Lumen Summer 2016 - Flipbook - Page 23
story by Genevieve Sanchez
A
nimal lover and aspiring builderastronaut-zookeeper, Eli was so
happy with the response from his
friends that he asked for donations again
for his fifth birthday this year. In total he
raised $150.
“Many of his classmates donated
money and one child and his sister
did odd jobs around the house to earn
pocket money for their donation,” says
Eli’s mother, Karen Winter.
Karen says that Eli happily spends
hours watching David Attenborough
documentaries and likes to borrow
non-fiction and fiction books from the
library about animals.
“He has many questions about
endangered animals and the threats
they face, how these are prevented and
what we can do to prevent further risk
to animals – both in Australia and
overseas,” she says.
Dr David Taggart, affiliate Conservation
Research Fellow at the University of
Adelaide and founding member of the
Brush-tailed Rock Wallaby (BTRW) Recovery
Program team, says that in his experience,
most Australians know very little about
their own wildlife but they can easily name
many non-Australian mammal species.
“This is a big problem for conservationists
in Australia as we must comprehend
before we can conserve,” he says.
“The brush-tailed rock wallaby is an
animal most Australians would never
have heard about – the fact that Eli and
his family have is amazing.”
The BTRW was once abundant
throughout the mountainous country from
western Victoria up the Great Dividing
Range and into southern Queensland.
Numbers declined dramatically from
1850-1920 when pelt-hunting for the fur
trade in Europe saw hundreds of thousands
of animals shot. The establishment of
foxes and cats in Australia have
continued their steep decline.
The BTRW is now so few in number
that it has become Victoria’s most
endangered species with less than 80
remaining. Fewer than 1,500 individuals
survive nationally and the species has
been nick-named the shadow, after the
main character in a 1940s children’s book,
entitled Shadow the Rock Wallaby.
David and his team have been actively
involved in monitoring wild BTRW populations
along the Snowy River in eastern Victoria,
in captive breeding, and through the
reintroduction of captive-bred animals
back into the Grampians National Park.
He says that the generous gesture
by Eli and his family speaks volumes
about their values and appreciation of
our unique Australian environment and
the wildlife it supports.
“Eli’s gesture touched his many
friends and their parents and has helped
improve the profile of the endangered
brush-tailed rock wallaby within their
community,” he says.
“It can be so easy in this field to feel
dejected as the problems we face are so
overwhelming. It gives me and others in
my field great hope when we cross paths
with someone like Eli and his family, that
there are good people out there who care
Above: Eli Wolkenberg with his certificate from
the University
Left: The Brush-tailed Rock Wallaby
about our wildlife and who are prepared
to do their bit to help turn things around.”
The University sent Eli a certificate of
appreciation and photos of the BTRW
which Eli has put up on display at his
school in Melbourne.
He was told by David that his donations
would be used to purchase a camera for
documenting the wallabies and to support
the captive breeding program at the Waite
animal facility. At Waite young wallabies
are reared ready for release to the wild
or sent to other breeding facilities.
If you would like to support the BTRW, just like Eli, please contact the
University on +61 8 8313 5800 or email development@adelaide.edu.au
To find out more about the Brush-tailed Rock Wallaby Recovery Program,
email david.taggart@adelaide.edu.au
The University of Adelaide | Alumni Magazine 21
