Sad scene in the middle of a busy Aussie highway prompts 1km backflip
A grim video has emerged of what some locals have deemed a 'death trap' in the middle of a busy Aussie highway, prompting a surprise response from road authorities.
Dean Arthurell was recently travelling on the Tonkin Highway near Ellenbrook, a suburb about 30 minutes north of Perth, when he saw several endangered black Carnaby's cockatoos feasting on banksias planted in the fenced centre refuge.
While he first spotted the greenery when it was added about five years ago as part of a multi-million dollar upgrade, the founder of Carnaby's Crusaders told Yahoo News it wasn't until recently he noticed cockatoos were risking their lives to reach the now mature plants.
'They're producing banksia cones so that's why they've obviously come to my attention, and obviously the birds' attention, because they're producing food,' Arthurell said, adding he believes the shrubs are banksia prionotes, which are a significant food source for the species.
'In a time where there is really lean food sources, to have an abundance of a key food source that stretches over 1km down the middle of a four-lane highway is a bit criminal.'
Arthurell said the section in question sits in a 100km/h zone, baiting birds to 'run the gauntlet' and dodge cars and large trucks in order to reach the sustenance.
Remarkably, in light of the video, Main Roads told Yahoo News it has agreed to prune back the plants immediately and ensure their "total removal" soon after.
☀️ Major weather event prompts behavioural change in Aussie birds
🌳 Rare Aussie bird under threat over common tree practice: 'Catastrophic'
🚘 Driver has 'seriously freaky' encounter as huge snake blocks road
In an effort to draw attention to the 'clueless' landscaping, the bird advocate posted footage of two Carnaby's cockatoos precariously perched in between vehicles whizzing past in both directions. The clip quickly angered thousands of locals, with many calling for the 'dangerous' plants to be removed.
And it seems, Main Roads WA is paying attention.
Arthurell told Yahoo he received a call from authorities on Wednesday confirming contractors had been hired to remove the banksia cones that are attracting the birds. The work is expected to take place over the next few days, and the cuttings will be transported to a black cockatoo rehabilitation centre, he claimed.
"Main Roads was alerted, via a Facebook post, regarding Black Cockatoos foraging along Tonkin Highway in Ellenbrook," a spokesperson told Yahoo, explaining that the presence of the trees "had not been an issue" until recently.
"This is likely due to the plants not being old enough to flower as prolifically as they are now, as well as the lack of food availability in the local area for Black Cockatoos (especially given the last two very dry years we have experienced).
"As the flowering Dwarf Banksias at this location are attracting these important birds to fly across Tonkin Highway, Main Roads has arranged for the Dwarf Banksias to be heavily pruned back immediately, followed by the total removal of all foraging species from the median and the edges of the verge.
Main Roads said it will be donating the pruned branches to the Kaarakin Black Cockatoo Conservation Centre to support their rehabilitation work.
Arthurell said, "It's great" that Main Roads listened to public outcry about the banksias.
The state's southwest is home to three threatened black cockatoo species: the endangered Carnaby's cockatoo, the critically endangered Baudin's cockatoo and the Forest Red-tailed black cockatoo, which is listed as vulnerable.
Conservationists have warned that if declining numbers are not turned around, all three could be extinct within 20 years.
Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.
You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
The moment I knew: she was giving birth to another man's child – I was in absolute awe
In 2018 I had just started lecturing in nursing at a university in South Australia. It was the start of the academic year and I was new to town, so a colleague and I decided to check out the open-day stalls. I'd been vegan for a few years and was hoping to meet some like-minded folk. A person in a Sea Shepherd hoodie pointed me in the right direction and I was immediately struck by this woman sitting in the middle of the stall. It's a moment captured in resin in my mind – there was a crowd of people and cupcakes on the table. I would say I was 13 paces away from Laura when I first clapped eyes on her. She was just breathtaking; smiling, happily chatting to people. She seemed to have this immense gravity to her and I could feel myself getting pulled into her orbit. I chatted to her and a few others and left the encounter absolutely stunned. No work got done for the rest of the afternoon. I didn't know what to make of it. It was a struggle to even accept she existed. I was in shock but I did my best to brush it aside. I was married at the time, but things weren't going well. I definitely wasn't looking for love, but I joined the Vegan and Vegetarian Club and we saw each other in passing over the next few months. During that time I discovered Laura was in a relationship too. Six months later I was going through a divorce and I learned Laura had also separated from her partner. But her situation was a lot more complicated; not only was she still living with her ex to care for their three-year-old, she was also five months pregnant. It sounds absurd to say, but these details felt peripheral to me. Such was the chemistry between us that we managed to turn the famously unsexy annual general meeting of the Vegan and Vegetarian Club into our first romantic encounter. We kissed by the campus lake and I was a goner. We agreed that whatever we were getting into was temporary. With a preschooler and baby on the way, and life as a single parent to get used to, a new partner was a convolution she didn't feel she needed. I knew I very much fell into the nice-to-have, not need-to-have category. I thought I was OK with that. I even tried to date other people. But being with Laura was like having the colours of the world turned up to 11. Every other encounter paled in comparison; I only had eyes for her. As her pregnancy progressed, I found myself helping her more and more. Each day we felt ourselves slipping into a relationship and each day she reminded me that we weren't serious. When her waters broke six weeks early, I was the one who took her to the hospital and helped advocate for her. The midwives weren't taking the situation seriously and from a professional perspective I knew they were dropping the ball. Eventually they conceded Laura was likely going to experience a preterm birth. The following days were intense, but I never left her side. In a gesture of what I'd like to think of as 'radical acceptance' – and much to Laura's chagrin – I installed a baby capsule in my car. Despite her protestations, I knew deep down I'd be the one to drive her and the baby home from hospital when the time came. Not long after that, she went into labour. If I thought I found Laura impressive before, watching her give birth sent my opinion of her stratospheric. By the time the staff agreed to check how she was progressing, she was 10cm dilated and ready to push. By that point her confidence with the staff was at such a low ebb she rejected their offer of a wheelchair and instead elected to walk herself up a flight of stairs to get to the birthing suite. I was in absolute awe. Our daughter was born shortly after. Related: The moment I knew: I was complaining about my mum, and his tender response changed my life Once the pressures of having a baby in the neonatal intensive care unit had passed, I asked Laura when she wanted me out of the way. 'If I wanted you gone, you wouldn't be here,' she told me. 'I don't want you to go.' She was showing such vulnerability, and it wasn't easy for her. But in that moment I could see her own radical acceptance had hit home. I knew all too well I was madly in love; it turned out I wasn't the only one. Seven years later our blended family has grown to include two more children. In 2023 I proposed to Laura on national television. She said yes.
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Yahoo
Antarctica ‘too wild for humans to rule', says Shackleton medal winner
Cormac Cullinan has a dream. A dream, he says, that will 'change how humanity sees, understands and relates to Antarctica'. The vast frozen continent – home to emperor and Adélie penguins, leopard and Ross seals, and feeding grounds for orcas, beaked whales and albatrosses – should be recognised as an autonomous legal entity 'at least equivalent to a country', says the environmental lawyer. And this week that dream became one step closer to reality as judges awarded Cullinan the Shackleton medal for the protection of the polar regions. The prestigious prize, worth £10,000, shines a light on people who have shown 'courage, determination, ingenuity and leadership' in their work to protect the polar regions, indicating Cullinan's radical plan to adopt and implement an Antarctica Declaration is gaining momentum. Cullinan, who is based in South Africa and was once an anti-apartheid activist, achieved recognition for his work fighting, often successfully, for legal systems to recognise the rights of rivers, forests and things 'other than human beings' so they could be defended in court cases. The idea of giving species and places legal 'personhood', outlined in his 2002 book, Wild Law: A Manifesto for Earth Justice, became part of a wider global movement recognising rights of nature and animals. Cullinan is now arguing that Antarctica as a whole should have this legal personhood, preferably at state level. 'We have to shift how people relate to Antarctica,' he says. 'It's absolutely essential to protect it, not just for itself, which is obviously valid, but also for humanity.' Instead of being treated by the international community and law courts as a 'territory claimed by a number of countries that stuck flags in the ice a while ago … at best, a laboratory and at worst, a potential source of oil, gas, minerals and krill', he wants Antarctica to be legally protected as 'an astounding living community' and 'a being in its own right'. 'It should be obvious that Antarctica is far too wild and fierce for humans to rule,' he says. 'It should be seen as what it is: sovereign unto itself.' Antarctica is governed by the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS), a framework created in 1959 and signed by 58 countries. This guarantees that the continent is used exclusively for peaceful purposes, such as science and conservation. It was a great achievement at the time, Cullinan says, when there were proposals to mine Antarctica and countries in conflict over their competing claims. It could have a seat at the table, it could initiate lawsuits or join lawsuits to prevent further greenhouse emissions Cormac Cullinan Now the key challenges Antarctica faces arise from the climate crisis, something caused by activities far outside its geographical boundaries. At the same time, countries such as China and Russia have consistently blocked conservation measures such as the creation of new marine protected areas. 'There's impasse within the system, Cullinan says, while from an ecological perspective, the situation is deteriorating very fast and scientists are saying we have to take urgent, decisive action.' The purpose of declaring Antarctica a legal entity and setting out its rights is to create corresponding obligations for other countries – and international organisations such as the UN – to respect those rights. 'An iceberg doesn't really care whether you think it has rights or not. The issue is: are there human duties to respect the integrity of the ice-sheet fields?' If the Antarctic ice sheet melted entirely, it would raise global sea levels by about 58 metres. In 2020, an article in the journal Nature estimated that even a 1-metre rise would put '48% of the world's land area, 52% of the global population and 46% of global assets' at risk of flooding. 'It can't be left to a small group of countries to make decisions about Antarctica,' says Cullinan, who helped to draft the 2010 Universal Declaration of Rights of Mother Earth and co-founded the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature. 'If human beings lived there, who were indigenous to Antarctica, they would have a government who could represent them in climate change negotiations or biodiversity conventions. And that government would be a powerful voice, because Antarctica and the Southern Ocean covers a 10th of the surface of the planet.' But Antarctica has no voice, he says. 'It's not represented in these decision-making bodies – and the countries that govern it under the ATS still argue from a national perspective, and take decision-making positions for their own national interests, while scientists and other people who really love Antarctica and are deeply committed to protecting it get blocked.' Related: 'He took five bullets and returned to work on plankton': the double lives of Ukraine's Antarctic scientists The Antarctica Declaration would, by contrast, recognise that all Antarctic beings have rights that humanity must respect and protect. People around the world are being invited to support it and declare a new legal status of 'personhood' for Antarctica. 'It could then be represented,' says Cullinan. 'It could have a seat at the table, it could initiate lawsuits or join lawsuits around the world to prevent further greenhouse emissions.' The award will help raise much-needed awareness about the Antarctica Declaration, he adds. 'It will bring this initiative to the attention of people in a way that would have otherwise taken us years to achieve, and connect us to a network of polar explorers and Antarctic experts we can perhaps persuade to join us. 'We've got a very strong core group, but we need to build a global movement around this – we need to show that Antarctica is everybody's concern.'
Washington Post
a day ago
- Washington Post
As UN climate talks loom, Brazil's Amazon forest loses in May an area larger than NYC
MANAUS, Brazil — Brazil's environmental goals suffered a major setback in May as deforestation in the Amazon surged 92% compared to the same month last year, according to official monitoring data released Friday. Forest loss reached 960 square kilometers (371 square miles) during the period, an area slightly larger than New York City. It was the second-highest total for May since the current monitoring system was implemented in 2016.
