic, without fear of death? A koala has survived being struck by a car traveling at 60 mph. The marsupial is being called the luckiest koala in all of Australia, ... more -
Australia's luckiest marsupial: koala lives after horror car hit
A koala that cheated death after being hit by a car at 100 kmh (about 60 mph) and dragged with his head jammed through the vehicle grill for 12 kms (about 7 miles) is being dubbed Australia's luckiest marsupial.
The eight-year-old male koala, named "Ely 'Lucky' Grills" by rescuers, was struck by an unwitting motorist north of Brisbane and found only when the car stopped after being flagged down by another vehicle.
"To have him survive and virtually unscathed is quite miraculous," Australian Wildlife Hospital spokewoman Carolyn Beaton told Reuters on Tuesday.
"Lucky" hung on during his ordeal with one arm and his trapped head, and was freed with household scissors used like a fireman's "jaws-of-life" to cut around the car's mesh grill with the horrified owner's permission, Beaton said. "Whilst Lucky was in shock, he quickly recovered and was nearly better after a couple of hours rest and a feed," she said.
Lucky will stay at the hospital, set up by the late television wildlife and crocodile crusader Steve Irwin, for 45 days to recover from his experience and receive treatment for a chlamydial infection. A koala that cheated death after being hit by a car at 100 kmh (about 60 mph) and dragged with his head jammed through the vehicle gri... more -
Globe Patrol: Koalas
Do you like Koala bears? Did you know that Koala's aren't bears? Rico gets to the bottom of all things Koala at the Blackbutt Reserve. Do you like Koala bears? Did you know that Koala's aren't bears? Rico gets to the bottom of all things Koala at the Blackbut... more
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Global Toxicity threatens the Koala's
Ian Hume suggests we will see "noticeable reduction in Australia's koala population" in 50 years, due to the high amounts of Carbon Dioxide in the air. Ian Hume suggests we will see "noticeable reduction in Australia's koala population" in 50 years, due to the high amoun... more
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Koalas under threat of climate change
New research shows increased temperatures and carbon dioxide levels are a threat to the Australian national icon, the koala.
Professor Ian Hume, Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, and his students from the University of Sydney have been researching the effects of CO2 increases and temperature rises on eucalypts.
'What currently may be good koala habitat may well become, over a period of not so many years at the rate that CO2 concentrations are rising, very marginal habitat... New research shows increased temperatures and carbon dioxide levels are a threat to the Australian national icon, the koala. ... more -
Global Warming Puts Koala Population Under Threat
Global warming will threaten the survival of koalas by making the eucalyptus leaves on which they feed toxic, scientists warned on Wednesday.
Australia's most endearing marsupial is already under threat from a severe drought and loss of habitat as housing encroaches on woodland.
But higher temperatures and increased carbon dioxide could shut down their food supply, leaving them to starve to death.
New research shows that the level of toxicity in the leaves of eucalyptus saplings rises, and their nutrient content falls, when they are exposed to higher levels of carbon dioxide.
"What currently may be good koala habitat may well become, over a period of not so many years at the rate that carbon dioxide concentrations are rising, very marginal habitat," said Ian Hume, Emeritus Professor of Biology at Sydney University, who carried out the research.
"I'm sure we'll see koalas disappearing from their current range even though we don't see any change in tree species or structure of the forests."
The koala's ecological niche is precarious enough as it is - eucalyptus leaves have so little nutritional value that the animals have to sleep for 20 hours a day to conserve energy.
The animals are also notoriously fussy eaters - of Australia's more than 600 species of eucalypt trees, koalas will only browse on the leaves of about 25.
The animals would be unable to adapt to the greater toxicity of gum tree leaves, Prof Hume said after presenting his findings at an Academy of Science conference in Canberra. "I don't think they've got enough time to do that, nowhere near enough time to do that," he said. Global warming will threaten the survival of koalas by making the eucalyptus leaves on which they feed toxic, scientists warned on Wed... more -
Sick Albino Koala Bear All White Now
A Koala, nicknamed Mick, was found blind and suffering from a variety of illnesses by a forest ranger and taken to the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital, north of Sydney. A Koala, nicknamed Mick, was found blind and suffering from a variety of illnesses by a forest ranger and taken to the Port Macquarie ... more
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Koala's are cuter than they sound!
Who knew? This is what Manbearpig should sound like
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