WOMBAT COMBAT
NATIVE CULL Shocking wildlife toll
A GOVERNMENT department has given permission for the lawful killing of wombats and platypuses — and 22 other native birds and animal species — ostensibly to protect crops.
New Right to Information documents show more than 12,000 Crop Protection Permits have been issued in the past 5½ years — giving farmers and businesses the right to kill as many as 5000 wombats as well as platypuses, black swans, black cockatoos, and even welcome swallows.
While the actual death toll has not been detailed, the Mercury can reveal that seven platypuses were killed out of the 15 caught in nets during a carp eradication program.
SEVEN platypuses died in nets used in Tasmania’s carp eradication program under permits issued by the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment, documents reveal.
New Right to Information documents show more than 12,000 crop protection permits have been issued for the culling of native animals in Tasmania including galah, green rosellas, wombat and platypuses in the last 5½ years.
Released by DPIPWE, the documents detail how many permits have been granted in each region of the state for 24 different animals.
The documents show there were 12,005 permits in total granted, including 21 for galahs, 22 for green rosellas, 151 for wombats and six for platypuses.
The quota, or maximum number of the species able to be taken using the permit, shows as many as 21,726 black swans, 675 galahs, 681 green rosellas, 5087 wombats and six platypuses could have been culled in that time period.
A DPIPWE spokeswoman said the quota “is the number that is determined that could be taken after careful assessment so as not to threaten the sustainability of the population”.
The spokeswoman said permits to take platypus were issued to the Inland Fisheries Service (IFS) to support the “vitally important carp eradication program”.
“Carp are invasive pests that, if not eradicated, will dramatically impact our freshwater ecosystems,” she said.
“These permits were issued on the basis that the netting for carp may have resulted in platypus being caught, but with the intention of releasing them from the net alive. It was acknowledged that this might not be possible and that some platypus might drown before they could be reached.
“From 2012, 15 platypus were caught during carp eradication program operations. Of these, eight were released unharmed, and seven died.”
The DPIPWE website describes Tasmanian platypuses as being “increasingly vulnerable to the degradation of suitable water bodies from poor land management practices and water extraction for irrigation and domestic usage.”
A Tasmanian platypus management plan was published by the department in 2010.
Greens MP Rosalie Woodruff said the culling numbers were “shocking figures”.
“Landowners are given an unlimited right to shoot these native animals, without any monitoring or reporting required of actual numbers killed,” she said.
“The Hodgman Government has cut funding to the previously functioning Game Management Unit and its successful Browsing Animal Management Program, the alternative to 1080 poisoning.
“When native animal populations crash — as happened with wombats from the devastating mange outbreak — public outcry at wombat shootings caused the permits to dry up.”
Premier Will Hodgman said there needed to be a balance between managing animals’ impact on the agricultural sector and species conservation.
“Managing these programs in a humane way and that appropriately handles what is a delicate circumstance for not only Tasmanians, but our wildlife population, is an important balance we have to get right,” he said.
Internationally recognised filmmaker David Parer has filmed platypuses in Tasmania and throughout eastern Australia for many years.
“There’s a bid to enforce the prohibition of certain netting traps because platypus get caught up in them and drown,” Mr Parer said.