The Real Tasmanian Devils: Destroying Tasmania.
January 26th 2007 22:19
He's not the real devil
In 2003 I visited Tasmania. I walked from the city to the Botanical gardens because fortunately Hobart is small enough to get around on foot. The Tasmanian botanical gardens are situated beside Government House, the residence of the Tasmanian Governor. At the end of these beautiful gardens which contain wonderful exhibits such as a cold room that nurtures the plants and environment of Antarctic islands I found a dismal and abandoned bird enclosure on which a sign was posted which said, “THIS ENCLOSURE HAD TO BE CLOSED BECAUSE OF VANDALISM.” In the years that have followed, the vandals have flourished.
It occurred to me that the real Tasmanian devils were not the furry and rather aggressive little black carnivores, they are the people in charge of Tasmania, the people who deliberately introduced the European fox, the vandals destroying the Tasmanian wildlife and wilderness and especially the people who work for Gunns the forestry company destroying Tasmanian old growth forests.
Some people are standing up for Tasmania such as the award winning author Richard Flanagan who wrote the highly successful novel “Gould’s Book of Fish.” Flanagan was attacked by the Tasmanian premier who had the temerity to suggest that he should leave Tasmania for criticizing Gunns. It is unlikely that the current incumbents in the Tasmanian government would give a damn if Tasmania lost their award winning authors. They don’t read literature and besides the artistic community has always been a nuisance to them for highlighting the part governments led by both parties have played in the destruction of this beautiful place.
There is a brutality and carelessness with which Tasmanians treat their environment and each other that may date back to the brutal convict origins of the place. An excellent resource for every dedicated reader is the Robert Hughes book, “The Fatal Shore.”
People from the mainland should make of point of going and seeing Tasmania before it is all gone. No one seems to care, little is posted by bloggers on this issue and those who stand up for the place are abused, sued and otherwise attacked.
Under the headings below I provide more details for those interested and cite the origins of the material. I hope this is another issue for which bloggers everywhere take up the cudgel and show what they can do.
Destruction of Old Growth Forests
"Outraged world citizens today protested at Australian embassies and consulates in America, Canada, Japan and the United Kingdom to decry the destruction of old-growth forests and the undermining of democracy in the country's island state of Tasmania by Forestry Tasmania and Gunns, Ltd., a rogue billion-dollar logging giant whose practices rank among the world's worst according to recent reports.
The IUCN compares Gunns' operations to rampant illegal logging in the Third World.
Demonstrators delivered a letter signed by leading international sustainability groups to Prime Minister John Howard demanding that the government act in accordance with scientific recommendations to protect Tasmania's virgin forests from a well-documented arsenal of logging tactics deployed by Gunns and industry-controlled Forestry Tasmania. In the wake of massive clearcuts by Gunns, the industry routinely scorches the Earth with Napalm firebombs to eradicate all remaining life.
Gunns has also killed hundreds of thousands of native mammals using carrots poisoned with Compound 1080, a lethal super-toxin listed as a biological weapon by both the Canadian and US governments. Gunns CEO John Gay has publicly stated that it is okay that his company kills endangered animals because "there's too many of them." Tasmania's forests are currently being clear-cut at an unprecedented rate equivalent to approximately 44 football fields per day. The vast majority of Tasmania's priceless ancient trees are being processed into woodchips by Gunns to make disposable paper products destined for landfills in America and Asia.
The worldwide call for action today echoed a dozen of Australia's leading scientists who signed a 2004 statement of support for the protection of Tasmania's forests calling for the "urgent need for Australian government intervention." The effort to protect Tasmania's forests is one of the largest environmental issues in Australian history, and according to a 2004 opinion poll by Newspoll, over 85 percent of Australian citizens favor full protection for Tasmania's pristine forests.
Carrying signs reading "Stop Gunns" and "Save Tassie's Trees," forest defenders around the world protested with "GUNNS" taped over the mouths in solidarity with 20 silenced citizens in Australia who are currently being sued by Gunns for speaking out against the company's attacks on environmental treasures and public health. Likened to McDonald's "McLibel" lawsuit, websites like Gunns20.org and McGunns.com are evidence of a growing global grassroots movement to protect free speech, reassert democracy and save old-growth forests. The Gunns 20 lawsuit has also been condemned by leading human rights lawyers in the UK. For the Tasmania Forest Campaign, Rainforest Action Network and its allies today launched TreesNotGunns.org to organize future worldwide action.
At the Australian High Commission in London today, British MP and Deputy Environmental Minister Norman Baker met with the Deputy High Commissioner to deliver the NGO letter and spoke about the atrocities he witnessed on his visit to Tasmania last month. Over 100 members of the British Parliament recently signed a motion condemning Gunns' actions and calling for an international boycott of woodchips and paper sourced from Tasmania's old-growth forests.
... Spearheaded by San Francisco-based Rainforest Action Network, the worldwide day of protest expands one of the largest environmental protection campaigns in Australian history to global economic centers including Houston, London, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Tokyo, Vancouver and Washington, D.C. The letter to Prime Minister Howard was signed by coalition of US and European-based groups including Forest Ethics (ForestEthics.org), Friends of the Earth International (FOE.org), Global Exchange (GlobalExchange.org), Global Response (GlobalResponse.org), International Forum on Globalization (IFG.org), Native Forest Network (NativeForest.org), Pacific Environment (PacificEnvironment.org), Rainforest Action Network (RAN.org), Ruckus Society (Ruckus.org) and the Sierra Club (SierraClub.org)."
Borrowed from the Jennifer Marohasy site on www.jennifermarohasy.com
The Cancer Attacking The Tasmanian Devil
The results
Devil facial tumour disease (DFTD) is a transmittable parasitic cancer in the Tasmanian Devil. The first "official case" was described in 1995, [1]
In the subsequent decade the disease ravaged Tasmania's wild devils, with estimates of decline ranging from 20% to as much as a 50% of the devil population, across over 65% of the state.[2][3] Affected high-density populations suffer up to 100% mortality in 12–18 months.[4] The disease has mainly been concentrated in the State’s eastern half, although in early 2005, three cases were confirmed in South Tasmania.[citation needed]
Visible DFTD symptoms begin as lesions and lumps around the mouth. The lesions and lumps develop into cancerous tumours that spread from the face to the entire body. The tumours interfere with feeding, and the affected animal may starve to death.
Using cultures of the cancerous tissue to study the condition, researchers have identified the cancer as a neuroendocrine tumor, and all the cancer cells have identical chromosomal rearrangements.[5] A virus was initially thought to be the cause of DFTD, but no evidence of such a virus could be detected in the cancer cells. Environmental toxins have also been suspected. [6] The cancer cells themselves are an infective agent, with transmission of the disease occurring by biting, feeding on the same material, and aggressive mating. Final confirmation of this came when researcher Anne-Maree Pearse and colleagues [7] found an infected animal that had a chromosomal abnormality in its non-tumourous cells that did not appear in its tumour cells, proving that the tumour cells could not have descended from the animal's own cells.[8][9][10] Pearse believes that this may prove vital to the survival of the devils. Since June 2005, three females have been found that are partially resistant to DFTD.[11]
Tasmanian Devils have 14 chromosomes, while the tumours contain 13.[12]
The DFTD cells have a similar karyotype to cancer cells from canine transmissible venereal tumor, a cancer of dogs that is transmitted between animals by physical contact.[5][13]
From Wikpedia
Tasmanian Government Attacks award winning author
Lennon's character assasination of Flanagan diverts from the real issue
Media Release
23 July 2004
Tasmanian Premier Paul Lennon's extraordinary and untruthful personal attack on author Richard Flanagan is a diversion from the real issue raised in Flanagan's article about Jim Bacon's political legacy – and that is the damage that Tasmania continues to suffer from the Government's support for the massive woodchipping being carried out by Gunns.
The Wilderness Society's Tasmanian Campaign Coordinator, Geoff Law, said that Flanagan's article had highlighted the Tasmanian Government's support for big business, and in particular, woodchip companies such as Gunns.
"Premier Paul Lennon is unhappy that the damaging consequences of the close links between the government and woodchip industry have been exposed," said Mr Law. "His response is to mount an untrue character assassination of Richard Flanagan."
"Mr Lennon's intemperate response once again shows why Tasmania needs the federal government to intervene and inject some sanity to forest management in this state."
Mr Law said that the Premier's attacks on Richard Flanagan contained patent untruths, such as that Flanagan was not prepared to criticize Mr Bacon while he was alive. This is breathtaking nonsense as illustrated by the speeches made by Flanagan at Wilderness Society rallies in August 2001 and March 2003, and his article in the Bulletin magazine.
"Under Jim Bacon and now under Paul Lennon, Tasmania has experienced hugely damaging levels of woodchipping. Magnificent oldgrowth forests have been destroyed; wilderness has been reduced; protected species of wildlife have been poisoned. The Gunns woodchip juggernaut rolls on, bringing more and more wealth to a select handful of people. This is a significant and undeniable component of Mr Bacon's legacy. No amount of bullying and bluster can camouflage these uncomfortable truths."
Contact:
Geoff Law, The Wilderness Society, ph
03) 6224 1550Introduction of the Fox to Tasmania
This guy works for Gunns
Since they were introduced for recreational hunting in the mid-1800s, foxes have spread across most of Australia. They have played a major role in the decline of a number of species of native animals and they also prey on newborn lambs. Control of foxes relies heavily on conventional techniques such as shooting, poisoning and fencing. In the future, a combination of biological and conventional control methods may be able to reduce the damage foxes cause.
History
The European red fox was deliberately introduced to Australia for recreational hunting in 1855 and fox populations became established in the wild in the early 1870s. Within 100 years the fox had spread across most of Australia, though it currently does not occur in the tropical north and some off-shore islands remain fox free. In 2001, evidence began to emerge suggesting that foxes had been introduced into Tasmania, which was previously fox free.
Impact
The fox has played a major role in the decline of ground-nesting birds, small to medium sized mammals such as the greater bilby, and reptiles such as the green turtle. It is thought to have caused a severe reduction in populations of many other threatened species, including the bridled nail-tail wallaby and the night parrot.
The fox causes significant economic losses to farmers by preying on newborn lambs, goat kids and poultry.
The fox could also act as a carrier of rabies, should the disease accidentally be introduced into Australia. Rabies mostly affects members of the dog family, but can also be passed on to humans, livestock and native mammals.
From the website of the Department of Environment and Heritage
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