Living Planet MAGAZINE

WINTER EXCLUSIVE MAGAZINE FOR WWF SUPPORTERS / ISSUE 28 2014

This wallaby is the hope of the future … please help him survive.

Thanks to you … THE WORLD ROARS UNESCO LISTENS CELEBRATE THE WINS ALBATROSS SAVED 41 countries commit to Government directed to Where there’s WWF Antarctica’s Macquarie end illegal wildlife trade. protect the Reef. there’s hope. Island is now pest-free. © MICH / WWF-CANON UNLIMITED / VISUALS © NATUREPL.COM É LE D LE É PRAZ / WWF-CANON PRAZ

World roars

Whitsunday Coast for wildlife!

Tigers, rhinos, elephants - some of the world’s most UNESCO Reef decision: you were heard! vulnerable species are facing extinction from poaching. The

© WWF-AUSTRALIA need to end wildlife crime has As a WWF supporter, you We’ve been fighting for the Reef for never been more urgent. helped make this happen. decades and with your help, we’re Thank you. not going to stop. That’s why earlier this year WWF was part of a conference to 227,000 Reef supporters from over There is still such a long way to go. 160 countries took action to ‘vote for encourage world leaders to step But, thanks to you and all our the Reef’ to help protect the Great up their efforts to tackle the illegal Reef supporters, the movement Barrier Reef. wildlife trade. to protect the Reef is stronger I had the privilege to hand-deliver than it has ever been before. Leaders came to the conference from every one of your votes to the head countries where the animals live, the of UNESCO’s World Heritage countries through which the illegal Centre. The Committee well and wildlife products are transported, truly understood that the world Dermot O’Gorman and the destination countries. was calling on them to stand with By Dermot O’Gorman CEO, WWF-Australia CEO, WWF-Australia the Reef - and say ‘NO’ to dredging We were delighted to see and dumping. governments from 41 countries at the conference unanimously commit In June the World Heritage And because of you, we got the to take ‘decisive and urgent action’ Committee meeting in outcome we were hoping for. THE FIGHT’S NOT OVER! to curb the supply and demand of Doha voted on the Great You helped us win Round 1. But, the fight for the Reef is not illegal wildlife products. Barrier Reef. over yet. Now the fight continues to: They have agreed to implement Their decision: the Australian We need to use this momentum • Ban dumping of dredge actions that will destroy the markets to ensure the Australian and spoil in the waters of the Government must do more to for these products. protect the Reef. Queensland governments strengthen Great Barrier Reef World laws to protect the Reef, commit Heritage Area. The challenge now is to make sure In the face of intense pressure, the to major improvements in water these strong commitments are World Heritage Committee held quality, and put an end to the • Prevent any further port translated into effective action. the line and put the Australian dumping of dredge spoil in Reef expansion without clear, unbreakable environmental This amazing milestone Government firmly on notice: take waters. Only concrete actions like protection in place. couldn’t have been achieved stronger action to protect the Great these that make a real difference Your support has helped focus the world’s attention on the poaching crisis. without the backing of Barrier Reef - or risk it being listed to the Reef’s health and future will be enough to avoid the Reef being We can’t do it without you! And now the governments of 41 countries have agreed on a landmark thousands of WWF supporters ‘in danger’ in 2015. fightforthereef.org.au added to the World Heritage ‘in declaration to end the illegal wildlife trade. just like you, who ‘roared’ to This is a huge win for the Reef! danger’ list. end wildlife crime.

2 DONATE NOW AT WWF.ORG.AU LIVING PLANET MAGAZINE - WINTER 2014 3 © KATHERINE HOWARD / WWF-AUS HOWARD © KATHERINE Macquarie Island is now pest-free TERAUDS © ALEKS Thanks to you, JimJam’s got a new dad!

By Katherine Howard Species Conservation Manager WWF-Australia

Working in the field, there are always great stories to be told. So, when I heard about a new black cockatoo family, I couldn’t wait to tell you about your gifts at work. Fledgling Carnaby’s cockatoo, JimJam, was found trapped under a fallen tree, with no sign of his parents. Although able to fly, he is too young to look after himself in the wild, so the Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife placed him in the care of the staff at Perth’s Black Cockatoo Conservation Centre (BCCC) - where he met Chasey. Chasey is a resident bird at the rescue centre, unfortunately unfit for release Carnaby’s cockatoos like JimJam (right) and but still able to play an important Chasey (left) are some of the most threatened role in cockatoo conservation. Macquarie Island is the only known Australian cockatoos in Australia. With your help, we Chasey responded to JimJam’s nesting site for the threatened wandering and are working to save the last remaining black begging for food and became his new grey-headed albatross. Without your help, they cockatoo habitat. would have been driven to extinction in Australia. ‘adopted’ dad, feeding him just as his real parents would in the wild. Louise Hopper, BCCC’s Vet Nurse, says, “It’s not unusual for birds in the shelter It’s rugged, it’s cold - and thanks the verge of collapse after being Today, as a result of an extensive pest to take orphans ‘under their wing’. to you - it’s now pest-free. decimated by rabbits, rats and mice. eradication program, the island has But it seems to be only the male birds Rescue. Veterinary Care. Recovery been rescued from disaster and is once that feed the unrelated youngsters!” One of Australia’s remote southern In 2007, WWF supporters helped Cockatoos will live - thanks to you! again a haven for Antarctic wildlife. islands, World-Heritage listed secure a $24.6 million fund from If JimJam continues to put on Last year, WWF supporters helped raise Macquarie Island, lies halfway the Tasmanian and Australian The great success of Macquarie weight, practices feeding himself between Tasmania and Antarctica. the $40,000 needed to keep the Black governments to remove rats and Island has shown that we can win and otherwise behaves like a wild Cockatoo Mobile Rescue Service on Home to millions of seals and bird, he should be suitable for rabbits from the island. again and again. the road. seabirds, the island is a breeding release at some point in the future. A team of about 30 people, four With your ongoing support, Because of your support, hungry, sick and ground for four threatened albatross helicopters, pilots, and a team of we will protect our land and injured black cockatoos like JimJam will continue to be rescued - and given Good food and the best of care species and over 850,000 pairs the best chance of returning to the wild. - every day a step back towards of royal penguins. Less than a rodent detector dogs and their our unique wildlife for today, Thank you for the difference that you make for black cockatoos. freedom. And you have helped decade ago, this important haven handlers have been working to rid tomorrow and generations make it possible. Thank you! for Subantarctic wildlife was on the island from invasive animals. to come.

4 DONATE NOW AT WWF.ORG.AU LIVING PLANET MAGAZINE - WINTER 2014 5 © WWF-AUS / PHIL LEWIS © MARTIN HARVEY / WWF-CANON © ALEKS TERAUDS 7

, following the LIVING PLANET MAGAZINE - WINTER 2014 restore Macquarie Island as a 12 4 8 end of a three-year pest eradication program. You helped haven for Antarctic wildlife You helped rally 1.5 million voices to sign the petition that helped Thailand’s Prime Minister pledge to end all ivory trade in Thailand. You helped create a predator-proof sanctuary to You helped create a predator-proof last protect some of the WA Wheatbelt’s remaining black-flanked rock-wallabies.

in Borneo in WA by keeping the rescue starving and win the fight against dredge protect the treetop at Gladstone, near the Whitsundays on the 11 3 7 Your gifts will help homes of 1,500 orang-utans in the direct path of timber companies. Thanks to all of our WWF supporters worldwide, we’ve celebrated some amazing some we’ve celebrated worldwide, WWF supporters to all of our Thanks you proud! hope they make victories. We are your recently. These wins environmental Great Barrier Reef. Your outrage helped dumping Your donations helped injured black cockatoos Mobile Cockatoo Rescue Service on the road.

of elephants,

, located at establish a world-class 10 6 2 Your donations helped ensure Nepal had its Your donations helped ensure Nepal second full year with no poaching 2014. tigers and rhinos between 2011 and It was your victory when we celebrated a 63% increase in wild tiger populations across Nepal’s Terai Arc landscape. You helped turtle-health research facility James Cook University in Townsville.

Japan - far more

emergency care tanks for

DONATE NOW AT WWF.ORG.AU DONATE NOW AT

5 1 You helped make conservation history when was forced to immediately stop all its whaling activities in Antarctica’s Southern Ocean. 2.3 million square million to maintain 2.3 You have helped us fight - of marine protected areas for Australia kilometres world. the in anywhere parks marine of system largest the now You helped fund Queensland’s turtle hospitals cared for. sick and injured turtles can now be

6 Thanks to you, where there’s where there’s WWF you, to Thanks hope © ELIZABETH TASKER / AUSTRALIANNATURE.COM 9

when you when you helped

LIVING PLANET MAGAZINE - WINTER 2014 1800 032 551 WWF, GPO Box 528, Sydney, NSW 2001 wwf.org.au/wallabyappeal

rock-wallabies of WA’s rock-wallabies Nangeen Hill. had dropped to just five. Their numbers safety You gave them five-kilometre helped build the around Nangeen Hill. sanctuary fence You gave them food repair and replant their feeding grounds. Food and safety gave them courage lift to breed. New joeys have helped their numbers. between But they are still balanced survival and extinction. Please, will you help keep them alive - forever? health We urgently need to check the and numbers of this colony. Your donation by September 15 will put our scientists and volunteers on-ground this micro- summer to weigh, measure, chip and assess every wallaby for health and well-being. The research is vital. They are barely clinging to survival. If we do all we can, the wallabies will do the rest. Please give today: Foxes and feral cats had almost Foxes and feral black-flanked wiped out the

Joey A new joey is the … hope of the future please help him survive. DONATE NOW AT WWF.ORG.AU DONATE NOW AT 8 © TOSHIJI FUKUDA

My inspiration Running out

Toshiji Fukuda had been photographing wildlife in of time … the remote landscapes found in the far east of Russia for over 20 years. running out His lifelong dream was to capture a wild Amur tiger on camera. of space … “With only around 400 of these elusive big cats in the wild, it’s extremely difficult to spot Amur tigers in their woodland habitat. So when I heard that tiger tracks had A hundred years ago, been found on the shore of the Sea of Japan in Russia’s Lazovsky Nature Reserve, I knew this was my chance. there were 100,000 tigers in the wild. Today, there “My colleague helped me dig a hole on a slope are as few as 3,200. overlooking the beach and in it we built a tiny hut. After 50 long days in the hide, we woke to hear crows Why are tigers squawking. We slowly opened the window and there, disappearing? 150 metres away, was a female Amur tiger, glowing Illegal Trade - poaching to orange in the sunshine. It was divine.” feed consumer demand for tiger body parts, mostly for use in Traditional Asian Medicines. Deforestation - because more and more forests are cleared by commercial logging and for agriculture, tiger habitat disappears daily. But, thanks to your support WWF is helping lead tiger conservation efforts by: • Stopping poaching and wildlife trafficking • Working with governments and industry to protect tiger habitat • Achieving funding for tiger conservation efforts • Undertaking research to document tiger populations and behaviours.

Remember the goal: To double wild tiger numbers by 2022

10 DONATE NOW AT WWF.ORG.AU LIVING PLANET MAGAZINE - WINTER 2014 11 © MARTIN HARVEY / WWF-CANON HARVEY © MARTIN / WWF-AUS WILLSON © MATT

Satellite tracking involves attaching the transmitter to the top of the marine turtle’s shell. Each time the turtle comes to the surface to breathe the transmitter sends a message to a satellite and we then know the location of the turtle and can plot it onto a map.

Don’t you think I’m woylie cute? Your mystery turtles on the move Like a miniature kangaroo, woylies are brown in colour, stand about 30 centimetres high and weigh only one to one and a half kilos. Our three southbound ladies But she’s still on the move and Diary of travelling travelled more than 400 kilometres we’re not game to guess where flatbacks to foraging grounds around Cape to next or how long she’ll stay! Townsend, near Shoalwater Bay Last November on North and have stayed within this area. Because of you … Queensland’s Wunjunga Next steps Beach, WWF and our Elusive Gudjuda In August we’ll be travelling to partners attached four What’s a woylie we hear you breeding facilities at Kanyana the Howick Group of Islands, to Gudjuda however, is still on the say? Well, you’re not alone, Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre in Cracking the case satellite transmitters to four explore the ocean floor to take move! Having travelled more most Australians have never Western Australia. special flatback turtle ladies - food source samples and search for The woylie’s population crash is than 700 kilometres north of heard of them. Gudjuda, Gypsy, Myrtle other flatback turtles. The search For the resident woylies, their one of Australia’s biggest and Factorie. Wunjunga Beach stopping for continues. We also hope to make Also called the brush-tailed upgrade included the installation of conservation mysteries. short stints along her way, she has Satellite tracking is one way future trips to other potential bettong, this special animal is now water pipes, taps, safety doors, trees more recently been transmitting With your support, WWF has to find out more about turtles on Western Australia’s critically and ground cover plants. near Princess Charlotte Bay in the foraging grounds if Gujuda decides partnered with the Department and the threats they are facing endangered list. northern Great Barrier Reef. to stop and call one place her home. The hope was that the woylies would of Parks and Wildlife Western on the Great Barrier Reef. relax in their newly renovated home The reasons their numbers have Australia, James Cook University, We thought we might have found We’ll be back on Wunjunga Beach and start to breed. The aim is to find out where declined is not clear, but the falling and woylie experts to try to crack her feeding grounds - having spent with our partners later this year flatbacks go between laying numbers definitely are. Woylies are One year later, there is some the case. over a week around Magnetic Island, to continue flatback nesting disappearing so fast they’re in real multiple clutches of eggs, where excellent news from Kanyana to Cutting edge techniques of disease off the coast from Townsville. monitoring and taking more turtle danger of extinction. they are feeding, the migration report - their little family is starting samples to assist with the stable outbreak investigation will be used to pathways they are using to get to But, she made her move again. But there is some good news. As a to grow! The four female woylies isotope analysis. We’ll be using examine a number of possible causes and from their nesting beach and This time, stopping for weeks WWF supporter, you are part of two have all produced joeys. Even better, of the crash. Some of the suspects to all the tools at our disposal to five of their offspring have already what they are eating when they get near Lizard Island - curiously important programs working to keep be interrogated include cats, foxes, find out where flatbacks forage been released by the WA Department back to their feeding grounds. between shipping lanes. woylies from extinction. and disease. and what they are eating there. of Parks and Wildlife into the Then Gudjuda was off again Time is critical as it is a case predator-proof Perup Sanctuary, and Where did they go? spending weeks on the outer It is due to your support that Breeding success that must be solved to stop two of the adult females again have Expecting all four flatbacks to head reef of the Howick Group of we are able to research flatback In 2013, a generous WWF supporter joeys in the pouch, due to emerge woylies joining Australia’s north, we were caught by surprise. Islands, a known hawksbill turtles to try to determine the helped upgrade the woylie captive around August. extinction list. Only Gudjuda went north. turtle foraging ground. threats they face. Thank you.

12 DONATE NOW AT WWF.ORG.AU LIVING PLANET MAGAZINE - WINTER 2014 13 © MICHEL GUNTHER / WWF-CANON © ESMOND BRADLEY MARTIN / WWF-CANON 15

LIVING PLANET MAGAZINE - WINTER 2014 STOP the poachers on the anti-poaching presence Increase for patrols including coordinated ground, areas. transborder routes on trade STOP traffickers at exit points such as controls Increase to intercept airports/ports, helping officials criminals - and their illegal cargoes. STOP demand on the streets Running education and awareness of campaigns to make people aware pay. it doesn’t wildlife crime - and ensure need to continue working against the illegal need to continue working against the wildlife trade. Your support helps us to tackle this horrific crime by remaining fight always vigilant in the constant against poachers. End to zero to zero End Nepal in poaching in the buffer zone Sadly, on May 2, Chitwan National surrounding Nepal’s killed for its horn Park, a rhino was more devastating because This news is all the has been going so well. In rhino conservation the fantastic news that no March we celebrated or tigers had been poached in rhinos, elephants year. It’s the second year of Nepal for a whole - the first was in 2011. zero poaching in Nepal new Rhino poaching is reaching catastrophic rhino horn levels due to a surge in demand for a status in Asia, where it is often considered symbol and a cure for hangovers. Shockingly, hacked within just 48 hours of a horn being on the from a rhino’s face it can be on sale black market. we Poaching remains a serious threat and ● ● ● HOW YOU ARE YOU HOW HELPING TO STOP THE ILLEGAL WILDLIFE TRADE

are faster?” to allow the the allow to magnificent, “Are we going going we “Are land land mammal. world’s fastest fastest world’s earth to become become earth to Cheetahs are the fastest animals on on fastest animals extinct, because we highly-endangered, not be right mate”. As I say to my friends “Cuddle an to my friends “Cuddle an say As I a day … keeps the doctor animal away”. It always works. WWF-Australia for the past 30 years. In doing so, I am not a voice alone in the wilderness. An organisation of this clout and held in high esteem globally, have and will make the difference that is required, for ourselves and future generations. Humanity has a lot to answer for and we can never say we did not know. But, we can atone for our actions, by contributing to, and supporting WWF-Australia in its gigantic task now and ahead, of saving not only the animals and nature, but humanity as well. One person’s contributions and support does make a difference if we do not become complacent because: “she will That is why I have supported

humanity on animal life and nature. I humanity on animal life and nature. mankind that life in early very realised is the weapon of mass destruction, wiping out and culling herds of animals and slaying animals globally for body parts used in potions. Will future generations only see the remaining wildlife in captivity in parks and zoos that practice captive breeding programs for the survival of species? Coming from half-way around the globe and now being a dinky-di Aussie of 33 years standing, I am sad to say that in our beautiful country, we have not fared much better than the rest of the world, regarding extinction of species. Since mankind is supposed to be the most ‘intelligent’ of all species, when are we going to prove it, before facing extinction ourselves?

Born in and growing up in I know Africa, South impacttoo well the onof humanity natureanimal life, and habitats.

DONATE NOW AT WWF.ORG.AU DONATE NOW AT Cuddle an animal a day … a day … Cuddle an animal In memory of Marléne Verbeek - a WWF supporter of 32 years In memory of Marléne for the protection of wildlife. and a passionate advocate 14 Thirty years I started ago, regular contributions to WWF- Australia aid - to them to police, protect and safeguard all animal life, their habitats, food and shelter sources. When I cease to exist, my bequest will continue to support WWF’s important pursuit in my passion for all animal life. That is why I chose WWF-Australia. Born in, and growing up in South Africa, I know too well the impact of By Marléne Verbeek By WWF supporter - July 2011

1991 HOLIDAY IN SOUTH AFRICA © MARLÉNE VERBEEK © VANESSA POLLETT / WWF-AUS • LIVING PLANET - WINTER 2014 - WINTER PLANET LIVING

As evening falls the wallabies will begin to stir In the safety and silence of the evening, the wallabies of Nangeen Hill will venture down to feed. Our scientists and volunteers will begin the nightly research that

will ease the threat of extinction. 551 032 1800 Your gift today will enable us to check the health and numbers of this fragile colony of rare wallabies. It is vital to their survival. wwf.org.au/wallabyappeal WWF.ORG.AU

Cover photo: © WWF-Australia. Back cover: © Rebecca Boyland / WWF-AUS. All photos from the WWF-Canon photographic library have been kindly donated by photographers for WWF use, and cannot be reproduced or provided to external parties. © 1986 panda symbol and ® WWF is a Registered Trademark. Cert XXX-XXX-XXXX www.fsc.org © 1996 Forest Stewardship Council WWF-Australia, GPO Box 528, Sydney, NSW 2001 Cert o.nXXX-XXX-XXXX Join us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter.