9 August 2013

Don't kill platypuses, you jerks

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Dead Platypus

After finding an illegal yabby trap containing three threatened and protected crayfish and one dead platypus near Kambah Pool, ACT Parks and Conservation today called for Canberran’s to keep an eye out for these illegal fishing practices.

If you see any illegal traps or anyone engaged in illegal fishing, Brett McNamara would like you to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

If you personally use platypus killing traps, RIotACT would like you to stop being a jerk.

“This sort of incident is incredibly disappointing given the platypus is such an iconic species and the Murray River Crayfish is threatened. While the conservation status of platypus is stable, this month the Upper Murrumbidgee Waterwatch is running a platypus count to ascertain a clearer picture of overall numbers in our local waterways.

“All enclosed nets and traps have been illegal in public waters in the ACT for over 10 years under theACT Fisheries Management Act 2000 and are also illegal in surrounding NSW. They can kill platypus, turtles and water rats by preventing them from escaping meaning they drown.

“Rangers will be stepping up patrols along the Murrumbidgee River Corridor looking for illegal fishing, which can also include the use of set lines, unattended rods, not keeping to size and bag limits and unauthorised vehicle access to areas. Last year we issued $1150 worth of on the spot fines to an illegal fisher who had 10 set lines at Kambah Pool reserve.”

Mr McNamara said that the Murrumbidgee River Corridor has many great fishing spots so it is very unfortunate when people choose to not obey the rules and harm our local wildlife.

“There are no excuses for poor fishing behaviour. A number of signs are in good view of the public at popular fishing spots along the Murrumbidgee. These signs display pictures and descriptions of the protected endangered fish so that anglers can readily identify their catch. They also provide information on regulations and restrictions.

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Affirmative Action Man4:24 pm 19 Aug 13

I’m in favour of banning the traps totally but damn that crayfish on the right looks delicious particularly with some whole egg mayo yum.

It is currently illegal to use any sort of enclosed trap within ACT public waters ie. you may use them in private farm dams. Riversmart are running an online petition to totally ban the use and sale of these enclosed traps, like opera house traps If you are concerned about the dangers to wildlife that these traps pose go to http://www.riversmart.org.au

Wow you are really getting me huh… In the ACT region, the Ngunnawal People, eating of platypus and wombats is considered a culture taboo.

Blen_Carmichael3:05 pm 12 Aug 13

Delish said :

dungfungus said :

Blen_Carmichael said :

Delish said :

In Aboriginal Culture two things that you don’t kill – Platypus and Wombats.

I doubt that. There are many credible references to platypuses featuring in the diet of at least some indigenous peoples.

As for the wombat:

“Wanda Miller talks about working with Gladys Miller to design language programs that will allow Wirangu to be taught in schools. Wanda’s grandchildren are Wirrangul through her husband. Wombat is the traditional food of the Wirangu people, and the children’s stories are all about hunting wombat. We see the Miller family out bush, digging a wombat out of its burrow and then being prepared for cooking upon the open fire.”

She is a Central Australian Woman. I am talking local Ngunnawal, ACT, this is ignorant and totally different people. Yes different tribes eat different foods as it might be more plentiful / not a totem to the people. Same as Turtle however Turtle is more fso food of the Islands such as Torres Strait/ Thursday & Bathurst.

Ignorant? It was you who claimed that it was impermissible in “Aboriginal Culture” to kill platypuses or wombats.

dungfungus said :

Blen_Carmichael said :

Delish said :

In Aboriginal Culture two things that you don’t kill – Platypus and Wombats.

I doubt that. There are many credible references to platypuses featuring in the diet of at least some indigenous peoples.

As for the wombat:

“Wanda Miller talks about working with Gladys Miller to design language programs that will allow Wirangu to be taught in schools. Wanda’s grandchildren are Wirrangul through her husband. Wombat is the traditional food of the Wirangu people, and the children’s stories are all about hunting wombat. We see the Miller family out bush, digging a wombat out of its burrow and then being prepared for cooking upon the open fire.”

She is a Central Australian Woman. I am talking local Ngunnawal, ACT, this is ignorant and totally different people. Yes different tribes eat different foods as it might be more plentiful / not a totem to the people. Same as Turtle however Turtle is more fso food of the Islands such as Torres Strait/ Thursday & Bathurst.

kumadude said :

I use a tiny yabby trap to catch mosquito fish to feed my murray cod, rarely I may even catch a yabby..

Any enclosed trap is illegal in ACT public waters (ie. anywhere apart from a farm dam)

Blen_Carmichael said :

Delish said :

In Aboriginal Culture two things that you don’t kill – Platypus and Wombats.

I doubt that. There are many credible references to platypuses featuring in the diet of at least some indigenous peoples.

As for the wombat:

“Wanda Miller talks about working with Gladys Miller to design language programs that will allow Wirangu to be taught in schools. Wanda’s grandchildren are Wirrangul through her husband. Wombat is the traditional food of the Wirangu people, and the children’s stories are all about hunting wombat. We see the Miller family out bush, digging a wombat out of its burrow and then being prepared for cooking upon the open fire.”

http://aso.gov.au/titles/documentaries/wirrangul-women/clip3/

Wombat was the first choice of “the slow food movement” long before the Italians discovered it.

Blen_Carmichael11:21 am 11 Aug 13

Delish said :

In Aboriginal Culture two things that you don’t kill – Platypus and Wombats.

I doubt that. There are many credible references to platypuses featuring in the diet of at least some indigenous peoples.

As for the wombat:

“Wanda Miller talks about working with Gladys Miller to design language programs that will allow Wirangu to be taught in schools. Wanda’s grandchildren are Wirrangul through her husband. Wombat is the traditional food of the Wirangu people, and the children’s stories are all about hunting wombat. We see the Miller family out bush, digging a wombat out of its burrow and then being prepared for cooking upon the open fire.”

http://aso.gov.au/titles/documentaries/wirrangul-women/clip3/

Yet another argument for the Garema Place stocks.

Comic_and_Gamer_Nerd8:02 am 11 Aug 13

Mr Evil said :

I’m not racist, but……..

Just wondering if it might be a good idea for the authorities to issue these notifications in several other languages as well as English, as there’s probably a 50/50 chance that someone from an NESB could be behind this….

Just sayin’…..

Source?

Guarantee that its white bogan trash.

GardeningGirl6:47 pm 10 Aug 13

poetix said :

. . But if you can look at that image without crying, you’re much tougher than I am.

I’m certainly not tough enough.

Don’t kill platypuses, you jerks!!!!!!!

That’s a very, very sad image.

It would’ve been nice if the rangers had the resources to watch the trap until the villains returned to empty it. Then they could’ve…oh…I dunno…tangled them up in the trap and flung them back in the water so they could see how it felt. Or opened up on them with Claymores and automatic fire perhaps. At least something to let them know that this activity is illegal and unacceptable.

Diggety said :

dungfungus said :

Diggety said :

Has anyone ever tasted platypus?

Probably the only person likely to have eaten one of them is that Heston Bluemetal weirdo on TV. He probably presented the dish as “four legged duck l’orange”
Being a protected species, only indigenes are allowed to eat them I would think. I think the platypus has poison spurs so some care in preparation would be necessary.
Google the Bush Tucker Man (Les Siddons) and see what he has to say.

I reckon Malcolm Douglas would have tried it with some Kimberly Onion and SPC Two Fruits.

Nevertheless, I hope if the platypus was killed, then it would have been eaten. No point in wasting a tragedy.

I think putting the photograph out there avoids wasting a tragedy. Hopefully someone will learn something.

But if you can look at that image without crying, you’re much tougher than I am.

Delish said :

In Aboriginal Culture two things that you don’t kill – Platypus and Wombats.

It depends which tribe you’re from. Certain animals are sacred to certain groups.

That aside, anything endangered should not be hunted, or killed carelessly.

I hope the jerks who did this get @#%$ed in the @#$@!.

Delish said :

In Aboriginal Culture two things that you don’t kill – Platypus and Wombats. This makes me so sad, really sad. Platypus are the keepers of the water ways and there survival in this country is an extraordinary especially seeing they turned the river around the wrong way (snowy river system). It no longers feed into the waterways that had existed for thousands of breeding seasons.

Did the turtle draw the short straw when it came to sparing the platypus and wombat?

dungfungus said :

Diggety said :

Has anyone ever tasted platypus?

Probably the only person likely to have eaten one of them is that Heston Bluemetal weirdo on TV. He probably presented the dish as “four legged duck l’orange”
Being a protected species, only indigenes are allowed to eat them I would think. I think the platypus has poison spurs so some care in preparation would be necessary.
Google the Bush Tucker Man (Les Siddons) and see what he has to say.

I reckon Malcolm Douglas would have tried it with some Kimberly Onion and SPC Two Fruits.

Nevertheless, I hope if the platypus was killed, then it would have been eaten. No point in wasting a tragedy.

curmudgery said :

It should be ‘ii’ shouldn’t it – as in ‘platypii’? Anyone remember their Latin?

Gotta love Wikipedia

There is no universally agreed plural of “platypus” in the English language. Scientists generally use “platypuses” or simply “platypus”. Colloquially, the term “platypi” is also used for the plural, although this is technically incorrect and a form of pseudo-Latin, the correct Greek plural would be “platypodes”

curmudgery said :

It should be ‘ii’ shouldn’t it – as in ‘platypii’? Anyone remember their Latin?

You only call them that if they have pastry around them in the dish when you put them in the oven; and it is spelt Platypie by the way.

Diggety said :

Has anyone ever tasted platypus?

Probably the only person likely to have eaten one of them is that Heston Bluemetal weirdo on TV. He probably presented the dish as “four legged duck l’orange”
Being a protected species, only indigenes are allowed to eat them I would think. I think the platypus has poison spurs so some care in preparation would be necessary.
Google the Bush Tucker Man (Les Siddons) and see what he has to say.

It’s a pity that the rangers couldn’t hide out waiting for the morons who did this to come back and check their trap, and then taser the hell out of the bastards!

It should be ‘ii’ shouldn’t it – as in ‘platypii’? Anyone remember their Latin?

Has anyone ever tasted platypus?

HiddenDragon4:04 pm 09 Aug 13

I hope the culprit is feeling equally nervous and bad about themselves.

Oh dear. I hope they didn’t realise that they might kill any platypi or that the crayfish were endangered. I remember when opera house nets became illegal in Victoria 20 odd years ago we continued using ours on the naughty around Barmah for a few years (we were kids and didn’t understand) but we never saw anything other than a handful of yabbies, a couple of shrimpies and the very occasional water rat. This is the first time I’m seeing how dangerous they can be.

In Aboriginal Culture two things that you don’t kill – Platypus and Wombats. This makes me so sad, really sad. Platypus are the keepers of the water ways and there survival in this country is an extraordinary especially seeing they turned the river around the wrong way (snowy river system). It no longers feed into the waterways that had existed for thousands of breeding seasons.

Mr Evil said :

I’m not racist, but……..

Just wondering if it might be a good idea for the authorities to issue these notifications in several other languages as well as English, as there’s probably a 50/50 chance that someone from an NESB could be behind this….

Just sayin’…..

That kind of cultural based lack of knowledge tends to happen in the cities, this kind of activity is very much the precinct of the bogan class, bogan fathers passing it onto their further inbred children. I use a tiny yabby trap to catch mosquito fish to feed my murray cod, rarely I may even catch a yabby. If you look around in Canberra the bulk of the folk are of the Klan variety genetics, so I discount it being an action of other cultures.

Jeez that’s a nice size crayfish. Too bad they’re threatened.

There are really some people that need to be drowned…

It’s really not that hard to catch yabbies without an illegal trap, you tools.

I’m not racist, but……..

Just wondering if it might be a good idea for the authorities to issue these notifications in several other languages as well as English, as there’s probably a 50/50 chance that someone from an NESB could be behind this….

Just sayin’…..

Sad story indeed, but now that it is dead, you could cook it up and make a Platypi

Very dangerous animal. Watch for the spurs. But of course best bet is to leave them alone. This is terrible.

Would like to read the headline, “Illegal trapper killed by platypus.”

If you personally use platypus killing traps, RIotACT would like you to stop being a jerk

Too right Barcho for platypuses/platypi are really lovely critters and anyone laying traps is a bastard!

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