The outrageous secrets behind greyhound training in Australia

Australia's greyhound racing industry is facing outrage after a television report showing illegal live baiting during training sessions.

Some of the animals used as bait were hung upside down before being flung around the track

An ABC Four Corners report showed live piglets, possums and rabbits being chased and eventually killed by dogs.

Greyhounds Australasia has begun an urgent review of animal welfare.

Industry authorities in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland have suspended more than 20 people after raids on properties last week.

They were carried out after ABC handed over its footage ahead of Monday's broadcast.

Live baiting is outlawed but some trainers believe it gives their dogs an advantage in races.

'Profoundly disturbing'

The footage was secretly filmed at training tracks in Queensland and Victoria.

Some of the video showed struggling animals being flung around a mechanical lure before being torn apart by greyhounds. One possum was spun on the lure for almost an hour.

The footage also captured trainers apparently discussing ways of disposing of unwanted dogs, which is against racing regulations.

Animal rights group have called for an end to industry self-regulation

"What we have documented is sickening, shocking and profoundly disturbing, not only because of the horrific cruelty, but because of the human behaviour that is revealed," said Lyn White from Animals Australia, which helped gather the footage.

There has been condemnation from senior figures in Australia's greyhound industry.

In a statement Greyhounds Australasia Chief executive Scott PParker described the footage as"appalling", and called the use of live animals"disgusting, illegal, unethical and totally rejected by the industry".

Darren Condon, the CEO of Racing Queensland, said immediate action would be taken against individuals implicated.

Peter Caillard, chair of Greyhound Racing Victoria, said the use of live bait was "abhorrent and has no place in our sport".

"Any person engaged in live baiting can expect to be disqualified and prosecuted," he said, but added that he believed the practice was not widespread, and was isolated to one private facility in Victoria.

Depending on state laws, someone convicted of animal cruelty in Australia can face a jail term of between one and five years, and a substantial fine.

The Victoria state government has announced two separate investigations into the greyhound racing industry.

Animals Australia and Animal Liberation Queensland, who also helped make the report, have called for an end to greyhound industry self-regulation.

From BBC News

Warning: This video contains graffic footage

Party leaders make joint climate commitment

The UK's political leaders have pledged to work together to combat climate change, whatever the election result.

The pledge includes an undertaking "to end the use of unabated coal power"

In a joint statement, David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg said climate change was one of the most serious threats facing the world.

They said climate change threatens not just the environment but also security, prosperity and poverty eradication.

They have promised to end coal burning for power generation in the UK - unless it uses new clean-up technology.

Environmentalists say the pledge is significant because it quells some of their fears that the Conservatives might adopt a more climate-sceptic line, to mirror UKIP's position.

'Moment of unity'

The move will be noticed by the UK's European partners working towards a global agreement on climate change at the UN conference in Paris in December. Some of them had been nervous that the UK might soften its leadership position in the talks, given the level of climate scepticism expressed by some newspapers and Conservative backbenchers.

The statement will also please investors who have been deterred from sinking money into renewable energy systems because they feared a withdrawal from climate policies.

It has been brokered by Matthew Spencer of the think tank Green Alliance, who He told BBC News: "The purpose is to create space for the current and future PM to ensure that the UK can play a full role in securing a good outcome in Paris.

He added that another aim was "to reassure investors that agreement remains strong across current leaders on emissions reduction, and that we're unlikely to see a major change in direction whichever party forms the next government".

"It's very unusual to get a moment of unity in the midst of a general election, and it is generating lots of excitement. A non-partisan approach is the holy grail in the US. It is in our national interest to act and to ensure that others act with us."

'Unusual' joint commitment: Cameron, Clegg and Miliband

The leaders have gone so far as to promise to ban "unabated" coal-fired power generation - meaning that, if it is to continue, the emissions will need to be captured and stored in rock formations. This decision has been long debated and will send a strong signal of intent to the power industry.

The leaders state: "Acting on climate change is an opportunity for the UK to grow a stronger economy more efficient, and more resilient to risks ahead."

They pledge:

• to seek a fair, strong, legally binding, global climate deal which limits temperature rises to below 2C
• to work together, across party lines, to agree carbon budgets in accordance with the Climate Change Act
• to accelerate the transition to a competitive, energy efficient low carbon economy and to end the use of unabated coal for power generation

Critics fear that combating climate change will make energy unaffordable. UKIP says climate change fears are inflated and the party's UKIP's energy spokesman recently said his party wanted to repeal the Climate Change Act, which commits the UK to step-by-step reductions in CO2 until 2050. He said the relationship between CO2 levels and global temperatures is "hugely open to question".

Labour leader Ed Miliband recently restated that tackling climate change "goes to the heart of" his beliefs. A Liberal Democrat source said tackling climate change was in the party's DNA.

The Green Party says the UK should be making much more urgent progress towards getting the country powered by renewables.

The leaders say action on climate change is an opportunity to grow a stronger economy

Greenpeace welcomed the new statement. Its director John Sauven said:

"This pledge marks a turning point in the collective effort to take Britain's energy system out of the Victorian age and into the 21st century. Party leaders now need to set a clear expiry date on coal pollution, stop subsidies to coal plants, and start investing in the clean energy infrastructure this country really needs."

Industry leaders will need reassuring about how this can be done without pushing up energy prices and making the UK uncompetitive.

From BBC news

Plastic waste heading for oceans quantified

About eight million tonnes of plastic waste find their way into the world's oceans each year, say scientists.

Any walk along a beach will produce a sizeable haul of plastic waste

The new study is said to be the best effort yet to quantify just how much of this debris is being dumped, blown or simply washed out to sea.

Eight million tonnes is like covering an area 34 times the size of New York's Manhattan Island to ankle depth.

The details were released at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Dr Jenna Jambeck, the study’s lead author from the University of Georgia, had another way to try to visualise the scale of the problem.

The quantity entering the ocean is equal to about five plastic grocery bags full of plastic for every foot of coastline in the world,” she told BBC News.

Unseen pollution

Researchers have for some time now reported on the mass of plastic caught up in ocean currents, just going round and round.

What is slightly shocking about this new study, also published in Science Magazine, is that it helps quantify all the plastic in our oceans - not just the material seen floating on the sea surface or sitting on beaches.

The newly published estimate is 20 to 2,000 times greater than the reported mass of plastic trapped in high concentration in ocean gyres.

It is clear now that large quantities of debris must be hidden on the seafloor or have been weathered into tiny fragments that are just not apparent to casual surveys. The latter are being ingested by marine animals with unknown consequences.

Plastics will break down into tiny, persistent fragments that can then be ingested by animals

In doing its analysis, the team pulled together international data on population, waste generation and management (and mismanagement). The group then modelled scenarios for the likely sums of plastic getting into the ocean environment.

For 2010, the estimated range runs from 4.8 to 12.7 million tonnes. Eight million tonnes is the mid-scenario. It is a few percent of the total plastic waste generated that year.

In doing its analysis, the team pulled together international data on population, waste generation and management (and mismanagement). The group then modelled scenarios for the likely sums of plastic getting into the ocean environment.

For 2010, the estimated range runs from 4.8 to 12.7 million tonnes. Eight million tonnes is the mid-scenario. It is a few percent of the total plastic waste generated that year.

Jenna Jambeck's study tries to quantify the inputs. It is not a census of what is out there

READ MORE

From BBC News

Blast fishing destroying Tanzania's marine habitats

The rich marine life off Tanzania's coast is coming under threat because of blast fishing, according to environmentalists.

The technique sees fishermen use explosives to maximise their catch.

Although illegal, the practice is used along the entire Tanzanian coastline from Mtwara to Tanga, and off north Zanzibar.

From BBC News

Australian mammals on brink of 'extinction calamity'

Australia has lost one in ten of its native mammals species over the last 200 years in what conservationists describe as an "extinction calamity".

The endangered northern quoll, a mammal species native to Australia

No other nation has had such a high rate of loss of land mammals over this time period, according to scientists at Charles Darwin University, Australia.

The decline is mainly due to predation by the feral cat and the red fox, which were introduced from Europe, they say.Large scale fires to manage land are also having an impact.

As an affluent nation with a small population, Australia's wildlife should be relatively secure from threats such as habitat loss.But a new survey of Australia's native mammals, published in the journalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests the scale of the problem is more serious than anticipated.

Since 1788, 11% of 273 native mammals living on land have died out, 21% are threatened and 15% are near threatened, the study found. Marine mammals are faring better.

Shy species

"No other country has had such a high rate and number of mammal extinctions over this period, and the number we report for Australia is substantially higher than previous estimates," said conservation biologist John Woinarski, who led the research.

"A further 56 Australian land mammals are now threatened, indicating that this extremely high rate of biodiversity loss is likely to continue unless substantial changes are made.

"The extent of the problem has been largely unappreciated until recently because much of the loss involves small, nocturnal, shy species with [little] public profile - few Australians know of these species, let alone have seen them, so their loss has been largely unappreciated by the community."

The brush-tailed rabbit-rat, a mammal species native to Australia that is listed as a near-threatened species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature

In time, iconic species such as the koala will also decline, said the researchers, from Charles Darwin University, Southern Cross University and the Department of Parks and Wildlife in Wanneroo.

The prospects for Australia's wildlife can be improved but is "a very formidable challenge", they added.

It is estimated there are between 15 and 23 million wild cats living on the continent.

Practical measures to protect native species include boosting biosecurity on islands off the mainland, which have fewer feral cats and foxes.

The islands could also act as arks for endangered species, while more careful use of fire and control measures to wipe out foxes and feral cats are also being considered.

But the researchers warn that Australians may ultimately need to consider the way they live on the land to stem the loss of natural assets.

FRom BBC News

There's confidence about the future of the Tasmanian devil (Simon Cullen - ABC News)

Brigitte Stevens from the Wombat Awareness Organisation with rescued wombats. pic Calum Robertson Picture: Calum Robertson