AR-News: (AU) Chicks die in island invasion

[Animalara2003 at aol.com]

"We came back a week later and found that a family looked like it had been on 
the island. They had pulled up a boat, there were dog tracks, and adult and 
children's footprints. There were all the signs of a family being there. 
"All the nesting tags had been pulled out and placed in a pile and eggs had 
been removed. We could only locate four chicks." 
Mr Nordstrom said with humans present on the island, the adult birds flee and 
were very wary about returning, leaving chicks vulnerable to attack from 
predators. 
In 2001, record numbers of the little tern had been reported at the island. 
But since last year, hatchling numbers have fallen from about 70 to 50 this 
season. 
The National Parks and Wildlife Service which oversees the project to protect 
the birds, confirmed a group of people had visited the island illegally. 
"This is why we have signs on the island. This sort of incident is very 
unhelpful," a NPWS spokesperson said. 
"Human disturbance can have a major impact on a colony which already has a 
number of natural predators." 


full story:

http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,8543134%255E26462,00.html



"The world is a dangerous place,
not because of those who do evil,
but because of those who look on and do nothing.",
Albert Einstein

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