sunday times - 03/06/2012
DESCRIPTION
Picture story about the Christmas Island Red Crab.TRANSCRIPT
34 JUNE 3, 2012 HOME DELIVERY - CALL 1800 198 051
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Fighting back: A red crab on Christmas Island.Picture: Australian Geographic/Justin Gilligan
Crabs nip aheadof crazy killers
Sonia Kohlbacher
THE famous red crabs ofChristmas Island areclawing their way back.
For the past 20 years thecrab population has beendecimated by the yellowcrazy ant, which wasaccidentally introduced tothe island in 1915.
The crabs, a mainattraction for touristshoping to see theirmigration, were numberedat 120 million a few yearsago.
But the ant plaguereduced their numbers by
half. The ants attack thecrabs and spray formicacid, which enters theirgills and eyes whichevidently kills them.
Parks Australia haspreviously relied oninsecticide-based baiting tokill the ants.
It is effective, butrangers are limited to theareas they can targetbecause the insecticide isalso fatal for the crabs.
Tanya Detto, from ParksAustralia, says it is nowtargeting scale insectswhich provide a foodsource for the ants.
Car-park hogsCouncil spies on peak beach zones
Glenn Cordingley
COTTESLOE MayorKevin Morgan wantsparking fines in the iconicbeachside suburb to besteeper depending onwhen they are issued.
‘‘I think if people arebeing unfair and hoggingcar bays for longer thanthey should during a peak-period on a particularlyhot day, forcing otherpeople to walk furtherrather than catch a trainand free shuttle bus, Iwould have very little
sympathy if we were allowedto adjust the level ofpenalty according to thetime of day,’’ he said. ‘‘I ammaking inquiries intothis.’’
Any increase in fineswould require changes tothe local law.
Parking in the Town ofCottesloe is free but in-fringements of $50 to $100are issued, depending onthe zones and time limits.
The council this weekagreed to saturate its towncentre with 195 parkingsensors to detect vehicles
parked longer than per-mitted. It will spend$76,000 on the under-ground devices, costingabout $390 a bay.
They prompt rangers toissue fines when timelimits expire.
The council installed550 around its seafront in2008, which coincidedwith yearly income risingby $300,000.
Total parking revenuein 2010-11 was $645,000,compared with $344,000in 2007-08.
The new MeterEye sen-
sors provided by Car Park-ing Technologies will beinstalled in the next finan-cial year.
Mr Morgan agreed thetechnology was a revenueraiser, but argued it savedvaluable staff hours.
‘‘They . . . save us sendingout three or four rangers tochalk tyres,’’ he said.
Council said fine rev-enue was expected to dropto $480,000 this financialyear, It said the risesbetween 2008-10 werelargely due to increases inparking fines.
Kids’ campaignfails to deliver
Phil Hickey
WA is short of more than50 child protection wor-kers, despite the StateGovernment spending$16,000 on a two-monthoverseas recruitment cam-paign to plug the shortfall.
The Sunday Times re-vealed last year the De-partment for Child Protec-tion needed 77 more childprotection workers.
The Government con-ceded 56 were still neededalmost three months afterthe British recruitmentcampaign ended.
The campaign, Workand Play in WA, was for
psychologists and otherkey staff. Thirty applicantswere interviewed from 81contenders.
Child Protection Minis-ter Robyn McSweeney said17 were successful. Fivewere due to arrive thisweek with the rest ‘‘placedand relocated as suitablepositions arise’’, she said.
Opposition child protec-tion spokeswoman Sue Ellerysaid: ‘‘I would be con-cerned that the expendi-ture of $16,000 has noteven addressed half of thegap that we know exists inchild protection workers.’’
See www.dcp.wa.gov.au.
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