I sent all enquiries on to Parks & Wildlife, and yes, I did some jumping up
and down with the media.
I later tried to get P & W (and the parks authority in Kakadu) to act
against tour operators who were ramming crocodiles with their boats.
Nothing happened and so I ran a national campaign against such operators.
The NT News was the only publication not to print my letter.
Incidentally I had some very good friends among the rangers. One, Bruce
Weribone, I met when he came to our house to inspect the living quarters of
an injured goanna, telling us it looked so healthy he felt like moving in
too! We later worked together training Indigenous rangers in Katherine -
Bruce was their supervisor.
Denise
on 4/11/09 8:03 AM, Carl Clifford at wrote:
> I hope you referred all injured and orphaned wildlife enquiries to the
> ranger in question from then on. And also advised those who contacted
> you to go to the media if refused assistance.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Carl Clifford
>
>
> On 04/11/2009, at 5:06 AM, Denise Goodfellow wrote:
>
> Back in the late 1980s a Parks and Wildlife Ranger refused to grant
> Hilary
> Thompson and me a permit to care for injured and orphaned wildlife.
> At the
> time there were very few carers and so we were often asked to take
> injured
> or orphaned animals.
>
> We wanted a permit because half a cozen people we knew who had been told
> they didn't need one, had later had their animals seized. Such people
> included our school headmaster, who for years had been caring for native
> birds, and was quite an authority.
>
> The ranger refused on the grounds that we might, for instance, go out
> and
> find a nest of Pheasant Coucal chicks, report them as orphaned, "break
> their
> legs" (heavens knows why he added this), then when the legs had healed,
> smuggle them overseas.
>
> I decided it was not in our best interests to continue taking in
> wildlife.
> We do collect roadkills, having been asked to by staff at the NT
> Museum, but
> that's all.
>
> Denise Lawungkurr Goodfellow
> PO Box 3460 NT 0832, AUSTRALIA
> Ph. 61 08 89 328306
> Mobile: 04 386 50 835
>
> Birdwatching and Indigenous tourism consultant
> PhD Candidate
>
> http://www.denisegoodfellow.com.au
> http://www.earthfoot.org
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/baby-dreaming
> http://www.ausbird.com
> http://birderstravel.com
> http://www.theloveofood.com (Rowan Goodfellow Thompson)
>
>
>
>
> on 3/11/09 5:36 PM, Tim Jones at wrote:
>
>>
>> Peter,
>>
>>
>>
>> What do the 'fanatical Twitchers' do? I reckon this is mostly just
>> sensationalised hearsay. I see so much prattle about the terrible
>> harm they
>> do, but I have yet to see a properly substantiated report of
>> something which
>> has had any serious effect on wildlife and I've been on many, many
>> 'fanatical
>> twitches' in my time.
>>
>>
>>
>> There are a few people who go a bit too far in their pursuit, but most
>> 'fanatical twitchers' are also fanatical conservationists and also
>> want future
>> generations to share their joy of seeing wonderful places and
>> wonderful
>> wildlife.
>>
>>
>>
>> I just wish people would get things in proportion. This kind of
>> statement tars
>> us all with the same brush and just gets us all a bad name.
>>
>>
>>
>> NB I'm not arguing about the need to be judicious with information.
>>
>>
>>
>> Cheers
>>
>>
>>
>> Tim
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>> From:
>>> To: ;
>>> Subject: Re: [SPAM] [Birding-Aus] Australian Painted Snipe in Dubbo
>>> Date: Tue, 3 Nov 2009 11:28:29 +1100
>>> CC: ;
>>>
>>> Hi Peter, my main concern was the Painted Snipe, and yes I do
>>> believe that
>>> there are people who would take a Painted Snipe for their
>>> collection. Its no
>>> different than collecting feathers a subject that as been discussed
>>> recently
>>> on this forum. Collecting feathers appears to be a harmless pastime
>>> on the
>>> surface but you can imagine someone who as all the feathers of all
>>> the
>>> parrot species except for the Night Parrot. I could easily see such
>>> a person
>>> trying to find out where to find one and going out and shooting it
>>> to get
>>> the feather.You only have to see what some of the fanatical
>>> Twitchers get up
>>> to at times to understand the need to be alert to whom you give
>>> information
>>> to. Thankfully it is only a small minority that are involved in such
>>> behaviour.
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