Category Archives: Wildlife

Fears for platypus populations after flooding in Queensland and NSW

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Ecologists urge people to monitor for platypuses in their area after indications of a ‘severe decline’ in Ipswich

There are fears that platypus populations might have been wiped out by recent floods in greater Brisbane, sparking new calls for the species to be nationally recognised as a threatened.

While the platypus is endangered in South Australia and was listed as vulnerable in Victoria last year, the iconic monotreme is not officially considered threatened in Queensland and New South Wales.

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Tanya Plibersek urged to save Gouldian finches from NT defence development

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Conservationists call on government to reconsider project near Darwin after 100-plus birds were spotted in bushland marked for clearing

The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, is being urged to intervene to save a population of endangered Gouldian finches threatened by a defence development in the Northern Territory.

The first stage of clearing has begun to allow a defence housing development in savannah woodlands at Lee Point, in Darwin’s north, having been approved in 2019.

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Queensland proposal to remove more large crocodiles could raise risk of attacks, experts warn

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Almost 8,000 people have so far signed a petition against the proposal which has been described as a ‘silent cull’

Critics of a proposal to remove more large crocodiles from Queensland’s populated far north coast say the move will result in a “silent cull” and could actually put more people at risk of attack.

The Queensland government said crocodile numbers had been slowly rising and it was conducting modelling to see what impact taking more animals out of the wild would have on the species.

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‘We just want the truth’: British coastal towns fight for answers over mystery sealife deaths

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Question mark over freeport in Tees Valley after ecological disaster puts communities in the north east of England at loggerheads with the government

Stan Rennie has indelicate hands that aren’t good for typing. He’s not the kind of person who cares much for technology at all.

But over the last year, the fisherman has found himself spending less time outdoors and more time glued to his computer, tapping out stern emails to politicians and researching niche areas of environmental law. “It’s taken over his life,” his daughter Sarah, 36, says.

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Farmers in England to be allowed to use ‘lethal force’ on beavers

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Government guidance on rodents angers conservationists who say animals are a help not a hindrance to agriculture

Farmers in England will be allowed to shoot beavers if they threaten their crops, the government has revealed.

Conservationists have opposed the move, saying the animals are an “ally to farmers”, helping conserve water in times of drought, and are an endangered species that should be treasured. The rodents became extinct in the UK 400 years ago after they were hunted for their pelts, but in recent years they have been reintroduced to England and Scotland.

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Let them eat bugs: UK urges hunger-stricken African nations to farm insects

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Aid projects in DRC and Zimbabwe encourage rural inhabitants to eat insects rich in vitamins and minerals

UK aid spending is encouraging hunger-stricken Africans to eat insects, with projects aiming to develop the practice in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zimbabwe.

Edible insects have long been touted as a resource-efficient source of protein, requiring less land and water than conventional livestock. However, taste and cultural resistance have proved to be stumbling blocks in extending the practice in many parts of the world.

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South African court bans offshore oil and gas exploration by Shell

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Judgment is huge victory for campaigners concerned about effect of seismic waves on marine life

A South African court has upheld a ban imposed on the energy giant Shell from using seismic waves to explore for oil and gas off the Indian Ocean coast.

The judgment delivered in Makhanda on Thursday marks a monumental victory for environmentalists concerned about the impact the exploration would have on whales and other marine life.

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Thousands of dead fish wash up in Oakland lake to create a putrid mess

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Experts, concerned about the algae bloom that is turning the water to brown muck, say the die-off is ‘like losing giant redwoods’

Thousands of fish carcasses have been floating up to the edges of the San Francisco Bay, and the scummy top of Oakland’s Lake Merritt – stewing under the sun and wafting a putrid stench into nearby neighborhoods.

The dead bat rays, striped bass, sturgeon, anchovies and clams, are likely mass victims of an algal bloom that scientists are racing to understand. In the meantime citizen scientists, local photographers, joggers and naturalists have been capturing dramatic photos of the die off.

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Toxins in soil, blasted forests – Ukraine counts cost of Putin’s ‘ecocide’

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Environmentalists are measuring the impact of Russian military’s devastation and hope to force Moscow into making reparations

The woods outside Chernihiv were quiet in late August when Anatoliy Pavelko scrambled into a 10-metre bomb crater with a trowel and an icebox full of sample jars. He wanted to find out what the Russian FAB-250 bomb left behind when it carved this gaping hole into the ground in the spring.

Four months earlier, the environmental lawyer was dug in on a frontline just a few kilometres away, shells crashing around him in the bitter fight to keep Russian forces out of Kyiv.

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Mystery surrounds cluster of satin bowerbird deaths in the Gold Coast hinterland

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Landowner and bird experts cast doubt on Queensland government’s rat poison theory

In a town perched atop the rainforest hinterland of the Gold Coast, one of Australia’s most charismatic birds is suddenly and mysteriously dying.

Rumours and misinformation are swirling around Tamborine Mountain to explain the spate of satin bowerbirds deaths, with fingers pointed at everything from rat poison to 4G phone towers.

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England’s gardeners to be banned from using peat-based compost

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Sale of peat-based compost for use on private gardens and allotments to be outlawed within 18 months

Sales of peat for use on private gardens and allotments will be banned in England from 2024, the government has announced.

Environmental campaigners have long called for stricter laws to restore peatlands.

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‘The blue flags are proof’: how Greece cleaned up its act on sewage

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Greeks take their seas seriously, with the construction of one of the world’s biggest sewage treatment plants a real game-changer

The shimmering waters along the Athenian riviera offer a welcome respite in the summer heat. In one of Europe’s most congested cities the sight of ever more beaches attaining blue flag status – a mascot of water quality – has heightened the sense of relief that the coastal location affords. For those who flock to its coves, rocks and sandy stretches, the shoreline that extends from the Greek capital’s southern suburbs has become the perfect antidote to the rising temperatures that have accompanied climate breakdown.

It was not always so.

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More than 100 hen harriers fledge in England for first time in a century

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Conservationists welcome successful breeding season but say birds remain at risk of being illegally killed

Nearly 120 rare hen harrier chicks have fledged in England this year, the highest number for more than a century, England’s conservation agency has said.

Natural England and its partners recorded 119 hen harrier chicks successfully fledging from nests across uplands in County Durham, Cumbria, Lancashire, Northumberland and Yorkshire. A fledgling is a young bird that has grown enough to acquire its initial flight feathers and is preparing to leave the nest and care for itself.

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Large blue butterfly numbers soar in Britain

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Endangered species enjoys best summer in 150 years thanks to habitat restoration scheme

The large blue butterfly has enjoyed its best summer for 150 years in Britain thanks to targeted restoration work, which is also benefiting other rare insects including the rugged oil beetle and the shrill carder bee.

The butterfly, which became extinct in Britain in 1979 but was reintroduced via caterpillars from Sweden four years later, flew in its greatest numbers in June this year since records began.

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Swift parrot recovery plan changes downplay logging threat, experts say

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Exclusive: Revisions revealed through FOI are more focused on protecting forestry industry than preventing species going extinct, scientists argue

Tasmanian and federal bureaucrats pushed for a recovery plan for a critically endangered parrot species to be changed to remove and downplay 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 under freedom of information laws – were more focused on protecting the forestry industry than preventing the species going extinct.

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‘Too much to lose’ in Santos gas project off Tiwi Islands, marine ranger tells court

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Federal court hearing on the islands, north of Darwin, told a spill would mean ‘everything ends up dead’ in delicate marine ecosystem

A large gas project off the Tiwi Islands could threaten a vulnerable turtle species and disrupt a thriving ecosystem of fish, a marine ranger has told the federal court.

Tiwi Islander Dennis Tipakalippa is challenging the decision to allow Santos to drill eight wells in the Barossa gas field, 265km north-west of Darwin.

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Rare orchid flourishes in Charles Darwin’s gardens after two-year project

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Unusually the violet helleborine is only pollinated by wasps and is thriving thanks to nectar that is irresistible to the insects

A rare orchid that reproduces by getting wasps drunk is thriving in the gardens of Charles Darwin’s house after a two-year restoration programme.

The violet helleborine is entirely pollinated by wasps, which are usually not perceived to be the best pollinators. They’re regimented and meticulously clean themselves, scientists say, which makes the process of pollination a fairly futile prospect – there’s nothing for the pollen to cling to.

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Game over – the Ritz takes grouse off the menu in victory for environment campaigners

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Some restaurants are listening, with Corrigan’s not sourcing from intensive shoots and the Ritz not serving a Glorious Twelfth dish

From 12 August to early December, it’s usually possible to walk into old-fashioned fine dining establishments across the country and order the rare British delicacy that is grouse, frequently served with bread sauce and game chips.

But those hoping to eat the tiny game bird in the gilded Ritz dining room in London will be out of luck this year, as the world-famous hotel has quietly removed it from the menu after an outcry from environmental campaigners.

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Canada zoo finds escaped wolf pups in moment of joy tinged with tragedy

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Four days after a ‘suspicious’ break-in, one pup is found safe and another appears to have been hit by a car

Emotions are bittersweet at a Canadian zoo after a runaway wolf pup was safely located after four days on the loose, but another was found dead along a road.

Conservation officers and zoo staff in Canada have spent the last four days searching for a runaway wolf after mysterious break-in freed a pack of the predators from the popular zoo.

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Rare golden algae may have caused fish deaths in Oder River, says minister

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Polish minister Anna Moskwa says experts have found algal bloom in water samples, after mass die-off puzzled scientists

Rare micro-organisms known as golden algae could be the cause of a mass die-off of fish in the Oder River that has puzzled scientists for days, Poland’s environment minister has suggested.

“After further investigations, the Institute of Inland Fisheries in Olsztyn has found rare microorganisms, so-called golden algae, in water samples from the Oder River,” Anna Moskwa said on Thursday.

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