The time has come to introduce our uninvited guests. We're looking at the top 10 most destructive introduced animals (and plants) in Australia. But why are they so devastating? And how did they end up here? All this and more will be explored as we delve into the world of the ferals.

In short:

Laura Davy was sentenced to three months in jail for her involvement in coal protests that blocked trains from reaching the Port of Newcastle.

She lodged an appeal and was granted bail.

What's next?

The appeal was upheld on the condition Davy does not re-offend.

A (student) article reminding people to rethink using the baits.

What kinds of traps do people use?

I'll out myself as using a medieval wooden snap trap, with a peanut butter bait. Its nasty, but i've not had much luck with humane traps, and baits are awful in so so many ways. It is used inside the house only.

Slightly modified version of the original banner---see if you can spot the difference!

In today's news of a continually deteriorating environment (depressing story before this was more roads being built)

The native bushland on Western Australia's central coast would normally be bursting with springtime blooms but after four years of increasingly dry winters, only a handful of plants are starting to bud.

The Great Barrier Reef will continue to deteriorate, largely to climate change, and the window to secure its future is rapidly closing. That is the sobering conclusion of a major new report into the state of the reef.

The report was released by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. It confirms what scientists have long known: humanity is killing the Great Barrier Reef, and other reefs around the world, by failing to curb the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming.

The unlikely gourmands are pilfering thousands of dollars of farmed black truffles a night, but a PhD student has been working to get them to change their ways.

Canonical URL: https://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/the-bandicoot-bandits-causing-a-truffle-kerfuffle-20240806-p5jzyv.html

Dr Moore said while Australian natives were resilient and well-adapted to harsh conditions, recent seasonal changes led to more dying out.

"It's often becoming a bit warmer in these places," he said.

"It's drier and when the rain falls, it's sometimes falling in the drier months, so that water evaporates as well.

I'm not sure how we're supposed to believe that disposal of nuclear waste won't be a problem when we can't manage systems to properly deal with the waste we are creating now.