the lechwe, along with a number of other ungulate species - were at tippery station, but not purchased by david gill for the then mareeba wild animal park (now cairns wildife safari reserve). instead they went to a queensland hunting ranch, where they are still maintained as far as i know.. the persian fallow are technically hybrids as (i think) they were created by the deer farming industry using semen imported from overseas and then outcrossed with regular fallow until they had what appears to be true persian type deer. monarto keep them.
I think you will find the lechwe are still in NT, I dont think the QLD gov would let anyone have Lechwe!
That sounds about right Ben, it went something like this -(At that time) the Qld goverment had problems with the shipping of antelopes from the NT to Qld because if they got out in transit they could become feral pests (I think the antelopes that were shipped was by plane)
Mr Gill told me that he HAD purchased them [along with the Addax, Oryx, Nilgai, Grevy's Zebras etc] in a bulk deal from Tipperary. His liquidators subsequently confirmed that. However, as MARK pointed out, the Queensland government refused to allow many of these animals into this State on two grounds. Some of the species applied for they claimed did not exist - Grevys Zebras for example. If Mr Gill had simply applied to import Zebra into the State then they would be here at Mareeba right now. But GREVYS Zebra were a different matter and I believe that there is now only one left in the NT. Others species posed a "very serious" biodiversity risk to our VPC people whose official policy is one of zero risk. They don't really understand that a zero risk option has not been achievable since Capt Phillip landed on our shores. So, if a species is not already present in a Queensland zoo, the official DNR response to an application to import it is still to say no. Some of these animals would have been permitted into the State if they had been desexed. History will eventually show if Mr Gill was right in refusing to allow genetically valuable CITES 1 animals to be neutered. Those animals not allowed into Queensland ended up at the Mary River hunting ranch south of Darwin in the NT. The zebras have not done well out of the move but there is no reason to believe that the other species will not be nurtured there for many years to come. A small mystery still surrounds the whereabouts of the Brazilian Tapirs and a very large mystery surrounds a young Pygmy Hippo.
Steve is that the reason that female Red Pandas can not be exhibited in Qld because if they breed in zoo's here they could become a bio risk and a feral species?, we could have feral pandas roaming every where, lol
We CAN have female Red Pandas in Queensland zoos and, indeed, Cairns Tropical Zoo are endeavouring to breed theirs. However Lemurs, Sulawesi Macaques and a whole range of similar nasty critters can only be kept if they are post breeding age specimens or are kept in same sex groups. We CANNOT have potentially risky species such as Meerkats, Maned Wolves, Hyenas, any venomous exotic reptile etc, etc, etc in zoos in this State for fear that they could set up self sustaining wild populations. Fortunately, since the DPI has taken over exotic exhibited animal control in this State, there are some [a few] elements in the public service who are starting to realise that there has never been a case in Australia's history where a vertebrate pest species has become so as a result of an escape from a zoo. Unfortunately, there is still a very powerful bloc in the Department of Natural Resources who subscribe to the flawed zero risk philosophy. These people are so powerful that they virtually have the power to veto the more enlightened decision makers. Interesting times ahead here in the next few years. PS: This is getting a long way away from Chlidonias' NZ ungulates.
What a horrible co-incidence. See the front page of today's Northern Territory News. I am so mad that I am [almost] speechless. The more so because the person partly responsible for this tragedy is currently being lauded as a saviour in NZ.
thats really sad . but it brings to mind the question are there any more of these rare animals just wondering around the bush.
Pygmy hippopotamus shot during Northern Territory hunting trip | National News | News.com.au A female as well. . .
It also brings to mind the question as to why the zoo industry did nothing about retrieving this unfortunate animal even though many of us have known about it for the past 5 or 6 years. Still fuming!
I know who i will be blaming when we have no Pymgy Hippos left in the country, and it wont be the "Hunter" I'd never seen a Mad Steve Robinson til today, be warned people !
Well you couldn't blame the hunter if it looked like a pig from behind. When I read about I was angry too and I dinb't know about its existance. I can well understand Steves.,
I would have to agree with you 100%, WHY did our zoo industry do nothing????? A sad story for this Hippo, with Pygmy Hippos being so rare in this country and an endangered species as well, what a waste, do our zoo people care?, I wonder
Private Zoo's would not have the resources to take on the task pf locating such an illusive animal in rural NT, but surely ARAZPA and the Government Zoo's who knew of this animal could of done something. Maybe the blame cannot be placed soley on Tim Husband, but on ARAZPA and mainstream Zoo's for doing nothing to save this genetically important (breeding age?) animal!
Zoopro, If your there? Did ARAZPA have prior knowledge of this animal? And if so why was nothing done? Is there an official stance that ARAZPA takes in these circumstances?
Clarification For those of you who are confused as to where my anger is directed let me make it perfectly clear that I am NOT blaming the hunter. Any bloke who goes out and shoots pigs in the middle of the night deserves a medal. For those of you who read the Comments on the newspaper link that Jarkari has posted, particularly our overseas friends who will read this tonight, try to understand that an incident like this gives a free kick to those in our community who have a vested or emotional position against hunting. What most of these people lack is knowledge and balance. It doesn't matter whether the animal was shot from the back or the front. The important thing is that, if it was a pig, it was shot and killed. At 1am it would be impossible to tell if it was a pig or a pygmy hippo. At this stage, from what I can see, the hunter is the only person to come out of this saga squeaky clean. By all accounts he got in a clean shot and dropped his quarry. Once he discovered what it really was he reported the matter without bravado or bragging. The people who had the explaining to do years ago included the person who left it there, the liquidator who was responsible for it then, the people who bought it with all the others, the lady who subsequently owned it [and still owns it] as part of her settlement, the people who "manage" this species and the rest of us who knew she was out there and did nothing - myself included. To my mind, these people are still accountable today. All of our pious words as zookeeper/owners mean absolutely nothing if we don't back them with actions. No doubt there will now be people running for cover and sheltering under umbrellas. In my case, my only defence is that I did try. A party of us was all set to go to the Territory to catch her and also undertake some work with some of the other animals left there. I was warned off because [a] I wasn't a participant in the Species Management Program and my proposal for the Park was ultimately gazumped. [And that's a whole different story]. I allowed myself to be warned off because I believed that the people who managed the species would truly manage this situation. Would I believe that again? Yes - when hell freezes over! To give the liquidator some credit, he was also concerned [she was an "asset" after all] but he was led up the garden path about her very existence by somebody he had to trust. I am certainly no apologist for Mr Gill but he would not have left her there. He, however, had been sidelined by then and had no say in any of this. I am now waiting patiently to see what spin the industry puts on this tragedy.
