Wildlife Australia Magazine Wildlife Australia Magazine Winter 2021 Vorige editie

THE Federal Government announced in December 2020 that it would be disbanding the Threatened Species Recovery Hub (TSRH) in late 2021. Wildlife Australia magazine has covered the hub’s innovative work since its inception in 2017, bringing the cold numerical realities of threats to rare Australian species to the fore.
Now TSRH’s threatened species focus is to be diverted to four other hubs that have specific territories: the Climate Systems Hub; the Resilient Landscapes Hub; the Marine and Coastal Hub; and the Sustainable Communities and Waste Hub.
One of TSRH’s more striking achievements was to calculate how Australia was failing in its financial approach to saving threatened and endangered species. An article in The Guardian reported: “Australia was spending about $122m a year on endangered wildlife, about 10 percent of what was being spent in the US and about 15 percent of what was needed to prevent the extinction of species”. Hopefully this is not a case of shooting the messenger.
On a happier note in this edition, bold moves to ‘rescue’ the rare mountain pygmy-possum through a breeding program near Lithgow in NSW, followed by a placement of the possums in the warmer lowland habitats of their ancient forebears, is underway as proof of Australia’s research-led resourcefulness. It may set an example for the recovery of other species.
If there is a magic formula for species regeneration in both the plant and animal kingdoms, it seems to have a lot to do with water.
After decent rains across Australia, butterflies are thriving in North Queensland, and waterbirds have returned in their millions to parts of the Murray-Darling Basin. Meanwhile killer whales are flocking in unprecedented numbers to the rich feeding zones of south Western Australia.
Oh, and wild dogs? They are now proven to be mostly dingoes.