About the disgraceful Maria Island kangaroo shootfest!
Urgent! Maria Island kangaroo and wallaby kill to start again! Details below! The Island has a long and sad history of exploitation of both human, animal and mineral resources. In 1825 Maria became a penal settlement. Because of the number of escapes, the settlement was later transfered to Port Arthur. Apparently even in those days the management was poor. Some subsistance farming took place around the perimeter of the Island, although the interior is high and rugged. Most of the origonal wildlife appears to have disappeared during this period.
Above; Maria Island in the morning sunlight. Later a cement works was established, but soon closed. The remnants of the convict buildings and the cement works can still be seen. Several good walking tracks are on the Island, and no vehicles are allowed although pushbikes are. Maria Island was declared a Fauna Sanctuary in 1968, and then progressed to National Park status, and a Marine Park around some of the Island was added in 1991. From 1965 a number of Tasmanian native animals were introduced by the then Government. The idea was to create a fauna reserve that would attract tourism. Obviously even back in 1965 there were also concerns about wether some of these unique Tasmanian native animals would become extinct due to mainland development.
Above; A Bennets Wallaby with her joey. Around 300 were killed in July 2007 along with another 200 or so pademelons. However the introduction of these species to Maria Island has created some unique management problems, few of which seem to be adequately addressed. The introduced animals included koalas, possums, emus, Forester kangaroos, Bennets wallabies, pademelons, the Tasmanian native fowl, Tasmanian bettongs, bandicoots (both brown and barred), echidnas and others. Later the emus were eradicated along with the introduced deer and cats.
Above; A beautiful Flame Robin perches on convict building remains on Maria Island. In 1975, after a serious drought, public concern about starving kangaroos encouraged the government to shoot about 75% of the kangaroos, wallabies, and pademelons. Each year since then, the Island is closed to visitors in winter and another shootfest takes place. The shooting is undertaken by staff from National Parks and the Department of Primary Industries and Water (DPIW). DPWI used to be the Dept of Environment too, but fortunately it got taken away from them. Sometimes politicians are invited along for the shoot, last year one of them was the Tasmanian Premier.
Above; Maria Island kangroos are fit and healthy! In July 2007, around 620 animals were killed. This tally included around 100 Forester kangaroos, and the rest were Bennets wallabies and pademelons. In November 2008 I visited the Island with Nikki Sutterby from the Australian Kangaroo Protection Society. Our visit was prompted by expressions of concern from many of our Tasmanian and Mainland members, who were very concerned about the whole process.
Above; A Maria Island kangaroo with her joey. Around 100 kangaroos were shot in 2007. We also met with Government representatives. It appears there is very little data to justify a shoot, and in my opinion it has just become a "habit". We discussed alternative non-lethal options, and National Parks were interested in pursuing a better management process, although DPIW were less enthusiastic. Sadly when on the Island we saw very few Bennets wallabies, and no pademelons, although we intend to go back to have a better look early next year. We spoke to some of the campers and they said there were some wallabies around in the late evening. The lowlying ex-farmland is covered in thistles, about nine different species I was told. The balance of this area where the macropods graze consists of introduced grasses. We also spent some time with the local wildlife and animal welfare groups who were also very incensed about the shootfest.
We understand around 100 kangaroos were killed in July 2007. Some wildlife carers we spoke to had requested to be able to save the joeys, but were refused. The management of macropods on Maria Island clearly has become an annual shootfest for government sporting shooters, and the Government needs to come up with some decent data showing that the shooting is justified, and they need to produce some peer-reviewed credible data on what damage if any the macropods are having on native plant species. More updates on this matter later.
Above; A Maria Island Bennets Wallaby waits for the sun to warm him up. We believe around 300 wallabies were shot in July 2007. You can help stop this disgraceful annual shootout by contacting the Tasmanian Ministers below. You can ask them to investigate and implement non-lethal macropod management on Maria Island. You can also suggest that this kill when exposed will have a very negative effect on Tasmanian tourism, and the Tasmanian Government can look good by doing better. STOP PRESS! We found out today (12/6/08) that the Tasmanian Government is to hold another shootfest on Maria Island starting 30th June. In a letter recieved last week, they have told us that our nonlethal kangaroo management suggestions are unworkable, and "culling" will continue. No doubt their decision has been helped by the perception that the ACT government has got away with the Belconnen kill. Please email or phone the politicians below urgently! Local groups will be protesting, and will need our support. They will be distributing flyers to the Tourism Industry, and to tourists themselves.
Electorate: Lyons Phone: (03) 6233 6454 Fax: (03)6233 2272 david.llewellyn@parliament.tas.gov.au Minister for Primary Industries and Water. Minister for Police and Emergency Management. Minister for Energy. GOVERNMENT CONTACTS Premier david.bartlett@parliament.tas.gov.au 03 62332530 Minister Env Heritage and the Arts david.llewellyn@parliament.tas.gov.au 03 62336454 Secretary Env Heritage and Arts Assistant Lauren Parr lauren.parr@depha.tas.gov.au 03 62335908
You can also download and print out a flier here to pin up in your workplace or local shop window. RIGHT click to download. Right click to download the Maria Island Flier!
THANKS EVERYONE
Above; Endangered Cape Barren Geese on Maria Island.
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