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AELERT Member in NT Helps Secure Wildlife Crime Arrest
24/04/2019
AELERT member, Tracey Duldig and her team from NT Parks and Wildlife have worked hard with Australian Border Force to secure the arrest of an illegal poacher following a house raid.
Article from ABC NEWS
A 35-year-old illegal poacher has pleaded guilty in the Northern Territory Supreme Court to possessing and exporting native and protected species on the black market.
Key points:
- Police executed a warrant at a property at Driver on on October 23 where they located the animal parts
- Lawyer Peter Maley described his client as a "conservationist" who was not running a major operation
- Indian national Keerthi Raja Eswaran faces five years in jail
Parks and Wildlife's Tracey Duldig has previously branded the arrest as "the product of months of close collaboration with the Australian Border Force".
"The taking and possession of illegal wildlife continues to be a threat to native animals," Ms Duldig said.
"Wildlife is one of the three highest illegally traded commodities in the world and this joint investigation is an example of a coordinated approach to effectively tackle wildlife crime."
The maximum penalty for illegally taking or possessing protected wildlife under the NT legislation is $77,500 or five years' imprisonment.
For threatened wildlife, the maximum penalty is $155,000 or 10 years' imprisonment.
Eswaran will be sentenced on May 22.
Melbourne Warehouse on Fire
05/04/2019
Source: Sydney Morning Herald
About 175 firefighters are battling a massive fire at a factory in Melbourne's north where buildings and vehicles have been turned into fireballs and chemical drums sent soaring high above the inferno.
A huge toxic pall of thick, black smoke is billowing from the factory in Thornycroft Street, Campbellfield, and drifting over Melbourne's CBD.
The company that operates from the buildings had its licence to process toxic chemical waste suspended two weeks ago.
Details are starting to emerge about the state of the Campbellfield chemical waste disposal facility when it was inspected by a taskforce comprising the EPA and emergency services in early March.
Sources say the surprise inspection on March 13 found leaking containers and spilled chemicals on the factory floor. The breaches have been described as "extremely alarming" given that employees were onsite and working near the contamination.
The EPA issued a "show cause" notice to Bradbury about its permit breaches and then suspended its licence when Bradbury failed to meet its demands.
“The community has a right to expect that the management of hazardous and industrial waste is done to a high standard that meets regulations. This was not the case with Bradbury and is why EPA has taken this important decision," EPA chief executive Dr Cathy Wilkinson said in a statement at the time.
The EPA found the company was storing more waste than permitted, and that storage containers were not adequately handled and were outside an adequately contained area.
Read the March Network News
04/04/2019
The March Network News is now available online.
Read the exciting Conference announcement, the Secretariat trip to WA, local news and updates across Australasia and much more.
