SanctuariesISSUE 11 2012

WildlifELANDS

THE NEWSLETTER OF HUMANE SOCIETY INTERNATIONAL’S WildlifE lANd TRUST

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SanctuariesWITHOUT WAllSShelters

Since last edition

Australia is fortunate to have one of the richest assemblages of endemic species on the planet, and is recognised as one of the 17 megadiverse countries that harbor the majority of Earth’s species. In the face of mounting threats to biodiversity the world over, it is increasingly falling to caring private landholders, as the stewards of their particular piece of land, to stand up for wildlife and their habitats. The Wildlife Land Trust is here to support those people, and every hectare counts.

Following the release of Wildlife Lands Issue 10 mid-year, a further 22 member refuges have joined the Wildlife Land Trust fold, taking the total area of land declared as wildlife friendly through the program to 34,185 hectares and the tally of new members that have joined this year to 44. Of the 22 to have joined since last edition 2 are located in Western Australia, 7 in Queensland, 1 each in Tasmania and Victoria, and the majority (11) hail from New South Wales.

After heading to the Australian Wildlife Rehabilitation Conference held in Townsville during July, we took the opportunity to visit several WLT refuges in the general region and add to the number of member sanctuaries toured earlier in the year. You can read about the conference, of which the WLT was a proud sponsor, as well as the following trip to a stunning area of the world on page 7.

What you’ll find inside

Several WLT members from around the country have been kind enough to put together articles about their sanctuaries, which you will find on pages 2-5. Our thanks to Oma and Stephen Rodger (TAS), Michael Mueller (NSW), John and Lorraine McCann (QLD), Ken and Sandra Loveland (WA), Jill Redwood (VIC) and the Thorondor family (QLD) for your contributions.

Following these on page 6 you will find information on the WLT/HSI supported guard posts and patrols in Tanjung Puting National Park, operated by The Orangutan Foundation. And over the page, alongside the rehabilitation conference and WLT visits article, is a piece on the recently released National Wildlife Corridors Plan, along with instructions on how to get your own copy should you be interested.

The now commonplace Threatened Ecological Community and Species profiles, located on pages 8 and 9 in this issue, focus on the Subtropical and Temperate Coastal Saltmarsh (nominated by the WLT/HSI in 2010 with a listing decision due next year) and short-beaked echidna respectively, and precede an updated map of the spread of WLT refuges throughout Australia, and a table summarising new members that have come on board since Issue 10 was released earlier in the year.

Continued on page 2

Scarlett honeyeater at WLT refuge “Humane Farm Management” — Lee McCosker

OwnersMessages fromWlT SANcTUARy OWNERS

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Nature’sWonderlandThorondor family “Nature’s Wonderland” Queensland

Built on a 16 hectare rural property in the peaceful countryside of the Brisbane Valley, the setting of Nature’s Wonderland is lush grassland and trees, filled with a vast multitude of wildlife where we run a family-owned health and wellness business. The atmosphere is tranquil, with a spectacular view of the land and hills in the distance.

However, when we moved here ten years ago, it was a barren paddock suffering from the terrible drought. Aside from 2 hectares of native bush, it had been previously cleared for farming. We began the long and difficult process of reviving the land, beginning the planting around the house yard while continuing to endure the drought.

We now have a lush garden surrounding our house, filled with flowering plants such as a variety of grevillias which have attracted a huge variety of birds previously unseen on the property.

In September we discovered the WLT and we are now a proudly registered refuge. Our intention is to continue with plantings and the restructuring of the local environment to further enhance the sanctuary, and to encourage and support the growing populations of wildlife resident on Nature’s Wonderland.

There are 3 dams on the property, one of which is situated in a quiet grove of native trees, and a natural waterway running

Continued from page 1

Closing out the newsletter are updates on some of the goings on of our American counterparts, namely a new director at Cape Wildlife Centre and robotic elk anti-poaching efforts in Washington, as well as an Australian WLT property for sale section, first featured in Wildlife Lands Issue 9, with a Queensland (Wamuran Nature Refuge) and 2 New South Wales (Vineyard Haven and Buckombil Sanctuary) member refuges profiled.

The masthead photograph for Wildlife Lands 11 is from Anne-Marie Dineen and Joe Schick’s sanctuary, Oakview Wildlife Refuge. We look forward to getting in touch in 2013 and another successful year for the Australian Wildlife Land Trust.

through the front section of the property that contains water for most of the year. The area surrounding this creek is very marshy in the wet season. We plan to start revegetation in these prime areas and slowly encourage outwards growth.

Menageries of wild fauna are attracted to this Wonderland, and build their homes around our little pocket of paradise. The air is filled with birdsong, whilst families of eastern grey kangaroos can be seen lounging in the paddocks, joeys peeking out of their mother’s pouches. Our reserve boasts over 70 species of animals and more are being discovered all the time!

We are also very proud to have breeding koalas on our property and improving their habitat is a priority. Other examples of wildlife species known on the property include brush-tail possums, short-beaked echidnas, flying foxes and other bats, numerous butterflies and other insects, various frogs, reptiles such as geckos, snakes and water dragons, and a wide range of bird species including grey-crowned babblers, huge families of apostle birds — whose humorous antics are always fun to watch — rainbow lorikeets, rosellas and king parrots, galahs, corellas, cockatoos, magpies, ravens, wedge-tailed eagles, hawks, doves, many water birds such as wood ducks, black swans, royal spoonbills, ibis, and more!

Although the journey ahead to revegetate is long, the rewards and exciting new discoveries nature offers are all worth it. It is our dream to turn this entire property into a beautiful haven and a safe home for wildlife, and joining the WLT is one step closer to making this dream a reality.

WildlifELANDSISSUE 11 2012

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Nature’s

Crown View Ridge

RefugeMichael Mueller “crown View Ridge” New South Wales

I purchased my piece of ‘Aussie bush’ in 2010 and have since spent countless hours exploring its 55 hectares and the surrounding areas (even, rather embarrassingly, almost getting myself lost early on!). My property adjoins Crown Reserve bushland which itself adjoins native State Forest, and so forms part of a larger area of continuous bush. Most of the property is comprised of quite steep dry sclerophyll forest, interspersed with rugged granite ridges and rock formations.

Crown View Ridge is located about 20km northeast of Oberon (in the central tablelands of NSW). The property has a wide variety of birdlife, including scarlet robins, spotted quail-thrushes, gang-gang cockatoos, thornbills, treecreepers, wattlebirds, wedge-tailed eagles, nankeen kestrels and powerful owls (as the occasional possum tail on my front lawn will attest!). However, the real locals who seem to own my place are the kangaroos and wallabies, although the echidnas, wombats and possums might have something to say about that. That said, one of my favourite residents is the blotched blue tongue, and I have discovered a particular patch of rocky scrub which has a good population of these lizards, and I make a special effort to stay clear of that area.

I’ve always loved the bush, and have had a fascination with our native fauna since I was a little boy. A small part of the bushland has been degraded by past grazing, and is dominated by weeds, and one of my goals for the property is to regenerate that area. However, it’s not going to be easy — those weeds seem to return just as quickly as I can remove them, and low rainfall coupled with the voracious appetite of the ‘locals’, doesn’t make it the easiest place to establish new plants and grasses. Plus, I’m convinced the animals are actually attracted to any sort of tree guard I place around new seedlings, to the extent that I’ve had to construct some heavily fortified structures that the military would be proud of.

While I have a good knowledge of the local fauna, I’m definitely a novice bush regenerator, so am very keen for any tips and guidance. There is one particular native critter that can make work in my patch of bush slightly hazardous in the warmer months. No, it’s not the tiger snakes or copperheads, but rather an incredibly healthy bull ant population (and I’ve identified several different species to date, some individuals up to an inch long). The bull ants just seem to love the dry sandy, granite slopes that abound in my area. As a result, I’ve invested in an arsenal of extra-strong weeding gloves, although I’m not convinced they’d stand up to a bull ant sting (not to mention the jumping ants)!

I am very happy to be part of the ‘Wildlife Land Trust family’, as the scheme’s objectives are a great fit for the vision I have for my property, now and into the future.

Oma and Stephen Rodger “Oma and Stephen’s Refuge” Tasmania

I have supported the work of Humane Society International in a very small way, with a monthly donation, for years now, and it seemed a natural progression to join up to the Wildlife Land Trust when we purchased our property of cool temperate rainforest at the beginning of 2012.

Towering white gums once grew to the very coast of north west Tasmania and we now care for a remnant forest of those sentinel trees as part of our acreage of wet sclerophyll forest along the Wilmot River Valley, which remains as an important wildlife corridor running through to a crown land bush reserve.

As a wildlife rehabilitator, for eight years now, it was also important that the native bush around our property be appropriate for soft releasing some of the marsupials and other animals that come into care: and it has become the bush home of the injured and orphaned pademelon, red-necked wallaby, ringtail, brushtail and pygmy possums too. They have the best of both worlds, living in the bush but occasionally visiting, in safety, where they come to show us the next generation of joeys.

The flora on the hills is impenetrably thick and mostly undisturbed growth of native ferns, tree-ferns, bracken and such like, and as a result we have few invasive weeds, except for the exotic common foxglove (digitalis) which grows in cleared or disturbed ground.

As the latest custodians of the land, we have been focusing on eradicating these plants before seed dispersal. It will be some years yet before it is fully eradicated, but that is our goal.

Continued on page 2

Oma &

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Stephen’s

Kenandra

Continued from page 3

We are fortunate that our property and the bush reserve it borders have no public car access, which provides safety from motor vehicles and hunters and thus a safe haven for some of our struggling Tasmanian wildlife. The native bush also provides habitat for wildlife under threat from human development, such as eastern and spotted-tailed quolls and some healthy Tasmanian devils, echidnas and bandicoots that waddle through the undergrowth, microbats that spiral in flight near the river catching insects, and wedge-tailed eagles that nest in a side valley in the reserve. Sea eagles and cormorants patrol low over the river in search of fish and platypus live simply in the stiller waters. The cacophonous songs of small native birds is deafening, if you stop to listen: scarlet robins, blue wrens, firetail finches, swallows, fantails, New Holland honeyeaters, golden whistlers , native moorhen and many other bird species including flocks of black cockatoos — we have counted up to 90 winging their way home in the later afternoon.

So we have joined up our small sanctuary, the fifth in Tasmania, to help make the difference and in our small endeavours, add to the collective power of the Wildlife Land Trust’s work in protecting and preserving the living systems of which we are custodians. The WLT signs on our gate declare to all who walk through to the reserve that the Wildlife Land Trust is helping to preserve and secure wildlife for the future, and we are proud to be a part.

Ken and Sandy loveland “Kenandra” Western Australia

In 1999 we purchased 308 hectares of land which we named Kenandra, situated 24 kilometres from Jurien Bay and approximately 200 kilometres north of Perth. Apart from a few fences dividing up the property which was originally part of a much larger farm holding, and approximately fifty per cent bush, it appeared that with clearing restrictions in place it wasn’t going to be a viable grazing property for serious farmers hoping to make a living from it. After the subdivision of the original large farm of a few thousand hectares, it was really only going to attract dreamers like us, who were chasing a tree change lifestyle.

There was a yearning in both of us that something in our lives was missing and we had been looking for acreage for a long while, but all previous properties we had looked at had come up short for some reason or another (water/location/price etc). This block had it all: a mound spring (Mungagarra Spring) with permanent artesian water; the Hill River that contained water most of the year; natural bush; next door to a Nature Reserve; plenty of wildlife; undulating pasture paddocks; deep sands; and shallow sand over different coloured clays and various geology including limestone, sandstone and ironstone ridges, which created its own diverse bush in each area and great views!

We decided to grow trees, and planted 7,000 drought tolerant maritime pines in deep sands on a less productive spot on the property. This was followed up each year with new plantings of various eucalypts, sandalwood and broombush, and we revegetated any degraded areas of erosion with native plantings. An added bonus of all our efforts in tree planting, not that we knew at the time, was that the pines have become a restaurant for the Endangered Carnaby’s black-cockatoos, and numerous species of wildlife including many species of birds call Kenandra home.

In 2004 Sandy was handed a small western grey kangaroo to care for (that we named Molly). This was a turning point in our lives, and became the catalyst for the formation in 2007 of Loveland For Wildlife Inc., a not-for-profit wildlife charity of like-minded carers in the district, dedicated to the rescue and rehabilitation of sick injured and orphaned wildlife. Our farm has become the release site for theirs and other groups’ rehabilitated wildlife, due to its location next to the Hill River Nature Reserve. Funding was sought from Government and fox proofed pre-release pens were constructed for the last stage joeys before being released back into the wild.

Once released, lots of the wildlife groups’ orphaned joeys hang around the gardens, and because we wanted to share the experience with others, we have recently made available a farm stay chalet so that tourists that wish to get up close and personal with lots of friendly wildlife can do so.We joined the Wildlife Land Trust to use as another reference point and string to our bow when it comes to showing that we are serious about what we hope to achieve for Australia’s wildlife.

WildlifELANDSISSUE 11 2012

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Witchwood

Manor

Brushtail

Today the property is a mix of pasture, intensive food growing zones and also provides plenty of habitat for wildlife including possums, goannas and snakes, frogs in the billabong, birds galore and even regular swallows nesting on the lounge room beam. Shrike thrushes nest on the verandas and in the wash house, scrub wrens in the shed and even a neat little bushrat called Heimi visits the kitchen regularly. The garden and orchard are netted against bower birds, cockies and possums. If snakes become too familiar around my living space, I relocate them. Antechinus are encouraged as they compete with rats and mice.

I’m classed as living well below the poverty line and would be much better off financially on welfare, but the quality of life here is incomparable. I have a few small income streams that provide enough to pay the rates, stockfeed, phone bill and for the odd block of organic chocolate! There’s no reason not to be able to live harmoniously with all of the original inhabitants of this land, and in fact ‘pay the rent’ as well! We owe them for over a century of free lodgings, at their expense.

Jill Redwood “Witchwood” Victoria

The small valley of Goongerah is in an unusual situation — nestled between two forested National Parks, on a river fed from a wilderness area, and with a community of people with land-caring ethics and environmental understanding. It had been cleared and settled back in the 1860s and conventionally farmed for 120 years, until the original settler family sold their large chunk of the valley in small lots. I was lucky to find this Shangri-la and enjoy creating a wildlife friendly property.

The 9 hectares I bought was on rich river flats, but cleared right up to the water’s edge, sadly. There were only about four old remnant trees in the paddocks, but the place was surrounded on two and half sides with native forest. Thirty years ago I had boundless energy, and got stuck into building a house and restoring the land to be wildlife friendly, while still providing me with almost more food and fun than one person deserves. The river was revegetated with indigenous plants that halted the erosion, tree clumps and shelter belts were planted, fencing was put in, sheds, gardens and an orchard. Milking goats dealt with blackberries and a shovel dealt with the weeds where goats were banned. No chemicals have had to be used.

lorraine and John Mccann “Brushtail Manor” Queensland

Brushtail Manor is a 2.4 hectare wildlife sanctuary at Park Ridge South about 30km south west of Brisbane City. The reason we named it Brushtail Manor is twofold: the first is because we have hand raised and released a large number of brushtail possums over the past 10 years and they are undoubtedly our favourite Australian marsupial; and the second that upon purchase the property already had a lot of brushtail possums living here, much to our delight.

Apart from joining the Wildlife Land Trust we have also joined the Land For Wildlife program with our local council to give our little piece of paradise a bit of extra protection. More than three-quarters of our block is covered with native vegetation with narrow leafed-ironbark, bloodwood, grey gum and Moreton Bay ash being the main larger trees. Apart from native grasses there is a fairly thick under-story of red ash (soap tree), forest casuarina and black wattle.

So far we have counted 56 species of birds — not bad for such a small parcel of land. The most notable species so far is the Vulnerable (Queensland Nature Conservation Act, 1992) powerful owl that we have seen and heard at night on a number of occasions. The boobook owl and barking owl have also been sighted as well as the nocturnal tawny frogmouth. We have let the grass grow in places where it was once regularly cut, providing ideal habitat for two species of wrens, brown quails, and red-browed finches.

Continued on page 6

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Tanjung

Puting

WildlifeWildlifeWe are continuing our financial support for anti-poaching and habitat protection activities in Kalimantan National Park, in central Kalimantan on the island of Borneo. We have just signed a new Memorandum of Understanding with the Orangutan Foundation to help maintain their essential guard posts and patrols in Tanjung Puting National Park. WLT staff recently visited both Lamandau River Willdife Reserve and Tanjung Puting National Park to appreciate the work being carried out by many non-government organisations. The following describes the project work that we have agreed to support:

“The Orangutan Foundation is a UK registered charity whose aim is to ensure the survival of orangutans and the biodiversity of their habitat through the protection of the tropical forests of Borneo and Sumatra. The majority of our work is targeted towards Central Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo, which contains the largest areas of critical orangutan habitat. Our programs involve orangutan reintroductions and trans-locations, capacity building with local communities and partners, educational activities and scientific research. These are all important parts of our orangutan conservation strategy. Underlying them all, though, is the basic need to save the orangutans unique and diverse rainforest habitat.

The Orangutan Foundation has always made habitat protection a priority and the use of guard posts and patrols in protecting Tanjung Puting National Park and the Lamandau River Wildlife Reserve, with their precious orangutan populations, has been extremely successful. Our guard posts are strategically located along rivers as this is the main way in and out of the protected areas. The posts act as a visible deterrent to people trying to enter forests illegally, and as bases from which we can launch patrols and fire-fighting teams. They also help to ensure that the borders of the protected areas are clearly understood and respected.

The employment of villagers to work on the posts helps to reinforce this deterrent and generates greater local awareness of forest conservation issues. Illegal loggers will not attempt to pass the manned posts as they know that the Foundation’s staff will recognise them and report their activities. In the drier periods of the year, when forest fires are more likely, the patrols are extra vigilant. The guard posts store fire fighting equipment, as do the surrounding villages and they can tackle these fires before they become uncontrollable and call for assistance if necessary. The guard posts, patrolling, and monitoring requires on-going co-ordination and co-operation with the Indonesian Forestry Department and with the relevant law enforcement bodies and officials.”

~ Orangutan Foundation

HSi/WlTsupport guard postsand patrolsIN TANJUNg PUTiNg NATIONAL PARK

Continued from page 5

Apart from our many brushtail possum friends there are also a number of ringtail possums living here, as well as a few short-nosed Bandicoots and red-necked wallabies. The very beautiful squirrel glider makes its home as well and it’s always a joy when we spot one at night.

So far we have put up 40 assorted wildlife boxes and hollow logs to give the possums, gliders and parrots somewhere to nest or call home. Fortunately the Logan City Council is very environmentally conscious and recently gave us a $1,400 grant to purchase 20 of these boxes from Hollow Log Homes. Many of these artificial homes are now in use and contribute not only to the welfare of the wildlife on our block but on neighbouring properties as well.

Orangutan in Tanjung Puting National Park — Michael Kennedy

Rehabilitation

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Rehabilitation

WildlifeWildlife

The Commonwealth Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities has recently developed the National Wildlife Corridors Plan (NWCP): A framework for landscape-scale conservation. The plan outlines the Federal Government’s vision whereby a diversity of land tenures and land use types will contribute to wildlife corridors, recognising that as custodians of Australia’s environment, private landholders can play a significant part in conservation connectivity by retaining, restoring and managing valuable ecological links between protected areas and other complimentary land uses.

The Greater Eastern Ranges Initiative, of which the Wildlife Land Trust is a proud affiliate, is identified as one of six existing major corridor projects within the NWCP, with the region’s importance to biodiversity conservation profiled in the appendix of the plan.

To download the NWCP in PDF format head to http://goo.gl/RKCyE, or request a hard copy to be delivered free of charge by specifying ‘National Wildlife Corridors Plan’ at http://goo.gl/Ku5rG. If you have any problems with the above links or are without internet access, contact Evan on 1800 333 737 to arrange for a copy to be posted.

National Wildlife cORRidORS PLAN

Sylvia’s Retreat, Thylogale Nature Refuge, Licuala Rainforest Refuge and Cooper Creek Wilderness making it a memorable week.

The severe impact Cyclone Yasi had on the environment and wildlife habitats was evident at many of these refuges, despite more than 18 months having passed since it bore down on the Queensland coast. Such destruction makes the contributions of WLT members more vital still, and the importance of their wildlife caring efforts since those times should not be understated. A passion for and considerable commitment to our native wildlife was evident at each of these WLT refuges situated in a spectacularly unique pocket of the world.

Australian WildlifeREHABiliTATiON cONfERENcE& WlT REFUgE VISITS

The Wildlife Land Trust was a sponsor of the 2012 Australian Wildlife Rehabilitation Conference, held in Townsville, Queensland, from the 17th to the 20th of July. The conference brought together an enormous pool of wildlife care knowledge from around the country, with WLT members who presented including Ruth Lewis (Conservation and Protection of Koala Habitat) and Professor Steve Garlick and Dr. Rosemary Austin (The Emotional Lives of Kangaroos: Rehabilitation, Science and the Environment; Rescuing and Treating Macropod Fence Injuries).

It was an extremely well-organised and informative event which the Wildlife Land Trust was proud to be involved with — and for those that weren’t able to make it, transcripts of the numerous presentations given can be downloaded from http://www.awrc.org.au/townsville-2012.html.

Several visits to WLT sanctuaries in the region were made possible due to HSI/WLT representation at the conference, with stops at Mungarru Lodge Sanctuary, Tolga Bat Hospital,

Dusky-rat kangaroo at Thylogale Nature Refuge — Evan Quartermain

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CoastalSaltmarsh

Threatened ecological community profileSUbTROPICAL & TEMPERATE cOASTAl SAlTMARSHNominated by the Wildlife Land Trust/Humane Society International in 2010 and featuring on the Finalised Priority Assessment List of the same year, Minister Burke is due to make a decision on whether or not to list Subtropical and Temperate Coastal Saltmarsh as a Threatened Ecological Community under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, 1999 (EPBC Act) in mid-2013, based on advice from the independent Threatened Species Scientific Committee. The WLT/HSI nomination stated the case for a national Endangered listing on four criteria: a decline in geographic distribution; small geographic distribution coupled with demonstrable threat; a rate of continuing detrimental change; and quantitative analysis showing probability of extinction.

While there can be significant commonality of species between coastal and inland saltmarshes, the communities are distinguished by their biological and non-biological components, with a key feature of coastal saltmarsh being that it primarily occurs in the intertidal zone. Coastal saltmarsh is distinguished from adjoining terrestrial communities such as coastal heath and scrub through being dominated by halophytes (plants adapted to live in soil containing a high concentration of salt), and can be divided into two main communities, tropical and non-tropical (ie. subtropical and temperate), the latter occurring south of 23 degrees latitude. Tropical coastal saltmarsh communities show markedly lower species diversity than their subtropical and temperate counterparts, and the mix of species is also strongly distinct between the two communities.

Threatened species supported by Subtropical and Temperate Coastal Saltmarsh include several that are protected by the EPBC Act such as the Australasian bittern (Botaurus poiciloptilus), Australian painted snipe (Rostratula australis), false water rat (Xeromys myoides), southern emu-wren (Stipiturus malachurus), yellow chat (Ephthianura crocea macgregori) and orange-bellied parrot (Neophema chrysogaster). Others classified as threatened under various state laws include the beach (Esacus magnirostris) and bush (Burhinus grallarius) stone curlew, Lewin’s rail (Lewinia pectoralis), white-fronted chat (Epthianura albifrons) and the saltmarsh looper moth (Dasybela achroa), and numerous migratory waders listed under international conventions also rely on the ecological community as habitat.

While being listed as Endangered under the New South Wales Threatened Species Conservation Act, 1995, the ecological community also spans the coasts of Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia, making a national listing under the EPBC Act the best chance of survival for Subtropical and Temperate Coastal Saltmarsh in the face of considerable development and climate change threats. Climate change-induced warming of air and sea temperatures is likely to shift the boundary between tropical and subtropical and temperate saltmarsh such that the tropical form and its species shifts southward. And logically, as the subtropical and temperate variety is more diverse, this will see a reduction in the integrity of the habitat type. The community is naturally fragmented due to its reliance on particular geomorphological parameters associated with estuaries and embayments, and key components of (and eventually the whole community) can be lost to both mangrove and freshwater incursion or sedimentation.

Other factors reducing community integrity include recreational vehicle use and stormwater discharges, as well as runneling (the practice of cutting channels through salt marsh in order to partially drain it and reduce mosquito breeding habitat), used as an alternative to chemical or biochemical treatments for reducing mosquito populations which pose potential risks to nearby human populations. Salt mining is regarded as the highest threat to South Australian saltmarsh regions, where many coastal areas are under lease from mining companies which supply salt for the petrochemical industry.

Coastal salt marsh, South Australia — Wikimedia Commons/Peripitus

Echidna

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did you know?

The earliest fossils of the short-beaked echidna date back to approximately 15 million years ago (Pleistocene era), with the oldest specimens found in South Australian caves.

Short-beakedSpeciesprofile

SHORT-bEAKEd EcHidNA

Echidna

The short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus) is one of the most widespread native Australian wildlife species, occurring almost anywhere their primary food sources, ants and termites, are located. Also found in southeast New Guinea, the species is the only one in its genus, and together with the platypus and three species of New Guinean echidna (Zaglossus spp.), is one of the only surviving monotremes — egg laying mammals.

When fully grown short-beaked echidnas typically weigh between 2 and 5 kg, and are 30 to 45 cm in length — however the Tasmanian subspecies, Tachyglossus aculeatus setosus, is slightly smaller than its mainland counterparts. Its defensive spines are modified hairs mostly comprised of keratin, with fur between them ranging in colour from honey through black (varying with geographic location) providing insulation. They are a solitary species, and apart from the burrow created for rearing young they have no fixed shelter or nest site, with their often overlapping range areas typically being between 40 and 60 hectares.

The musculature of the species has a number of unusual aspects, featuring elongated, backward facing hind feet and claws and stout, strong front limbs which allow it to rapidly dig, break up wood and move stones. By contraction of the panniculus carnosus, a layer of striated muscle covering the entire body just beneath the skin, the short-beaked echidna can defensively and characteristically change shape when threatened by rolling itself into a ball.

Well adapted to survive underground, short-beaked echidnas have a great tolerance to high levels of carbon dioxide and low levels of oxygen, adaptations doubly useful for survival in areas of frequent bushfire activity.

Mucus glands on the end of their snouts act as electroreceptors, and a series of push rods (columns of flattened, spinous cells) act as mechanical sensors, completing a sophisticated array of prey detection tools.

Echidnas go into deep torpor during the winter before emerging as the temperature increases to breed, looking for a mate between May and September; the precise timing of the mating season varying with geographic location. Gestation takes between 21 and 28 days, during which time the female constructs a nursery burrow. Following the gestation period, a single, rubbery-skinned egg is laid from the female echidna’s cloaca directly into a small, backward-facing pouch on her abdomen. Ten days after it is laid, the egg hatches within the pouch and a young echidna, known as a “puggle”, emerges. After a lactation period of about 200 days, the young leave the burrow, at which time they weigh around one kilogram.

Although they are not threatened with extinction, anthropogenic impacts such as habitat destruction and the introduction of foreign predatory species and parasites continue to reduce the long-term viability of the short-beaked echidna. Despite their spines, predators of the echidna include Tasmanian devils, dingoes, goannas, cats, and foxes. Known for their digging abilities and strong sense of smell, goannas were likely the primary predators of the echidna prior to European settlement.

Despite preying on echidnas, research has shown that the top-predator status of the dingo performs a regulatory role in many Australian ecosystems, playing a significant part in the control of feral predatory species such as cats and foxes. As a result a healthy dingo population is not only advantageous for the short-beaked echidna, but is good news for the large majority of Australian wildlife species.

Short-beaked echidna — Fir0002/Flagstaffotos

New Members

10

For SaleFOR SAlESanctuaries Wamuran Nature Refuge

Sunshine Coast QLD $600,000 neg.11 hectare sanctuary contiguous with the Mt. Miketeebumulgrai section of Glass House Mountains National Park. The property has a Voluntary Conservation Agreement with the regional council and a Nature Refuge Agreement with the Queensland Government. Almost entirely vegetated and part of an isolated tract of vegetation of state conservation significance, Wamuran provides a perfect setting for wildlife rehabilitation and release work.

The owners of the following WLT sanctuaries are looking for conservation-minded buyers.

For further information on any of these spectacular properties, get in touch with Evan on 1800 333 737 or email him at evan@hsi.org.au.

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Owners

Roy and Wendy AdamsMandy Martin and Scott MeierLenore and Kim TaylorJohn and Norma DwyerDavid and Beryl JenkinsonSharyn MunroRon and Sandra ClarkNoel and Felicity CossinsJane HoskingRob SnesbyMichael Mueller

11 new sanctuaries

Rebecca and Matthew WildHelen MillsSusan and Geoff BrazierThe Rosicrucian Order – The AquariansPatricia KellyThorondor Family TrustCarmen Nevin and Phyllis Gratton

7 new sanctuaries

WISF1 new sanctuary

Steve and Sue RoseKen and Sandy Loveland

2 new sanctuaries

Oma Rodger and Stephen Walsh1 new sanctuary

Size (ha)

33.645.78

882.540

65.5542.3

303.53

1354

691.23

20.940.9490

31511664

3324.88

165165

2.2308

310.2

10.1210.12

location

CowraWoottonPericoeStokers SidingByabarraUpper HunterUrliupTenterfieldTinoneeArrawarraMount Olive

BlackbuttEudloClifton BeachBerrinbaGreenupToogoolawahStanthorpe

Castella

West ToodyayJurien Bay

Kindred

New South Wales

Queensland

Victoria

Western Australia

Tasmania

Sanctuary Name

WaarnaMandy and Scott’s RefugeWog Wog Wildlife SanctuaryJohn and Norma’s RefugeBooyongSkywood SpringsUrliup Wildlife SanctuaryDemon Valley Wildlife RefugeJane’s RefugeRob’s RefugeCrown View Ridge

Where the Wild Things AreWait a WhileIfdawnBerrinba SanctuaryWilga ParkNature’s WonderlandWagtail Retreat

Castella Refuge

YarraanKenandra

Oma and Stephen’s Refuge

New MembersNew WildlifE lANd TRUST SANCTUARIES

WildlifELANDSISSUE 11 2012

11

Vineyard Haven Nth Coast NSW $425,000 neg.Conservation/Heritage property of 36.5 hectares covered entirely by Voluntary Conservation Agreement (rate free) located near Evans Head. Heavily forested (4 ha. old growth), weed free undulating land

with walking trails. Completely fenced, same owners for 41 years, the property features a bountiful diversity of flora & fauna. Improvements include a two bedroom sandstone home, large Colourbond shed, 6x6m bookhouse/studio and 3x6m demountable. Health needs necessitate a quick sale.

Buckombil Sanctuary Northern Rivers NSW $880,000This 6.1 hectare property sits on Buckombil Mountain, 20 minutes from Ballina. Features 4.4 hectares of Big Scrub Remnant protected by a Registered Property Agreement and is a member of Land for Wildlife. The endangered Richmond Birdwing Butterfly makes its home here, along with numerous other species. A large 4 bedroom, professionally designed, modern home sits at the top of the property, surrounded by landscaped gardens.

United Statesincluding skunks, foxes, coyotes, squirrels, opossums, mice, raccoons, rabbits, fishers and turtles, plus many types of songbirds, raptors and water birds.

Millman, who has more than 20 years of nonprofit management experience, joins a full-time veterinarian, licensed wildlife rehabilitators, volunteers and externs from throughout the United States and abroad, who heal and prepare wildlife for eventual release back into the wild.

HSWlT collaborative effort to combat poaching

The HSUS and The Humane Society Wildlife Land Trust (HSWLT) recently announced a new venture to support the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s efforts to fight wildlife crime, donating a robotic elk decoy which was used in anti-poaching operations during the most recent hunting season. The donation was not initially publicized in order to maximize its effectiveness.

Fish and Wildlife Police officers set-up decoys in popular poaching spots and covertly wait for shooters to take aim. Robotic elk decoys boost law enforcement’s effectiveness by allowing officers, the wildlife victim, and the criminal to all be at the same place at once, which otherwise rarely happens

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News fromTHE US

New director for cape Wildlife centre in Massachusetts

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) has appointed Deborah Robbins Millman as director of the Cape Wildlife

Center in Barnstable, Massachusetts, one of five animal care centers across the country operated by The HSUS.

Operated in partnership with The Fund for Animals, the Cape Wildlife Center is a state-of-the-art facility which provides emergency care and wildlife rehabilitation for more than 1,700 animals annually. Open 365 days a year since 2000, the Center cares for 135 species of native American wildlife,

An updated map of Australian WLT sanctuaries, with new refuges in blue

WildlifELANDSISSUE 11 2012

MissionGoals

JoinBecome part of the Wildlife land Trust!If you are interested in registering your property with the Wildlife Land Trust, head to our website at www.wildlifelandtrust.org.au and click on the ‘Sign your land up now!’ button to complete the simple online application form. If you don’t have internet access or would like further information, call 1800 333 737 to arrange for an application form and information pack to be mailed out.

We invite you to join Australia’s contribution to an international wildlife sanctuary network.The Wildlife Land Trust is a very inclusive initiative, a feature exemplified by the wide range of sizes, uses and locations of our current members — whether your property is 1 or 1,000 hectares, a working farm, family home or dedicated purely to conservation, a positive difference for native wildlife and habitat conservation can be made through the declaration of intent that Wildlife Land Trust membership signifies.

The primary focus of the Wildlife Land Trust is to encourage private land holders with an interest in habitat protection to join with like-minded people in a national and global effort for wildlife conservation. By joining you’ll become a member of an expanding worldwide group of sanctuaries promoting best conservation practices and protecting wildlife and habitats, with other benefits including: the opportunity to tell like-minded people about your sanctuary and its wildlife inhabitants through stories in our regular newsletter and on your dedicated website profile; advice should your property come under any threats of development; partnership in our habitat conservation programs throughout Australia; WLT signage for your property; and an official membership certificate.

The program is completely voluntary and there are no costs or legal obligations involved — the WLT is designed to complement any existing or future agreements you might enter into to protect your land, and the non-binding nature of our agreements means there is no need for concern over potential conflicts. This makes the Wildlife Land Trust a risk and cost free opportunity to get involved in a worldwide conservation initiative.

Our website at www.wildlifelandtrust.org.au provides regularly updated information on the Australian WLT program and our project partners, while further details of the Trust’s international activities can be found on the US based WLT website at www.hswlt.org. If you would like any further information, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with Evan Quartermain on 1800 333 737 or at evan@hsi.org.au.

Our Mission:

Wildlife Land Trust Australia protects wildlife by preserving natural habitats and permanent sanctuaries.

Our Goals:

To see the protection of one million acres of wildlife habitat across Australia in the Wildlife Land Trust sanctuary network.

To seek the expansion of Wildlife Land Trust sanctuary partnerships throughout Africa, India and south-east Asia.

Wildlife Land TrustPO Box 439 Avalon NSW 2107 AustraliaTelephone +61 2 9973 1728 Facsimile +61 2 9973 1729Email wlt@hsi.org.auwww.wildlifelandtrust.org.auwww.hswlt.org

ISBN 978-0-9874641-1-8

Continued from page 11

— it is estimated that only 1 percent to 5 percent of poached wildlife come to the attention of law enforcement and US wildlife officials estimate that tens of millions of animals are poached nationally on an annual basis.

The donation was prompted by several high-profile spree-killing cases in Washington, where multiple elk and other species fell victim to poachers. Spree-killing is a particularly egregious wildlife crime where multiple animals are killed in a single episode, with the perpetrators often not bothering to retrieve their kills, or only recovering parts for trophy value.

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The donated elk decoy — HSUS