Common (?) marmosets seem to turn up in the most unlikely of places. A small article in todays Courier Mail with nice picture of a place called Parrot Garden Cafe near Crystal Creek in Northern Nsw has had a suprise birth when 'Arthur' turned out to be Martha. They have four marmosets and one has just given birth to twins. Does anyone know anymore about these? Can;t find the article on the web.
Two males from DDZ and 2 "males" from a place in Victoria. The Crystal Creek permit is for a same sex group only.
Can't get my head around this "same sex group only" rubbish. Are the authorities ("they who must be obeyed") so paranoid that they think careless breeding is going to result in large groups of feral marmosets terrorising the country?
Yes, they are. I've made the point many times that there is not one feral pest species in Australia that has become so as a result of a deliberate or accidental release from a zoo. "They who must be obeyed" have so far been unable to grasp that point. @torie - time will tell, I guess!
depending on your definition of "feral pest species", the palm squirrels in Perth (definitely in the category of potential pest species) were deliberate releases from the zoo there.
Deliberate - well that is a very hard one to make in that Aussie zoos started out as basically depots for acclimatisation societies in the 19th century. Accidental - you are on much stronger grounds with that, and is really the point. We can look on the deliberate introductions as a historical phase, with no relevance today, but any accidental introductions would be an argument against zoos.
You are, as we have come to expect, quite correct Mr J! Had I spent more time sleeping and less time driving and lecturing during this past week I might have taken the time to write more accurately. Historically, "deliberate" releases were quite common and the results of many of those releases are still plaguing our country today. However, today's regulators regard "deliberate" releases as those effected by animal liberationists and other vandals. Hence my use of the word "deliberate". @Chlidonias - I don't think that anyone regards those cute little critters as "feral pests". At least, not yet. True, they have set up a self-sustaining population in a small area of suburban Perth. However, if the will was there, they could be exterminated quite easily as was the Mosman population around Taronga some years ago. @Hix - One of the [very few] benefits of living into old age is that one can [sometimes] remember things from years past! In my younger, travelling days [pre-1970s] I remember seeing White Ibis at a number of locations along the eastern seaboard. Their numbers have certainly increased in recent years but I doubt that we could blame Taronga solely for that? @torie - I was talking again today to Charlie Knie, who owns Crystal Creek Parrot Gardens, and he tells me that the government is "considering" what to do about his breeding "male" Common Marmosets. Although he is thrilled to have the youngsters, he is quite upset that he might have unwittingly blotted his copybook with the NSW government so early in his Australian zoo-owning career.
if I may be permitted to be a bit pedantic..... 1) I did provide a sort of caveat on my post, and introduced squirrels historically have proven to be major pests in other parts of the world. 2) It's actually quite a large area of suburban Perth the palm squirrels are established in currently. 3) The Sydney squirrels didn't establish all that well, never spreading to any extent, and they died out naturally without any extermination effort needed. (I could be wrong on that one though).
Can you provide more information regarding the large area of Perth, as to my knowledge they have never spread much further then the zoo grounds. It was believed that the large palm collection at the zoo may have had some reason for this. I personally can not understand why the squirrels wouldn't expand further, because as you have mentioned, squirrels do tend to be quite capable of spreading into new habitats.
I was working from memory: You are right they have mainly stayed within zoo boundaries but they have been recorded up to 5km away in surrounding suburbs, and in 1967 they were being regularly recorded from the residential districts of south Perth and Como.
While discussing squirrels don't forget the Grey Squirrels that persisted in Melbourne and Ballarat for about 50 years up to the post-ww2 era, and were introduced to Adelaide in 1917 but exterminated by local authorities by 1922.
While his concern is quite legitimate I don't see how the authorities could possibly blame him. I would have to assume that he would have takenm in good faith the knowledge that they were all males.
