Drought Kills Wildlife

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31027, 5 April 1966, Page 15

Drought Kills Wildlife

(N.Z. Frets Assn.—Copyright) SYDNEY, April 3. The drought is killing thousands of Australian native animals and birds, says the “Sunday Telegraph.” Whole populations of wild duck, emus and other birds have been wiped out and some species of kangaroos have stopped breeding. Stocks of freshwater fish also have been seriously affected. Mr A. Fox, education officer of the Fauna Protection Panel, said this week that duck populations were at their lowest level. There had not been the fluctuation in water levels to create good breeding conditions. Ducks usually breed in billabongs and normally dry holes filled by run-off water from floods. In the Murray valley, regarded as the duck hatchery for the whole of Australia, breeding last season was negligible. Vanishing Breed Mr Fox said fewer swamps, as more flood mitigation schemes got under way, was one of the reasons why ducks were becoming a vanishing breed. "But if we get good run-off water next season ducks will

breed in their tends of thousands,” he said. Apart from ducks, other birds, such as the mallee fowl and the ibis, were dying out. Because of the drought, red kangaroos are not breeding at all. The drought also has affected the grey kangaroo and other types. A kangaroo usually takes about two years to grow. Conservationists say that if the drought continues for another year or so, the kangaroo population will fall drastically.

Emus, which normally move to new grounds when food becomes scarce, are

dying to thousands to toe western part of the State. They do not move until in a weak condition and, because of this, they cannot get over fences. Pests Increase

The decline in bird life is likely to cause a rise in the incidence of pests. The ibis, for instance, is a boon to farmers because it greatly reduces grasshoppers. A dissected ibis was found recently to have 2300 grasshoppers inside it. Stocks of natural fish, such as perch and yellow belly, are at a low ebb, and many trout areas have dried up. Conservation experts say that the drought has shown the urgent need to establish wildlife reserves.

They say the birds and animals would iot have been so harshly affected by the drought if man had not intruded into the breeding grounds with agriculture and flood mitigation schemes.