Park to celebrate Tree Kangaroo Day

The inaugural World Tree Kangaroo Day will be celebrated around the world this Saturday, 21 May.

World Tree Kangaroo Day was launched to provide a common date for local and international stakeholders to collaborate, celebrate and raise awareness of Tree Kangaroos, their importance in broader biodiversity protection and to highlight how the global community can support Tree Kangaroo conservation efforts.

Globally, over 50 organisations including conservation groups, zoos and other key stakeholders, across 10 countries will be celebrating World Tree Kangaroo Day.

Port Moresby Nature Park will be hosting special activities on 21 May, including keeper talks and activities including the chance for visitors to win a toy tree kangaroos on the day. Visitors may also be lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the Park’s new Goodfellow’s tree kangaroo joey, bred in the Park as part of a captive breeding program. Now seven months of age, it is starting to poke its head out of the mother’s pouch and explore the world.

Papua New Guinea is home to nine of the 14 species of Tree Kangaroos. The remaining species are found in Australia, and the Indonesian province of West Papua. Fifty per cent of all tree kangaroo species are classified as either Endangered or Critically Endangered.

Papua New Guinea is home to two critically endangered species (Tenkile & Weimang) and three endangered species (Matschies, Goodfellow’s and Weimang) and as such, greater effort is required in PNG by the community to protect and preserve the species.

Major threats to Tree Kangaroos in PNG included over-hunting and land clearing for food gardens and logging.

World Tree Kangaroo Day is meant as an urgent call for the global community to support conservation efforts, particularly within Papua New Guinea to support local communities and conservation groups preserving Protected Areas and establishing non-hunting zones, along with supporting livelihood opportunities for communities protecting tree kangaroos.

The PNG Conservation and Environment Protection Authority (CEPA), in support with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), are working hard to increase the total amount of Protected Areas in PNG which will be a great step in protecting Tree Kangaroo habitat. Work to establish a PNG Biodiversity and Climate Change Fund for Protected Areas Financing will provide opportunities to support local communities who set aside protected areas and non-hunting zones, not just for tree kangaroos but for all PNG species within the Protected Area.

In Papua New Guinea, a number of conservation organisations are supporting community groups to save tree kangaroos, including the Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program in YUS, the Tenkile Conservation Alliance in Lumi, and the Wildlife Conservation Society in Goroka.

Author: 
Press Release