 |
Bulletin
Number 3 - December 2006
It
has been a busy month for the Wombat Protection Society.
We have registered sufficient members to apply for charity status and
have all our required A.C.N.s and A.B.N.s, Tax File Numbers, G.S.T.
registration and have opened the trust fund bank account.
Members have been giving great input into the website, what they see
as issues the society should be addressing and younger members and interested
parties have begun telling us what they’d like to see on site and as
activities.
Alexandra
Seddon, an artist and environmentalist involved in the Pambula wetlands
sanctuary and Potoroo Palace in NSW has supplied artwork for what will
become the society’s logo.
One of the big issues for people involved in caring for and rehabilitating
wombats is wombat mange. This parasitic skin infection was introduced
to Australia by the fox which remains a vector of the mite. Wombats,
more than any other native animal are seriously affected by this mite
and it leads to eventual death. There seems to be two stages, a superficial
skin irritation which eventually leads to stage two where huge maggot
ridden skin fissures cause infection and death. Most research into mange
is limited and anecdotal and virtually no research has occurred into
preventative methods within the wild population.
The Wombat Protection Society of Australia is pleased to announce that
as a result of member concerns, the Board of Directors approved the
following at their meeting on December 10th 2006.
Moved J.Smith Seconded J. Bruce “That the Wombat Protection Society
become a 'Clearing House' for information about mange in the next three
months, that in the following six, it undertakes member assisted research
to document the spread and extent of mange Australia wide, and that
the society have as a goal the eradication of mange in the wild population
within 5 years.” ...All in Favour.
A number of factors influenced this decision. Membership concern about
mange was the initiation point and the either unanswered or flippant
responses from government departments has made it clear that those vested
with the legal responsibility for caring for wombats are not doing their
job.
There
is a concern expressed by different members in different states that
mange will wipe out the Common Wombat within 5-10 years, yet there is
no such concern in government arenas.
Mange
causes a slow, insidious and painful death that were a domestic animal
allowed to suffer, its owners would be charged through animal cruelty
legislation, yet apparently, because wombats are wild they are afforded
no such protection.
The society believes that if you have the privilege to live in countries
where animal habitat is limited, or a specific species resides, then
you are duty bound to care for and protect that species for the rest
of humanity, not just for the residents of that country.
We
are duty bound to teach other Australians about the limited distribution
of wombats and to engage the broader society in assisting care for and
protect these animals. To knowingly allow a disease as insidious as
mange to not only wreak havoc on population numbers but to cause slow
death from putrifying maggot ridden wounds is simply, inhumane.
As people fortunate enough to have connected with wombats in some way
and to have developed awareness of their issues it is incumbent on us
to set the goals high to ensure their health, their habitat and their
longer term survival.
Too late our heroic actions to attempt to claw back from the brink of
extinction the Northern Hairy-Nosed Wombat. There are less than 120
of these animals left .To be responsible for the extinction of any species
is a disgrace, and in a country as affluent and educated as Australia
it is a national disgrace. To live on a continent that in the shortest
period of time known to humankind has had stewardship over the greatest
number of animal extinctions, is a sobering and totally unacceptable
record of care. The society believes this must change and that our children’s
children must be able to see wombats in the wild.
Wombats seem to be a good barometer for the health of the land. Their
habitat is limited and becoming smaller. As the continent has dried
they have moved toward the small sections of eastern Australia they
now inhabit and as forests and land clearing have taken more habitat
they have moved into the riparian zones where they come into conflict
with antiquated agricultural practices. Such practices allow stock and
grazing in riparian- river and creek zones. There wombats are accused
of causing erosion because as cows and agriculture bikes move through
their tracks and burrows stream banks are claimed to collapse. Left
as habitat, wombats would be understood as a soil engineers, helping
the river and stream courses .
Farmers are given permits to kill wombats because of these environmentally
disastrous practices and such culling only makes matters worse as younger
wombats take over territories and dig more, not fewer holes. Water quality
and quantity has become a major issue for Australia and as Australian
agricultural practices progress, the management of the Riparian zone
to exclude stock should mean more protection for wombat habitat. With
streams and rivers receiving appropriate flows, wombat burrows should
get cleaned out by the occasional flood and this may also assist wombat
health by lessening the prevalence of mange.
So, along with the goal of eradicating mange from the wild population
these other measures to care for and protect wombats have been set as
goals or objectives for the society.
1. To ensure that no more wombat habitat is destroyed.
2. To fully protect wombats in all remaining habitats.
3. To promote and protect riparian zone habitat as wildlife corridors
and
wombat habitat.
4. To work to change regulations so that no wombat anywhere can be culled
for “agricultural” purposes.
5. To promote wombats and Australia’s unique stewardship and responsibility
to these animals.
6. To make sure that Australians know how to rescue a wombat and how
to
help an injured animal.
7. To provide sanctuaries for wombats in all wombat inhabited areas
within
50kms of each other.
In the next bulletins we will discuss each of these objectives in greater
detail. We look forward to hearing from members and others involved
with wombats about these objectives. It has been good to hear from members
in general but especially pleasing to have begun to get input from younger
people about how they would like to be involved.
|