Debbie Lustig recently forwarded a link to youtube about an ‘extinction emergency’, Leadbeater’s Possum and an election campaign. Actually, I think it was only about an election campaign. I like Leadbeater’s Possum and I understand that it is very endangered, and I am concerned for its plight. However, I cringe to the bone when people bring out the word ‘extinction’ to protect something that is not on the verge of extinction. Threatened and/or declining are not the same thing as ‘going extinct’. In 2005 my research showed that the Christmas Island Pipistrelle (a tiny insectivorous bat) was about to go extinct (imminently and actually extinct, not just facing growing threats). When I reported this to the bureaucrats in the federal environment department they chose to do nothing. Their attitude was that they had heard the extinction card so many times before and they didn’t believe it. The boy who cried wolf. Well, in 2009 the CI pipistrelle was the first extinction of a vertebrate in Australia for decades, pretty much as my research had predicted a few years earlier. My research on CI also predicted the extinction of 4 lizard species, none of which now survive in the wild. Our government did nothing to save them either, until after the so-called ‘wakeup call’ of the pipistrelle’s extinction. The moral of this story is, don’t announce that Leadbeater’s Possum is facing an extinction emergency if it is not. Because that numbs decision makers to the concept of extinction and HAS ALREADY contributed to the extinction of at least 3 Australian animals in the last 5 years. =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) to: birding-aus-request@vicnet.net.au http://birding-aus.org ===============================
I agree we must be careful not to over-state, for reasons given by David. I was trying to explain this to a lady who had developed an otherwise excellent presentation for schools and other groups about koalas, but was saying they would be extinct in five years. Well, that was 4 years ago, I doubt they will be extinct by next year, and everything else she says in the video loses credibility accordingly. I feel there has also been too much in-your-face exultation about halting developments with the discovery of endangered species. I’m all for halting developments that compromise biodiversity and threaten already-threatened species (and have been personally responsible for instance for diverting a council’s plans when I found a green-thighed tree frog on the property in question) but I have been asked (a) by people who want to stop a development for reasons unrelated to wildlife to try and find something endangered so they can do so, and (b) by a developer who wanted me to do a preliminary survey and find such creatures so he could get rid of them before he applied for a permit (which of course I refused, but wonder how often this happens). Amongst ourselves, the concern for endangered species is very real and it is a complex issue that needs to be studied and acted on properly – in other quarters the concept of endangered species is often seen as a sort of a con trick designed to stop progress for political or philosophical reasons (and I think the first kind of request mentioned above adds fuel to this, especially when they make a lot of noise about it on Facebook etc.). There are many situations where projects really should be modified or cancelled, or management plans altered, but I’m afraid the truly important cases get lost in the noise, and an unfortunate impression is often given that detracts from solid, well-founded advice offered to developers and government. Ronda Green, BSc(Hons) PhD Araucaria Ecotours (advanced eco-certification on all tours) http://www.learnaboutwildlife.com platypuscorner@bigpond.com ph 61 7 5544 1283 Visit us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AraucariaEcotours Araucaria Blog: http://araucariaecotours.com.au Chair Wildlife Tourism Australia: http://wildlifetourism.org.au Chair Scenic Rim Wildlife: http://scenicrim.wildlife.org.au/ Adjunct research fellow, Environmental Futures Centre, Griffith University =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) http://birding-aus.org ===============================