Melbourne: Australia has been rated as the worst-hit among the developed nations witnessing the extinction of mammals on the earth.

A survey carried out on 5,487 species of land and marine mammals has shown the country at the sixth position sharing with Jamaica and Puerto Rico for real or likely demise of 6 per cent of all known mammal species on the planet, The Australian newspaper reported today.

The annual report released by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) at its world congress in Barcelona last night has revealed that no other developed nation comes on the extinction league table until 20th place, where Italy, France, US and Japan join nine other nations for overseeing the loss of less than 1 per cent of all mammal species.

Expressing concern that the country has not moved down from the sixth place since last IUCN Red List released in 2004, Chris West, chief executive of Zoos South Australia, said "The solemn news is that we're still up there in terms of endangered mammals."

Since then, the blue-grey mouse had become extinct and three other small native mammals now classed as critically endangered might be extinct, said West, a biodiversity expert at Flinders and Adelaide universities.

The Tasmanian devil was not on the 2004 Red List but it is now listed as vulnerable -- one step below critically endangered -- due to a population decline of 60 per cent in 10 years caused by a fatal transmittable facial tumour.

Acknowledging the risk to native species Environment Minister Peter Garrett said the government is intended to tackle the problem through several mechanisms, including its new USD 2.25 billion Caring for our Country initiative and expansion of the National Reserve system.
Source : PTI