How many hours did that take.
Australasian Hippo Population
- Thread starter Zoofan15
- Start date
How many hours did that take.
It hit my inbox at 3.20pm AEST and I finished my first read just before posting here.
Re-reading more slowly now.
No real surprises so far - they tend to come after the public consultation period if they are going to come at all.
Im curious to read it. But it will probably have to wait a few weeks until I have time.
Im wondering if any zoochaters will comment on it. The public inquiry, most people wouldn't even know its there.
There is quite a long list of stakeholders who receive all of these documents that are put out for public comment - some Zoochatters are on that list.
So are a significant number of activists.
Surprisingly, I received a call from ABC Radio Queensland this morning about the review and ended up doing an interview with them about it. Hadn't realised that they were a stakeholder!
I love that ABC radio is a stakeholder. Its very left of field, however probably good to build up some momentum.
ABC rural and regional radio in many areas is quite balanced. They wouldn't have an audience if they followed the lead of some of their more urban stations!
ABC is probably our closest thing to balanced media, realistically.
I was more using left of field, as when one thinks of stake holders for a hippo import. ABC radio doesn't pop into the top ten people/types of people I would think of
. If anything id be less surprised if landline was a stakeholder.
Hippopotamus IRA Progress
I came across this process map of publishing an IRA from start to finish (specifically with regards to Hippopotamus). I thought it’d be of interest to anyone wanting a brief overview of the process or wanting to see what stage we’re at. As you can see, there’s a long way to go, but exciting progress nonetheless.
Source: Importation of zoo hippopotamuses and their semen from approved countries to Australia - DAFF
I came across this process map of publishing an IRA from start to finish (specifically with regards to Hippopotamus). I thought it’d be of interest to anyone wanting a brief overview of the process or wanting to see what stage we’re at. As you can see, there’s a long way to go, but exciting progress nonetheless.
Source: Importation of zoo hippopotamuses and their semen from approved countries to Australia - DAFF
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The Sleepy Hippo
Well-Known Member
How long did the first two stages take?
I don’t know the exact date it started but believe it was not long after the Bovine IRA was published in 2021,
The Sleepy Hippo
Well-Known Member
Do the people completing it have a 0.2 contract? Man they are slow at their job! (Apologies if you are on these threads 
)
)Do the people completing it have a 0.2 contract? Man they are slow at their job! (Apologies if you are on these threads
I would say that assessing the biosecurity risks is a not insignificant part of the process, as I wouldn't be surprised to know that every possibility needed to be canvassed. A relative of mine is responsible for risk assessments as part of her job (in another industry) and it's a very arduous process. Hopefully the next stages will be quicker, although I suppose that will depend on whether the feedback is largely agreeable or whether there are areas of conflict over the best path forward.
There would have been considerable risk assessment with regards to the Australian agricultural industry as even though this species has been held in the country for over a century, any new organisms coming in have the potential to cause risk.
Personally I believe the chances of a feral population establishing itself is nil to zipper within our accredited zoos; but nonetheless it has to be accounted for and historically we have recorded incidents from private owners such as Tipperary of animals escaping (namely a Pygmy hippopotamus), which means it can’t be fully discounted no matter how unlikely.
Especially given the fact that we had a wild feral pygmy that was happily living in the top end until it was shot. That in and of itself would have added quite a bit of assessment work to the new IRA.
The agricultural industry is probably the weakest its ever been protected at the moment. As evidence of the 'removal of red tape' the last few Govs have done and the occurrence of all these new things popping up like white spot in prawns and the mite in bees. So its probably the easiest it'll get as far as that's concerned.
The Sleepy Hippo
Well-Known Member
fair enough. I'd missed that there was a feral one 
fair enough. I'd missed that there was a feral one
Yeah it was reported in 2009 that a man shot it while out pig hunting. It was believed the female Pygmy hippopotamus had been living feral for about six years.
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/p...p/news-story/d02724cf095493ae5f1d7ddea2df97ca
****, has it been that long already. I remember when we were whinging about one being feral on here when it was first reported.
Tam Skylonobi
Active Member
I did not realise that some of the hippos in Australia were actually inbred through father and daughter mating.
A lot of the regions hippos are, and this has been the case for a while now. Especially when you consider Australia's last Common Hippo import dates back to 1952.
Father, daughter matings are genetically better than that of full siblings (and the same as half), so this was obviously why this route was taken.
Werribee's previous breeding bull (Harry) was the offspring of a mother/son mating, and he in turn mated with two of his daughters to produce three calves still alive today.
There was also mother/son matings too, Ollie and and Suzie at Dubbo being a key example; they have a surviving daughter, Nile.
The Pygmy Hippo population isn't as inbred as the Common population as imports have been recent-ish (the last being in the early 80's). Despite that, new imports will absolutely be needed going forward with only one breeding pair left at Taronga.