Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/614946
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 13 DECEMBER 2015 8 News 8 Extinct marsupial included on banned animals list RACHEL AGIUS A draft proposal restricts the importation of a long list of dangerous animals, ranging from venomous arachnids to bears and walruses, in the wake of an incident involving a tiger that left a toddler with injuries to his face. But among the big cats, crocodiles, bandicoots and other animals is a curious en- try, which would be a reason- able addition if the creature in question hadn't died out in the 1930s. The thylacine, the only mem- ber of the Thylacinidae family to survive into modern times, was also called the Tasmanian Tiger or Tasmanian Wolf. It was an unusual animal – a dog-like marsupial with an enormous gape, native to con- tinental Australia, Tasmania and New Guinea. The Tiger had become ex- tremely rare or extinct on the Australian mainland before British settlement of the con- tinent, but it survived on the island of Tasmania along with several other endemic species, including the Tasmanian devil, which is also included in the draft document. Intensive hunting encour- aged by bounties is generally blamed for its extinction, but other contributing factors may have been disease, the intro- duction of dogs, and human encroachment into its habitat. Despite its official classifica- tion as extinct, sightings are still reported, though none has been conclusively proven. The last thylacine is believed to have died in Beaumaris Zoo in Tasmania. Some footage ex- ists of the animal, showing its striped coat and wide gape. Incidentally, the document also makes reference to the entire Thylacinidae family. All members except the Tasma- nian Tiger died out in prehis- toric times. Proposed fireworks factory expansion causes alarm JAMES DEBONO RESIDENTS, farmers and envi- ronmentalists are objecting to a proposed fireworks factory ex- tension in Luqa. Last month an ad hoc techni- cal committee cleared the first hurdle for an application to up- grade the existing St Andrew's fireworks factory in Luqa, which would involve the construction of six new stores on outside de- velopment land (ODZ). The complex, located in an area known as Ta' Hal Saflieni, is partly covered by a planning permit issued in 1973. The pro- posed complex will consist of 26 rooms. The proposal involves the construction of six main stores, a reservoir, new storage and processing rooms, blast walls with sand bags, the installation of a new firefighting system, the construction of a chain link fence, the re-levelling of the site to ensure better access, the re- moval of "inappropriate" trees and the planting of new ones, and the sanctioning of a number of pre-1967 structures. Din l-Art Helwa is particularly concerned by fireworks activities sprawling from the area present- ly impacted by the development. "It is a pity that the develop- ment is not consolidated in the area which is already developed in order to reduce the spread in the ODZ," it said. Din l-Art Helwa said that the project could be greatly im- proved if the spread in the ODZ is minimised. Front Harsien ODZ is also objecting to the big- ger ODZ footprint. Other objections have been reg- istered by residents and farmers who lament that the extension will bring the factory even closer to them. "We have been suffering from fire in our fields during these past years caused by pieces of fire- works falling on our soil. With the extension the factory will be even closer to us… so please keep the danger away from our fields and ourselves," a farmer wrote in a letter sent to MEPA. A number of residents living in the vicinity of the present fac- tory also expressed concern that the extension will mean that the danger will be closer to them. The Tasmanian Tiger, believed extinct