Facing Extinction On Tasmania
- Date: 2010-07-17 - Word Count: 406
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Tasmania plays host to a number of fascinating creatures, but as ever, man in his wisdom seems interested in them purely for their furs, and numbers are dwindling. The Tasmanian Devil, Tasmanian wolf, among others has all suffered. Other small pouched animals that find a last refuge on Tasmania, and have practically vanished on the mainland, are the Tasmanian barred bandicoots and the southern short-nosed bandicoots, small animals shaped like rats, and which dig conical pits in search of grubs. The little Tasmanian marsupial mouse is the smallest pouched animal found on the island. Although Tasmania has many game sanctuaries, and does not have the fox problems of the mainland, the number of its pouched animals is steadily decreasing.
Only the Tasmanian Government is to blame for this. According to students of conditions, the three main reasons for the decrease in numbers of the marsupial fauna are too many open seasons, insufficient supervision of trappers by game wardens, and depredation by domestic dogs and cats.
Since 1934 there has not been any closed season for kangaroos and wallabies. Ringtail and brush-tail opossums are allowed resting periods of only two years, which is much too short for these slow-breeding marsupials to recover. Tasmanian devils, tiger cats, wombats, and kangaroo-rats were still on the list of unprotected animals in 1939, and wombats are still unprotected. During the open season of 1933, the Arthur and Piernan Rivers sanctuary was thrown open for the hunting of kangaroos and wallabies, a travesty on the name "sanctuary." Bird protection is also poor on the island. There is, for instance, still an open season on the nearly extinct Cape Barren goose, a goose that is only to be found on the south coast of the Australian continent, the Bass Strait islands and Tasmania.
The five cormorant species that can be seen on the island are still unprotected, although it has been proved long ago that these birds do little economic harm to fishery. The Island Fisheries Board even offers a reward for killing specimens! Harmless birds like the native hen, magpies, and coot are unprotected at present.
Zoologists, and other animal lovers interested in the unique Tasmanian fauna, all hope that the Tasmanians will soon realize that they will have to watch their interesting animal life more closely in order to keep some of its most striking members from the fate of so many marsupials of the mainland of the Commonwealth of Australia-extinction!
Only the Tasmanian Government is to blame for this. According to students of conditions, the three main reasons for the decrease in numbers of the marsupial fauna are too many open seasons, insufficient supervision of trappers by game wardens, and depredation by domestic dogs and cats.
Since 1934 there has not been any closed season for kangaroos and wallabies. Ringtail and brush-tail opossums are allowed resting periods of only two years, which is much too short for these slow-breeding marsupials to recover. Tasmanian devils, tiger cats, wombats, and kangaroo-rats were still on the list of unprotected animals in 1939, and wombats are still unprotected. During the open season of 1933, the Arthur and Piernan Rivers sanctuary was thrown open for the hunting of kangaroos and wallabies, a travesty on the name "sanctuary." Bird protection is also poor on the island. There is, for instance, still an open season on the nearly extinct Cape Barren goose, a goose that is only to be found on the south coast of the Australian continent, the Bass Strait islands and Tasmania.
The five cormorant species that can be seen on the island are still unprotected, although it has been proved long ago that these birds do little economic harm to fishery. The Island Fisheries Board even offers a reward for killing specimens! Harmless birds like the native hen, magpies, and coot are unprotected at present.
Zoologists, and other animal lovers interested in the unique Tasmanian fauna, all hope that the Tasmanians will soon realize that they will have to watch their interesting animal life more closely in order to keep some of its most striking members from the fate of so many marsupials of the mainland of the Commonwealth of Australia-extinction!
Related Tags: tasmanian wild life, unprotected animals, pouched animals, animal protection in tasmania
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