At 09:43 19/03/98 +1000, you wrote:
I'd lay some of the blame with the local media.
It annoys me greatly to watch travel films of the NT,
Vic, Tas, WA, etc (all the places I haven't been) that
show interesting birds and mammals but they are never
mentioned by name - just glossed over.
One case that comes to mind was some great photography of
Antelopine Kangaroos (which I haven't seen yet in the wild)
which were just dismissed as a mob of "'roos".
They could have been made into something really special but
they were just dismissed.
Perhaps we all need to be more vocal about the animals in
this great land.
Pete
>At 18:46 18/03/98 +1100, you wrote:
>
>>Well, sorry as a proud Skip I rather take offence at that (not seriously,
>>just rather....). Most of the Oz naturalists of my acquaintance seem to be
>>more interested in general natural history than birding as such, which is
>>fair enough.
>
>Sorry, no offence intended. I know there are plenty of great Australian
>birders and naturalists around, and maybe Annabel Hoskins is correct in her
>reply: It is just that the imports are more vocal!!!
>Susan, I mentioned my experience in the early days in North Queensland, and
>I dealt mainly with the general public. I couldn't even find a bird
>watcher! Believe me, the only person I met, who was interested in Natural
>History / birds was a former Dutch fellow (New Australian, like me). I was
>quite shocked with the lack of knowledge or care of the Australian public
>in these days.
>I think the 'green movement / awareness started around 1985 with the
>Franklin Dam issue.
>
>>Also, are you trying to say that you have to come from a
>>totally buggered up environment in order to appreciate a (sort of) healthy
>>one? This makes sense to me...............
>
>Susan, you should have seen my first letters to overseas, describing nature
>and animals. Just to see Freshwater turtles in a creek was such a huge buzz.-
>Of course the environment has suffered to different degrees in Europe, and
>it's almost too late to save some areas. Maybe that's also why the imports,
>and not just birdwatchers, care so much about Australia and don't take it
>for granted, because they don't want to see nature in general suffering or
>disappearing like in their former country.
>But to get Europe in perspective: Take all living Australians and put them
>into Tasmania. Then push this crowd to one half of Tasmania, and what do
>you end up with? The population and land area of the Netherlands!
>Wouldn't we then also have huge environmental problems and pressure on the
>land?
>
>Happy Birding, Klaus
>
>Kirrama Wildlife Tours Klaus & Brenda Uhlenhut
>PO Box 133 SILKWOOD QLD Australia
>http://www.gspeak.com.au/kirrama
>
>
Dr Peter Woodall email =
Division of Vet Pathology & Anatomy
School of Veterinary Science Phone = +61 7 3365 2300
The University of Queensland Fax = +61 7 3365 1355
Brisbane, Qld, Australia 4072 WWW = http://www.uq.edu.au/~anpwooda
"hamba phezulu" (= "go higher" in isiZulu)
|
