From Hoser, 2013, The description of new snake subgenera, species and subspecies from Australia (Squamata:Serpentes). AJH SUBGENUS BUCKLEYTYPHLOPS SUBGEN. NOV. Type species: Ramphotyphlops aspina Couper, Covacevich and Wilson, 1998. Diagnosis: This subgenus is monotypic for the type species. Buckleytyphlops subgen. nov. is readily separated from all other Libertadictus by the following suite of characters: Most notably a lack of a caudal spine. It is further distinguished from other members of the genus Libertadictus by the following characters combined: 18 midbody scale rows; 403-428 ventrals; the snout is bluntly-rounded from above, rounded and flattened laterally; rostral elongate from above; nasal not completely divided by nasal cleft, clearly visible from above and joining second supralabial below. Distribution: Only two specimens are recorded, both from near Barcaldine in central Queensland, Australia, on the boundary of open forest on heavy red soils of desert uplands and treeless grasslands of Mitchell Grass downs. Etymology: Named in honor of Robert (Bob) Buckley a well-known herpetologist of Herberton in North Queensland, who was one of the first people in Australia to breed large numbers of Green Pythons (Chondropython viridis). At the behest of a man named Steve Irwin, in 1994 Buckley was raided by Irwin’s close friends who worked for the Queensland Wildlife department. Buckley had all 33 of his Green Pythons taken from him. Irwin kept the seized specimens for himself at his private zoo, at Beerwah in Queensland. Eventually Buckley won the case, which went through more than one set of hearings. Irwin and others with the Queensland government were shown to have committed perjury in the various court hearings. One such example was a claim by Irwin that it was not possible to breed Green Pythons in captivity, recorded for posterity on the official transcript, a claim rebutted by expert witness Trooper Walsh of the Washington Zoo in America who had been successfully breeding the species for more than 20 years. It was alleged that most of Buckley’s snakes had died at the Irwin zoo. In another set of proceedings against a Niagra Park, NSW-based private zoo owner, Bob Withey, Irwin and his friends at the Queensland government got the NSW NPWS to prosecute Withey in relation to reptiles he held, with yet another claim it was not possible to breed them in captivity. This time the claim was that it was impossible to breed Spiny Tailed Monitors (“Varanus acanthurus”) in captivity. Irwin was concerned at the heavy inroads Withey was making in a market he had wanted to have sole rights over, namely the Brisbane schools education market. The problem was with Withey’s school wildlife incursions being a cost effective alternative to bussing kids to Irwin’s Zoo an hour out of Brisbane. Irwin gave false evidence against Withey, as mentioned above, easily shown to be false and the case fell over. Withey was acquitted. However Irwin effectively won the battle as Withey then agreed not to market his business in Brisbane as part of a long-term peace deal. Subsequent to these cases in the early and mid 1990’s, Irwin aggressively marketed himself as the “Crocodile Hunter”. He did this by quietly registering the trademark and then after the opposition period expired, he stopped another man, fellow Queenslander Mick Pittman, from calling himself this name, even though he’d been known as “The Crocodile Hunter” for considerably longer and had established a wide following as “The Crocodile Hunter”. Irwin subsequently used “The Crocodile Hunter” trademark as his own brand and made many millions of dollars making TV shows featuring himself tormenting reptiles and wildlife in general, in unspeakable acts of on-screen animal cruelty. The well-connected Irwin successfully evaded prosecution for numerous breaches of the various Australian wildlife laws and animal cruelty laws due to his close friendship with powerful wildlife officers and others in positions of power. He also successfully marketed himself and his business as a wildlife charity, gaining significant government hand-outs, including cash payments and vast property holdings. His fund-raising exercises were so successful that other wildlife charities missed out on funds they were formerly awarded on an annual basis and as a result were forced to close down. Included among the casualties was the Gould League a charity that had operated for 100 years and had educated hundreds of thousands of school children. Irwin’s income and hand-outs ostensibly for wildlife conservation, a claim repeated often in TV interviews, was regularly diverted to shameless self promotion, including massive billboards of himself and his family on Australian State Highways and the like. His various websites are little more than money trees, actively calling for donations and selling junk merchandise, with staff at his business regularly trawling the web engaging in “reputation management” to keep dirt on his business from all parts of the web. Records of serious safety breaches at his private zoo, including several near fatal snakebites involving staff that were reported in the tabloid media and later on the internet have been removed following threats by staff at the family business. On 4 September 2006 Irwin was killed while being filmed tormenting a Stingray. It had retaliated by stabbing him with its spine. It was a result many people described as karma. Not surprisingly the video footage of him tormenting the stingray was never shown to the public. Meanwhile, Buckey’s life and that of several other Queensland based herpetologists and private zoo owners had been destroyed by wildlife officers who had attacked them at Irwin’s behest in order that Irwin’s potential rivals in the “wildlife business” could be either removed or distracted so that they would not compete with him. Receipt of seized reptiles, such as 33 Green Pythons, in 1994 worth about $30,000 each was a secondary benefit for him. Irwin repaid the favors from the government officers by publicly commending the government to the media, actively lobbying against private herpetologists and other people he viewed as “competitors” being allowed to keep live reptiles and as a “rent-a-witness” in legal proceedings against others. This he did by alleging he had expertise in all things reptile, even though he had no formal training and had never published any meaningful papers in the scientific literature, until shortly before his death when a handful of non-descript articles appeared under his name as either author or co-author. Details of the tragic Bob Buckley case are in Hoser (1996). Content: Libertadictus (Buckleytyphlops) aspina (Couper, Covacevich and Wilson, 1998).
Posted on: Fri, 29 Nov 2013 20:44:49 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015