Thousands Of Australian Tortoises Dying From Parasite Flourishing In Depleted, Saline Rivers

[hatrack]

THE agonising deaths of hundreds of long-necked tortoises from the Murray mouth and Coorong lakes point to an unfolding ecological disaster worthy of the Third World, South Australian independent senator Nick Xenophon has told a rally. Three thousand people gathered at Goolwa on the banks of the Murray south of Adelaide to hear calls for an emergency allocation of water from nearby Lake Alexandrina.

Senator Xenophon said he would ask federal Water Minister Penny Wong to provide an immediate plan for the area. "We are one of the wealthiest countries in the world, but what is happening here, right now, is a Third World disgrace," he said. "I am going to be as pesky and as persistent as possible to get results for you because this is wrong."

Since March, masses of Australian long-necked tortoises have been found crippled and dying from mass infestation of the parasitic bristleworm. It thrives in the saline environment of the depleted river, coats the tortoises in calcified tubes and prevents them from retracting into the safety of their shells. Tortoises are being found with their legs chewed off by rats or foxes, or eyes pecked out by birds.

Goolwa resident David Surmon has set up an emergency rescue shelter for tortoises. Yesterday about 30 were recovering in bathtubs, some with lost limbs and others blinded by the water's high salt level. "Some of them are so encased in bristleworm they can't get their legs back inside and others have got their legs inside and can't

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http://www.theage.com.au/national/tortoise-deaths-underscore-murrays-ecological-disaster-20080713-3ejc.html

[phantom power]

1. Pesky.