Category Archives: WIldlife Conservation

Anything to do with wildlife conservation, primarily local but also Austraian and worldwide

Does it matter if we disturb wildlife?

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walking near wild kangaroos without disturbing themIn our ecotours we try to always leave animals doing whatever it was they were doing when we first see them – this gives some measure that we are not disturbing them in any important way.  If the whiptail wallabies are still grazing on the same patch of grass, the koala hasn’t climbed higher in the tree and the honeyeaters are still sipping the same flowers, we can be fairly confident that our presence hasn’t made too much of a difference to them.

I’ve reviewed quite a lot of literature on minimal-impact wildlife viewing, and given a number of presentations on the same, making the point that while occasional disturbance is probably unimportant, repeated disturbances have the potential to deter animals from using favoured feeding areas, or from successful reproduction.

One thing that has surprised me is the number of people who ask why does it matter?  And this comes not only from tourists and tour operators, but also from ecologists who say there is no good evidence that disturbing animals in their feeding grounds or breeding areas does any lasting damage, apart from isolated cases in especially fragile habitats or restricted breeding grounds, and that increased disturbance will probably just hasten habituation to humans.

I would still prefer to err on the side of caution, and make as little impact as possible while enjoying watching wild creatures.I feel this will benefit the animals themselves and the next human visitors who wish to see them. It also has the potential to educate visitors to respect the animals and use minimal-impact techniques elsewhere.

Also, some animals habituate far more readily than others.  If some don’t seem bothered by our presence, there may be others nearby that are.

I would be interested in hearing the views of others – please leave a comment

To the rescue of a fruitbat -almost

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black flying foxDarren and I had a call from Bat Conservation and Rescue (of which we are members) last week to say we were the closest rescuer available for a fruitbat stuck in a cocos palm near Boonah, and being constantly attacked by noisy miners and other birds.

I asked how tall the tree was and it sounded a bit out of reach, so I first rang RSPCA to see if they had equipment to get up there, and they promised to check and get back to me if they had something available that could be taken to Mount Alford (near Boonah) in a reasonable time.

I then called Council and was told that yes they did have suitable equipment but could not let any of their staff handle a bat because they hadn’t been vaccinated for rabies (fruitbats occasionally carry lyssa virus, which is related to rabies, and there have been two known deaths of people bitten while handling them).  I said my son and I have both been vaccinated but I was told they could not – for public liability reasons – allow us to climb their ladders or ride in a crane etc.

So, Darren and I headed over with our inadequate ladder, plus protective sleeves for our arms,  a box to put the bat in (lined with a comfy bit of fabric), and some apple and honey, as we were told he had been in the tree for several days with nothing to eat.

We arrived, and saw the bat on the frond – no longer entangled in the clump of green fruit.  He showed no sign of injury, and when Darren mounted the ladder he energetically climbed higher. He was a black flying fox, not full size, so we wondered if perhaps he was just confused and famished. We couldn’t think of any reasonably safe way of reaching him, so decided to leave him with some food overnight and hope that with restored strength he might fly off with his comrades if they visited the property that night. Through our  binoculars, we examined him for any sign of injury to the wing.

When Darren mounted the ladder again, the young bat suddenly discovered he could still fly and made an impressive wide arc to a leopard tree.  We left apple and honey in a fork of the leopard tree, but before we left he had moved to an adjacent cocos palm, considerably higher than the original one.

Next day I had meeting to attend in the opposite direction, and the owner was headin g off for a few days, so I called Heike from Destiny Eco Cottage and Wendy Dunn of Fassifern Naturalists, and they both made the effort to head over and check out the trees. The bat was gone, hopefully back with his companions in a near-by colony.

Cocos palms are often a problem for bats and other wildlife, and the owner of the house is going to get rid of hers.  They can  be replaced by the native bangalow palms.

Scenic Rim Wildlife Activities

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potoroo at Wildlife expo, Beaudesert 2010

Potoroo at Wildlife expo, Beaudesert 2010

What wildlife activities would you like to be involved in? Scenic Rim Wildlife (Scenic Rim branch of the Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland) is running a survey to find out out the kinds of activities folk would most like to participate in over the next few months. If you live in or near the Scenic Rim (Southeast Queensland) or visit from time to time, please let us know by completing our strictly confidential 2-minute survey

Can wildlife tourism make money and also help conserve wildlife?

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One of the reasons I personally went into ecotourism was to provide governments, developers etc. with an economic reason for preserving wildlife and its habitats (my other main reason was to share my enthusiasm with others for the wonderful diversity of wild creatures and wild places on this planet, and hopefully in so doing  to deepen their understanding of the same, and appreciation of their intrinsic non-monetary values).

One of the positive benefits of wildlife tourism towards tourism conservation has long been identified as the potential for donations towards conservation, from  tourism operators, their guests and perhaps local businesses and governments that directly or indirectly benefit from the tourism dollar.

But to give we need to also receive –  at least   enough to keep giving without going broke.    And tourism operations that make non-financial contributions (e.g. habitat restoration, quality interpretation, conservation-breeding) have to make enough to survive.  It also helps if the local community benefits, and  continues to support their efforts.

Can all this happen, either at an individual operator level or a regional level?

regent bowerbirdOne of Australia’s best-published economics researchers (amongst the top three in the country according to Wikipedia) – Clem Tisdell –  has conducted many studies on the economics of wildlife tourism in Australia and elsewhere, including amongst many other topics rainforests and glow worm caves in Southeast Queensland,  Antarctic voyages and an elephant orphanage in Sri Lanka. Apart from individual studies he has provided a number of very useful and wide-ranging review papers.

We will have a chance to hear Professor Tisdell’s latest information and advice at the Wild Benefits conference to be held at the Gold Coast 1st to 3rd September 2010, and it will be a great opportunity to ask him questions (and listen to his answers to the questions of others, both immediately after his presentation and at other times during the conference).

This is the third national wildlife tourism conference to be held in Australia. There are day registrations and student registrations available, ad the earlybird discount registration is open until the end of July.

Scenic Rim Wildlife group

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We now have our pages on the Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland website: http://branches.wildlife.org.au/scenicrim

Briefly, recent events have included wildlife displays at a Rare Plants Fair at Bromelton House at Gleneagle (near Beaudesert) and at the Rathdowney Heritage Festival, and talks to students of Woodhill Primary School.

Coming events include a wildlife display and children’s activities at the school fete at Woodhill (Saturday 22nd May), a  public get-together at Beaudesert on that evening (wildlife of Africa, discussion of daily and seasonal movement needs of Scenic Rim Wildlife, discussion on becoming a formal branch, and general socializing with free drinks and nibbles), the on-going Great Wildlife Discovery Challenge, and the Wildlife Expo in Beaudesert in July

Wildlife Queensland branch to be started in Scenic Rim

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Ronda and Darren from Araucaria Ecotours have been active in starting a new group in the Scenic Rim with the hope of forming a Scenic Rim branch of the Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland (often abbreviated to Wildlife Queensland).

The Scenic Rim, southeast Queensland, is a very diverse area with a rich variety of fauna and flora species. We will be holding talks, discussions and outings over the next few months (and hopefyully years)

Our major theme over the coming months will be that animals have to move – whether daily, seasonally or as the need arises. Some find this easy, others have many problems, such as lack of approriate corridors, disappearing habitats, new roads, feral predators and other barriers to safe movement.

Anyone interested in joining this group should contact Ronda

Grant for protecting rainforest restoration on the Araucaria property

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Last year we received a grant from the former Beaudesert Shire Council (now part of the Scenic Rim Regional Council) to erect a long electric fence on our property to separate the rainforest regeneration area from the horse-grazing area. Hoofed animals and habitat restoration don’t generally go well together in Australia, and horses (like cows and sheep) eat some plants, trample others, cause erosion on steep slopes and bring in the seeds of weeds.
Our regeneration project will help to protect the edge of the rainfrest of Mt Chinghee National Park and improve the corridor for animals from there to our forest remnant by the creek, as there are only a few parts of the national park which extend down to the water’s edge.

We have isolated 20 plots which we have cleared of weeds alternating with 20 from which we haven’t, and will be noting how soon each starts harbouring new rainforest plant species. We did some baseline bird and butterfly surveys and mammal trapping in early 2008, and this will continue over the next few years or decades to monitor changes in biodiversity and density of populations as the regeneration proceeds. If the movement of pollinators and seed dispersers is enhanced, this should also help to speed the return of our slopes to something approaching their original diversity. Additional habitat for the black-breasted button-quail and other relatively uncommon or threatened species on the property should benefit also.

The grant money helped us to buy the materials and to employ Jason Taylor of Beaudesert to help clear weeds from the experimental plots and from the line through which the fence was to run, and assist with the erection of the fence itself. The electricity is supplied by a photovoltaic cell, so the whole setup is environmentally sustainable, and our only maintenance is the checking of the battery box and clearing any vegetation that threatens to short-circuit the system.

working on the fence to protect our rainforest regeneration

Jason and Darren working on the fence to protect our rainforest regeneration