{"id":2859,"date":"2021-09-30T22:01:38","date_gmt":"2021-09-30T12:01:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?p=2859"},"modified":"2021-09-02T17:04:12","modified_gmt":"2021-09-02T07:04:12","slug":"ava-recommends-action-against-habitat-clearing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?p=2859","title":{"rendered":"AVA recommends action against habitat clearing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Australian Veterinary Association (AVA) has published a new policy\non native animal welfare which incorporates recommendations designed to protect\nAustralia\u2019s native animals from the threat of habitat clearing. The policy acknowledges\nthe importance of habitat loss along with the suffering of animals killed by\nsuch clearing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis new Native Animal Welfare policy is important as it recognises\nthe threat of habitat clearing and advocates important steps to mitigate key issues.\nThese include minimising the area of native vegetation impacted, assessing biodiversity\nrisks and considering codes of conduct to monitor and support animals displaced\nwhere possible,\u201d Michael Banyard, an Executive Committee member of the Australian\nVeterinary Conservation Biology special interest group, said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith respect to habitat clearing, many animals and populations of\nanimals not killed immediately die from \u2018legacy\u2019 effects, which can set a species\non a declining trajectory and possible extinction years or decades later. Many of\nAustralia\u2019s native animal habitats have been heavily impacted by human activity,\nand the list of species under threat is increasing rapidly. Native animals depend\nsolely on their environment for shelter, food and breeding security.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new policy states that where clearing of wildlife habitat is\nproposed, operators should adhere to the principles of ecologically sustainable\ndevelopment, and every effort should be made to minimise the animal welfare impacts\non native wildlife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The policy also states that a native wildlife assessment should be\nperformed to evaluate the potential impact on wildlife and biodiversity in the bioregion\nif the habitat is a remnant or mature regrowth habitat, an area of high conservation\nstatus, or where clearing approval is required under existing legislation. Land\nshould also be set aside as designated national parks or reserves and wildlife corridors\nin each bioregion, for the maintenance of a balanced and healthy ecosystem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnimal welfare legislation in a number of states also need to be\namended to ensure that exemptions from prosecution are replaced by a duty of care\nto ensure that native animals impacted by habitat clearing are given the same level\nof protection as other animals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cActions are urgently needed not only to protect native animals but\nalso to support the environment on which all of humanity depends. This environmental\nprotection is critical for the provision of ecosystem services like clean water,\nclean air, climate mitigation and minimising the threat of emerging infectious diseases\nlike COVID-19 and Hendra virus<\/a>,\u201d Banyard said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Native Animal Welfare (Habitat Clearing)<\/em> policy outlines\nthat where habitat clearing occurs, five recommendations should be followed to improve\nwelfare outcomes for wildlife. First, that the minimum area of native or remnant\nhabitat should be cleared. Secondly, that wildlife affected by habitat clearing\nshould be protected by animal welfare legislation and codes of practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further recommendations state that the landowner or lessee meet their\nduty of care to take all reasonable steps to mitigate the death and suffering of\nwildlife as regulated by the relevant State and Federal legislation. In conjunction\nwith this, exemptions from prosecution for animal welfare infringements during habitat\nclearing should be removed from legislation and replaced by a duty of care requirement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The policy also recommends management of National Parks and other\nReserves be in accord with nature or managed by legislation sensitive to the natural\norder to prevent catastrophic destruction of habitats and the subsequent impacts\non the welfare of native animals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHabitat loss in area and degradation in quality, including the incursion\nof feral species like cats, cane toads, plants and novel fungi, have directly and\nindirectly contributed directly to the death of millions of native animals year-on-year,\u201d\nBanyard said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe decline in free-living vertebrate animals in the last 50 years\nis stark. The key driver is human-induced change. This policy reinforces the AVA\u2019s\nposition as a key animal welfare advocate.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Australian Veterinary Association (AVA) has published a new policy on native animal welfare which incorporates recommendations designed to protect Australia\u2019s native animals from the threat of habitat clearing. The policy acknowledges the importance of habitat loss along with the suffering of animals killed by such clearing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2860,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[2230,578,2231,542,2234,2232,121,2233],"class_list":["post-2859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-action","tag-ava","tag-habitat-clearing","tag-legislation","tag-native-wildlife","tag-policy","tag-wildlife","tag-wildlife-habitat"],"rise-blocks_total_comments":0,"rise-blocks_categories":[{"term_id":5,"name":"News","slug":"news","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":5,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":402,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":5,"category_count":402,"category_description":"","cat_name":"News","category_nicename":"news","category_parent":0}],"rise-blocks_excerpt":"The Australian Veterinary Association (AVA) has published a new policy on native animal welfare which incorporates recommendations designed to protect Australia\u2019s native animals from the threat of habitat clearing. The policy acknowledges the importance of habitat loss along with the suffering of animals killed by such clearing.","blog_post_layout_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":["https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/habitat-loss-koala-CREDIT-RSPCA-150x150.jpeg",150,150,true],"full":["https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/habitat-loss-koala-CREDIT-RSPCA.jpeg",903,633,false]},"categories_names":{"5":{"name":"News","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?cat=5"}},"tags_names":{"2230":{"name":"action","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=action"},"578":{"name":"AVA","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=ava"},"2231":{"name":"habitat clearing","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=habitat-clearing"},"542":{"name":"legislation","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=legislation"},"2234":{"name":"native wildlife","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=native-wildlife"},"2232":{"name":"policy","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=policy"},"121":{"name":"wildlife","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=wildlife"},"2233":{"name":"wildlife habitat","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=wildlife-habitat"}},"comments_number":"0","wpmagazine_modules_lite_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":["https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/habitat-loss-koala-CREDIT-RSPCA-150x150.jpeg",150,150,true],"cvmm-medium":["https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/habitat-loss-koala-CREDIT-RSPCA.jpeg",300,210,false],"cvmm-medium-plus":["https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/habitat-loss-koala-CREDIT-RSPCA.jpeg",295,207,false],"cvmm-portrait":["https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/habitat-loss-koala-CREDIT-RSPCA.jpeg",400,280,false],"cvmm-medium-square":["https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/habitat-loss-koala-CREDIT-RSPCA.jpeg",600,421,false],"cvmm-large":["https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/habitat-loss-koala-CREDIT-RSPCA.jpeg",903,633,false],"cvmm-small":["https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/habitat-loss-koala-CREDIT-RSPCA.jpeg",130,91,false],"full":["https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/habitat-loss-koala-CREDIT-RSPCA.jpeg",903,633,false]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2859"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2859\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2861,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2859\/revisions\/2861"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}