They also make excellent pets analogous to cats (http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/earthbeat/native-animals-as-pets/3645516) (click "Show" next to "Transcript"), and you are totally not allowed to own one (http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/wildlifelicences/MammalKeepersLicence.htm). Because cats are so much better for the Australian environment, y'know?
ETA Addendum: The .au govt's attitude to keeping native animals as pets has been pissing me off for nearly two decades. I could own a cat, a rat, and a rabbit - all problematic introduced feral species - but I couldn't own a native animal with dietary requirements only slightly more problematic than a (healthy) rat. Stupid, stupid system.
FFS, how hard would it be to have a Quoll section in the pet foods aisle at the supermarket?
True: cats have been an environmental disaster for the Australian ecosystem; apparently they're only kept in check if the dingo population is allowed to grow.
It's not mentioned in the transcript you linked, but one downside I'd heard of about natives as pets was that they have surprisingly short lifespans -- two years for the smaller species, five for the largest ones.
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(no subject)
Date: 2013-09-27 07:13 pm (UTC)This is an adult and it is ALSO A KITTEN. (http://thelanddownunder.com.au/content/page_gallery/full/Black%20Eastern%20Quoll_1068.jpg)
(no subject)
Date: 2013-09-27 07:15 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-09-27 08:51 pm (UTC)ETA Addendum: The .au govt's attitude to keeping native animals as pets has been pissing me off for nearly two decades. I could own a cat, a rat, and a rabbit - all problematic introduced feral species - but I couldn't own a native animal with dietary requirements only slightly more problematic than a (healthy) rat. Stupid, stupid system.
FFS, how hard would it be to have a Quoll section in the pet foods aisle at the supermarket?
(no subject)
Date: 2013-09-28 05:04 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-09-28 05:27 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-09-29 06:12 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-09-28 01:34 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-10-02 08:00 pm (UTC)Apex predator.
Yup, to your assessment of Australia.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-09-29 12:46 pm (UTC)