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Koalas could be extinct by 2050 in Australian state

Koalas in Australia’s New South Wales could face extinction within decades thanks to mining, forestry and devastating bushfires.

The animals could be virtually extinct in the state by 2050 unless measures are taken to preserve them, a year-long inquiry found in Australia.

A prolonged, drought-fuelled bushfire season that ended early this year was also devastating for the animals, destroying about a quarter of their habitat across the state, and in some parts up to 81%.

The fires left 33 people dead, and burned more than 20% of Australia’s forests.

“The evidence could not be more stark,” the inquiry’s 311-page final report said on Tuesday.

 Australia’s bushfires ‘worse than anyone could have predicted

“The only way our children’s grandchildren will see a koala in the wild in NSW will be if the government acts upon the committee’s recommendations.”

Koalas are already listed as vulnerable in northern New South Wales and south-east Queensland.

The bushfires – which lasted from September until torrential rains arrived in spring – killed 33 people and a billion native animals nationally and also destroyed 2,500 homes and a wilderness area the size of South Korea.

a tree with a sunset in the background: North of Bamaga, Far North Queensland.© Provided by Yahoo! News UK North of Bamaga, Far North Queensland.
The damage was most devastating in New South Wales state.

The report, commissioned by a multi-party parliamentary committee, makes 42 recommendations, including an urgent census, prioritising the protection of the animal in the planning of urban development, and increasing conservation funding.

Read more: Koalas could be listed as endangered after Australian bushfires

But the inquiry topped short of unanimously recommending a moratorium on logging in public native forests, it said.

Stuart Blanch, manager of land clearing and restoration at the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Australia, called on the government to heed the recommendations and strengthen protections for the animals’ habitat.

“WWF calls on the NSW Premier to rewrite weak land clearing laws to protect koala habitat, greatly increase funding for farmers who actively conserve trees where koalas live, and a transition out of logging koala forests and into plantations.” Blanch said in a statement.

Reference: Yahoo News: Rob Waugh 1 hour ago: June 3oth 2020

Ban burning and burying of animals in US Covid-19 farm culls, NGOs urge

As the row over mass animal cullings in the US continues, public and environmental health NGOs are asking the government to ban two livestock carcass disposal methods – burying in unlined pits and burning in open air pyres – until the Covid-19 pandemic is “resolved”.

Risks to the public from the methods, say the groups, include increased air pollutants such as carcinogenic compounds, or bacterial and fecal matter leaking into local water ways.

The coronavirus crisis has hit the US’s largest slaughterhouses particularly hard. As a result, there is a lack of slaughter capacity, and farmers are being forced to cull their animals on-farm.

About 10 million hens have already been killed and the pork industry warned in May that 10 million pigs could die by September.

Related: US producers 'in tears' at having to cull livestock on their farms

More recent estimates, said Iowa Pork Producers Association spokesperson Dal Grooms, suggest the pig figure is far too high, however.

“Right now, one analyst says 2.1 million hogs have ‘disappeared,’” Grooms said. “We know those all weren’t euthanised, because we heard countless stories from across the US where pork producers were working on innovative ways to keep pigs in the food supply, including donations to food banks and private sales to individuals who wanted to have that closer connection to their food.”

Jim Monroe, the spokesperson for the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC), called the petition, filed with the US Department of Agriculture and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA-APHIS), on 29 June by NGOs including Center for Biological Diversity, Earthjustice and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), “an attempt by anti-livestock agriculture activist groups to use an unprecedented crisis to pile on hard-working farmers during a very challenging time”.

Monroe said: “Pork producers follow all appropriate human health and environmental protocols for safe disposal and have been working with federal and state authorities to address this crisis since it started.”

He added that the NPPC was “not aware of any incinerations of depopulated animals”. Rather, he said: “Some estimate that up to 1 million market hogs have gone into rendering [for fat, livestock feed or pet food], which would be a significant proportion of depopulated animals.”

The NGOs fear that “under-regulated and poorly monitored animal disposal during the pandemic” will create serious public health risks. Where animals are incinerated on farms, “on-site incineration by pyre” risks exacerbating the air pollution, which is “a factor linked to higher Covid-19 death rates.”

Pollutants emitted during open air incineration, it said, include “carcinogenic compounds associated with reproductive, developmental, and immune system problems”.

For unlined burials, where there is no barrier between animal carcasses and the soil, “there are health risks from bacteria and fecal matter leaking into the water table,” said Hannah Connor, a senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity.

To make it easy for people to find out if carcasses are buried or burned near homes or water supplies, the petition asks APHIS to create an “electronically searchable and sortable database”.

Culling methods prior to disposal are another problem. “A lot depends on how animals are culled [in terms of environmental impact],” said Connor. “If pigs are shot, there are concerns about lead getting into the environment and the water.”

For chickens, said Connor, one of the main cull methods is foaming. “Foam can have PFAS in it, that’s the family of chemicals that includes PFOS. PFAS chemicals are linked to a range of health issues including cancers, kidney problems and suppressed immune systems.”

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are sometimes called “forever chemicals”. A recent film, Dark Water, inspired by a true story, portrays the damage done by PFOS to people in the West Virginia town of Parkersburg, starting in the 1950s. The PFOS, or C8, was used in the manufacture of Teflon.

“These chemicals are harmful even in extremely low levels and very persistent in the environment,” said the senior NRDC attorney Valerie Baron.

Neither the American Medical Veterinary Association (AVMA), which publishes depopulation guidelines, nor USDA-APHIS replied to questions about PFAS in foams used for depopulation. Nor was there an immediate response from chicken trade body, Delmarva Poultry Industry (DPI). DPI has previously been unresponsive to questions about culls and methods.

Related: US producers 'in tears' at having to cull livestock on their farms

NRDC staff scientist Anna Reade said “nothing prevents industrial animal producers from using PFAS containing foam, which is firefighting foam, for poultry depopulation, and we have heard reports it is happening. Most foams on the US market contain PFAS.”

The USDA-APHIS spokesperson did confirm it received the petition. They said the department “will look into it. At this time, that’s all of the information we have available.”

The petition gives USDA-APHIS seven days to respond. If nothing is done by then, Connor said the NGOs will consider going to court.

In a separate US development, 12 animal activists are facing charges including burglary and misdemeanours related to a recent undercover video investigation of a mass pig cull in Iowa using an approved cull method called Ventilator Shutdown Plus (VSD+). The method involved shutting down pig shed ventilation and introducing steam to cause death by hyperthermia.

On 19 June, local Iowa paper the Des Moines Register reported that the pork producer where animal rights organisation DxE said it filmed the VSD cull had stopped using the method. The producer did not respond to emailed questions or calls.

Reference: The Guardian: Sophia Kevany: 30th June 2020

New swine flu found in pigs in China with 'human pandemic potential'

A new strain of swine flu which has the potential to spread to humans and cause another pandemic has been identified by researchers in China.

Named G4 EA H1N1, the virus is similar to the swine flu that caused a pandemic in 2009 and possesses "all the essential hallmarks of a candidate pandemic virus", according to the authors of the study.

Scientists at Chinese universities and China's Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) detected the new virus after analysing 30,000 nasal swabs from pigs in slaughterhouses in 10 Chinese provinces between 2011 and 2018.
They found the new strain has been predominant among pigs since 2016.

One in 10 pig farm workers tested also showed elevated levels of the virus in their blood, particularly those aged 18 to 35 years old.

Tests showed that any immunity humans gain from exposure to seasonal flu does not provide protection from G4.

The researchers said they are concerned the virus could mutate so that it can pass from human to human and spark a global outbreak.

"Such infectivity greatly enhances the opportunity for virus adaptation in humans and raises concerns for the possible generation of pandemic viruses," they said.

"Systematic surveillance of influenza viruses in pigs is essential for early warning and preparedness for the next potential pandemic.

Reference: Sky News 7 hrs ago: June 30th 2020

Meat plants ‘likely source of any coronavirus second wave in London’

Meat processing plants are one of the areas where a second wave of coronavirus is most likely to emerge in the capital, London’s top public health official has said.

Professor Kevin Fenton also warned Londoners against “complacency” due to the low number of new cases at present in the capital, urging them to maintain social distancing, wear face coverings in public and in shops, and observe hand hygiene.

Asked during a London Assembly investigation into coronavirus for the most likely sources of future outbreaks in the capital, Professor Fenton, the London director of Public Health England, said vigilance was needed in hospitals, care homes and people returning to the UK after foreign travel.

But he highlighted food factories as an “emerging area” of concern because of the proximity of workers to each other and the low pay, meaning staff were unlikely to be able to afford to self-isolate at home if they fell sick.

Outbreaks have been seen in food factories in Wales and Yorkshire, and in Germany, France, Spain and the US.

Professor Fenton said there was a need to be “really clear about emerging areas, such as workplaces” and ensure surveillance was in place to “detect it early and act early”.

He said meat factories “have high numbers of workers, working closely together, often people who may not speak English as a first language, who may be migrant, who may be otherwise vulnerable and who are on zero-hour contracts or the types of vulnerable situations where coming into work is a necessity, even if they are symptomatic or may be unwell”.

He said lockdowns of workplaces were more feasible than for districts.

Reference: Evening Standard: Ross Lydall :1 day ago: June 29th 2020