Casino is a town in
the Northern Rivers area of New South Wales, Australia, located 726 km (451 mi) north of Sydney and
228 km (142 mi) south of Brisbane. The
town is named after the Casino Station, owned by Clarke Irving, which was named
after Cassino (near Monte Cassino) in Italy, with which it has a sister city
agreement. I
have on 14th May 2015 posted
on John Depp shooting in Australia for ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ being served
ultimatum to deport his dogs or .. the Yorkshire terriers would be killed for
breaching quarantine rules. Read the
earlier post : http://www.sampspeak.in/2015/05/pirates-of-caribbean-hero-john-depps.html
The grey-headed
flying fox (Pteropus poliocephalus) is a megabat native to Australia. It is endemic to the south-eastern forested areas of
Australia, principally east of the Great Dividing Range. Flying foxes are the natural host for the
Hendra virus, an illness responsible for the deaths of nearly 90 horses and
four humans since it was identified in Australia in 1994. It is stated that local councils have put up
signs about 50 metres apart along the river banks at St Andrews Reserve warning of the presence of bats and asking
people not to let horses graze over there.
Flying foxes are
protected in NSW under the National Parks and Wildlife Act and, in the case of
the grey-headed flying fox, under the Threatened Species Conservation Act (NSW)
and the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (Cth). There
are penalties, which can be financial, for harming any listed threatened
species, including the flying fox.
In Nov 2014,
thousands of them died in Casino.... temperatures hit record highs at Casino
hitting 44.1°C which caused the
deaths. Residents were urged not to try
and personally help any distressed flying foxes apprehending the risk of lyssavirus
infection from bites or scratches. The high temperatures proved to be deadly
for flying foxes in the colony, coming just weeks after the birthing
season. It was stated that the baby bats
or "pups", between two and four weeks old, were still suckling their
mothers. It was a sad sight of bats
dropping dead from the trees due to heat stress. The WIRES ground crew of volunteers gave the
babies a hydrating injection and transported them to makeshift hospitals in
homes in Casino, managing to save about 450 baby flying foxes or
"pups".
Now the reports
suggest that Superstar Johnny Depp has gone batty while filming Pirates of the
Caribbean 5 on the Gold Coast – sponsoring one baby flying fox and getting up
close with another. www.brisbanetimes.com.au
– reports that the actor and passionate
wildlife advocate heard about the story of a 30-gram flying fox found orphaned
after a recent thunderstorm near where the crew was shooting.
The Australian Bat
Clinic has now christened the tiny creature "Jackie Sparrow" after Depp
agreed to become its sponsor while it's in care. Depp plays Captain Jack
Sparrow in the popular adventure franchise.
Carers Ashley and Paula Fraser of
the volunteer rescue group Bats Qld visited at lunchtime while Depp was still
in costume, introducing the star to Fifi, a flying fox rescued from northern
New South Wales at the end of 2014.
"It was an
amazing opportunity; he was so kind and thoughtful. It was an absolute pleasure
and honour to have met him," Ashley Fraser said. "He loves bats
certainly - he absolutely loved Fifi and thought she was so beautiful." Ms
Fraser said Fifi was one of 30 baby bats they rescued from Casino during a heat
wave, where temperatures soared to 42 degrees. "Unfortunately it was
during baby season, so the mothers gave their last bit of life to the
babies," she said. "Fifi was so premature that her umbilical cord was
still attached, she became really sick and almost died, but the Australian Bat
Clinic managed to save her life and pull her through."
Ms Fraser said the
creatures often didn't get the respect they deserved. "Unfortunately fear
and misinformation has caused some people to not understand their worth and
value within our environment," she said. "People have nothing to fear
from bats and flying foxes."
Depp is on the Gold
Coast filming Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales – and created
furore with his bringing two Yorkshire terriers in his private jet without
proper documents and certification.
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
14th May
2015.
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