endangered

NSW Department of Health has approval to build a $2.5 million health centre for South Tweed Coast residents in Pottsville. Locals are currently on a waiting list to see a doctor so the need is urgent. The only problem is a critical koala food tree has been in the way of their planned parking lot. Tweed Coast koalas (with less than 144 remaining) are predicted to become locally extinct within 5 years due to developments taking up koala real estate. The question is: are koalas more important or are people more important? Or can people co-exist with koalas in the suburbs? In this case, sadly the koalas lost out .... once again.

We were told that the 514 kangaroos at Belconnen Naval Transmission Station could not be relocated to other properties and had to be 'culled.' The reason given was that the kangaroos were a threat to certain endangered species - the Golden Sun Moth, Gininderra Peppergrass and Striped Legless Lizard. Yet cows were grazing in adjacent properties - were they not a threat to these species too? The RSPCA demanded the cull as relocation could risk their death. The RSPCA insisted the kangaroos were starving even though local activists said they looked in good condition throughout the year. So what was really going on....?

See also: "Defence kiboshes Belconnen grassland refuge plan" of 30 Sep 08, "Defence to clean up Belconnen site" of 30 Sep 08, Remediation of the Belconnen Naval Transmission Station" of 22 Oct 08, "Belconnen Kangaroo massacre" of 30 May 08.