Beaten Leadbeater's?

[Stephen Whiteside]

The environment has barely rated a mention in the election campaign so far, which I find very disturbing.

The future of the Leadbeater's Possum is of major concern in Victoria, and should be a major concern nationally. A combination of fire and logging have come together to push it to the very brink.

You can also find this poem here:
http://www.myenvironment.net.au/index.p ... adbeater-s



Beaten Leadbeater’s?

A pretty little possum with a black stripe down its back,
It darts throughout the forest tops through depths of darkest night.
It forages for sugars, grabbing insects for a snack,
Then slips back to its hollow with arrival of the light.

It was named ‘Leadbeater’s Possum’ for a past museum worker,
A famous taxidermist (little creatures he would stuff),
But the story of this possum is a genuine tear jerker.
Oh, life has not been easy for this precious ball of fluff.

It thrives, you see, on forests, but its habitat is narrow.
From Marysville to Baw Baw, thereabouts, denotes its range.
It’s Victoria’s state emblem so, in part, we push its barrow,
But we challenge without mercy its capacity for change.

For we chopped and hacked the forest lands that were its sole dominion.
We plundered and we butchered and we put it on the run.
We reached the point where scientists were of the broad opinion
It was done for. Then it re-emerged in 1961.

Though we scarcely did deserve it, we’d been granted a reprieve,
A chance to right a wrong, to mend the errors of our ways
But, alas, we mended nothing, so we’re forced once more to grieve,
And face the harsh reality that crime just never pays.


A crime? Am I mistaken? You can check the regulations
And the statutes in the law books on the dim and dusty shelves.
You will never find it mentioned, though you search through many nations.
It’s a crime against sweet Nature. It’s a crime against ourselves.

For it seems we’ve missed our moment. It would seem Leadbeater’s Possum
Is living now on borrowed time, it’s fate forever sealed.
We could have ceased all logging and allowed the beast to blossom,
But a vision such as this, alas, shall never be revealed.

Then let us throw the dice once more. The odds, it’s true, aren’t pretty.
Let us do at last what’s right, and put an end to crime.
The human soul needs more than just the bright lights of the city.
Let us let the forests stand, and leave the rest to time.

Who knows what magic beckons if we put aside our blunders,
If we down the screaming chainsaws and revert to Nature’s dance?
What panoply awaits us, what array of shining wonders?
Perhaps Leadbeater’s Possum, too, still has a fighting chance!

© Stephen Whiteside 26.07.11

[Neville Briggs]

You got the verse going all right. I won't venture into politics of conservation. Actually the environment has been mentioned a lot in the election campaign; abolition of the carbon tax

[Heather]

Healesville Sanctuary is having great success in breeding threatened species such as Helmeted honeyeaters, Tassie Devils, Orange bellied parrots, corroboree frogs and pygmy possums which are then released into the wild. Is there a program to breed the Leadbeaters, Stephen?

[Stephen Whiteside]

This captive breeding is all well and good, but there's no habitat to return them to. The problem with Leadbeater's is their very limited range and their fire sensitivity. The problem could be remedied, but there appears to be a real lack of policital will, or willingness to face the hard truths and cop the associated pain - in this case, it would mean a loss of forestry jobs.

Logging of the central highlands causes a steady reduction in the age of the trees, and a loss of the old trees that provide the possum habitat with their cavities. Even if these 'habitat' trees are left standing, the forest around them is often so damaged that they become exposed to high winds and eventually fall down themselves.

The answer lies with habitat protection, not with captive breeding.

The other big problem with captive breeding is the loss of genetic diversity in the regenerated population - all the resultant animals are very closely related to each other.

[Heather]

I get all that Stephen, I studied biological science including zoology and ecology at uni.

I was only asking......

[Stephen Whiteside]

Here endeth the lesson. Sorry.

To answer your question directly, I'm not aware of any captive breeding program for Leadbeater's possum.

[Stephen Whiteside]

I guess I just get a bit defensive when I hear people talk about captive breeding programs, because I think many people place far too much faith in them.

I also don't like the ways zoos tend to use captive breeding programs as a shield to protect them from the adverse publicity associated with some of their more unsavoury activities.

[Neville Briggs]

Barry Humphries often affectionately referred to possums .

[Heather]

I only mentioned it Stephen because I heard on the radio yesterday that Healesville had had a very successful year with their breeding, and more importantly, release program.

I don't pretend to know the ins and outs of it but did a little bit of reading on the Helmeted Honeyeater (have limited internet at present) and it would appear that there are only 20 breeding pairs in the wild and the bird is classified as endangered. There are some 15 pairs of breeding pairs in two locations, in captivity. I'd think that the people breeding and releasing would be taking into account genetic diversity - but lets face it, with only 20 breeding pairs in the wild, there's a small gene pool already. I gather there is some attention being given to the habitat of the honeyeater - again I think it is the destruction of their habitat that has led to their numbers being so critical.

I recently saw a program on a small marsupial in the Blue Mountains. I think the population had reduced to seven. The area has been fenced to protect the population from foxes and cats and has now increased - but, there is still going to be a small genetic pool. Not much you can do about it at that stage.

I studied zoology to get involved in conservation or national parks. It never happened but I can feel myself being called back to it in some voluntary capacity.

[Heather]

You're a possum Neville!