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Damien Brown, The Mercury
June 24, 2009 07:09pm
TASMANIAN wallabies are breaking into the states poppy fields and getting high, the state government has revealed.
The strange occurrence, revealed in a Budget Estimates hearing, has also solved what some growers say has spurred a campfire legend about mysterious crop circles that appear in the state's poppy paddocks.
In true X-Files style, Attorney-General Lara Giddings said the drugged-out wallabies had been found hoping around in circles squashing the poppies, creating the formations - and hence solving the mystery.
The wallabies are increasingly entering the fields and eating the poppy heads.
That causes them to get high and run around in circles creating "crop circles".
"The one interesting bit that I found recently in one of my briefs on the poppy industry was that we have a problem with wallabies entering poppy fields, getting as high as a kite and going around in circles," Ms Gidding said.
"Then they crash. We see crop circles in the poppy industry from wallabies that are high."
Tasmanian Alkaloids field operations manager Rick Rockliff said wildlife and livestock that ate the poppies were known to "act weird'' including deer in the state's highlands and sheep.
"There have been many stories about sheep that have eaten some of the poppies after harvesting and they all walk around in circles,'' Mr Rockliff said.
June 24, 2009 07:09pm
TASMANIAN wallabies are breaking into the states poppy fields and getting high, the state government has revealed.
The strange occurrence, revealed in a Budget Estimates hearing, has also solved what some growers say has spurred a campfire legend about mysterious crop circles that appear in the state's poppy paddocks.
In true X-Files style, Attorney-General Lara Giddings said the drugged-out wallabies had been found hoping around in circles squashing the poppies, creating the formations - and hence solving the mystery.
The wallabies are increasingly entering the fields and eating the poppy heads.
That causes them to get high and run around in circles creating "crop circles".
"The one interesting bit that I found recently in one of my briefs on the poppy industry was that we have a problem with wallabies entering poppy fields, getting as high as a kite and going around in circles," Ms Gidding said.
"Then they crash. We see crop circles in the poppy industry from wallabies that are high."
Tasmanian Alkaloids field operations manager Rick Rockliff said wildlife and livestock that ate the poppies were known to "act weird'' including deer in the state's highlands and sheep.
"There have been many stories about sheep that have eaten some of the poppies after harvesting and they all walk around in circles,'' Mr Rockliff said.
Source
I have always thought that the fences around our poppy fields were rather small, and that this might encourage people to raid them, but to learn that our native animals are becoming what could be considered drug addicts, perhaps it is time we looked a little more closely at the way in which we discourage creatures from entering those fields.
