FAQ: What is National Threatened Species Day?
National Threatened Species Day is on the anniversary of the death of the last Tasmanian Tiger. On the 7th September 1936, Benjamin, the last Tasmanian Tiger, died in captivity. Since then many other species have become extinct. To commemorate this, and to prevent the same thing happening to other species, a National Threatened Species day was later declared for the anniversary of Benjamin's death.
So, the 7th September in Australia is National Threatened Species day and activities are held to educate people about Threatened Species – and to help save other species that are near extinction.
Since then many species across the planet, both big and small, have become extinct or are in danger of becoming extinct. This includes elephants and whales, right through to the very tiny Christmas Island Microbat which was declared probably extinct in May last year. And this number is growing alarmingly. In Australia and elsewhere species have increasingly come under threat through:
- habitat destruction and loss
- pollution
- land development
- introduced plants and animals - weeds and feral animals
- salinity - too much salt
- sodic soils
- global warming
NSW Grassy EcosystemsIn New South Wales the woodlands around our area – around Wagga Wagga, Cowra and Orange is listed as Critically Endangered.
This is the White-box, Yellow Box and Blakely's Red Gum Grassy Woodlands and derived native grasslands, and this means that it (including the fauna and flora it harbours) is facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild in the immediate future.
