Nearly 200 stranded pilot whales have died on Tasmania’s west coast, but rescuers successfully returned 32 animals to deeper water on Thursday. A pod of about 230 pilot whales became stranded on Wednesday on Ocean Beach, west of Strahan. Some were also stranded on a sand flat inside Macquarie Harbour, south of the town. Marine […]
Tag: tasmania
Bureaucrats pushed for swift parrot recovery plan to be changed to play down logging threat
Tasmanian and federal bureaucrats pushed for a recovery plan for a critically endangered parrot species to be changed to remove and play down the scientific evidence that logging was the biggest threat to its survival. Scientists said the proposed changes to the recovery plan for the swift parrot – revealed in draft versions made available […]
Tasmanian salmon industry used more than 2,400 anti-seal explosives in three months
The Tasmanian salmon industry used more than 2,400 underwater explosives against seals in the last quarter, with Huon Aquaculture reporting the death of two seals on its leases. Department of Natural Resources and Environment data disclosed under Right to Information laws show Huon Aquaculture used 1,887 explosives in the three months to the end of […]
Tasmanian landowners are slaughtering 15,000 deer each year and dumping them in pits
In the short grass on a farm in Tasmania’s central midlands, Scott Chorley is squatting. He lets off one shot. It strikes a fallow deer square in the eyes as it resounds over the level grassland. He has over 400 this year and 50 for the evening. Chorley, one of a group of seven professional […]
Planting Trees and Shrubs Will Help Bring Woodland Birds Back to Farms, Study Finds
Oftentimes, where there are trees, there are birds, whether the landscape is woodland, forest, an urban park or rural farmland. In Australia, farmland is being revegetated to attract woodland bird species, a team of researchers wrote in The Conversation. Trees bordering paddocks are being planted, and stands of trees and shrubs that run beside creeks […]
Huon Aquaculture accounts for 75% of seal deaths at Tasmanian salmon farms in past year
Huon Aquaculture accounted for the deaths of at least three-quarters of seals killed at Tasmanian salmon farms since the start of last year, with new data showing the company released more than 8,000 underwater explosives aimed at scaring the seals. Government data released in response to a right-to-information request revealed Huon Aquaculture, now owned by […]
Taronga zoo lyrebird perfectly mimics the ear-splitting wail of a crying baby
From car horns to jackhammers to chainsaws, the superb lyrebird is famed for its ability to mimic a wide variety of sounds. And now, Echo, the resident lyrebird at Taronga Zoo in Sydney, has been captured mimicking a crying baby, complete with ear-splitting, tonsil rattling, screams. The seven-year-old male lyrebird’s impersonation might not provide the […]
Tasmanian devils wipe out thousands of penguins on tiny Australian island
An attempt to save the Tasmanian devil by shipping an “insurance population” to a tiny Australian island has come at a “catastrophic” cost to the birdlife there, including the complete elimination of little penguins, according to BirdLife Tasmania. Maria Island, a 116-square-kilometre island east of Tasmania, was home to 3,000 breeding pairs of little penguins […]