Crop circles, poppies - and tripping wallabies

Associated Press

Thursday, 25 June 2009

Share
Close
- Digg
- del.icio.us
- Facebook
- Reddit
- Google
- Stumble Upon
- Fark
- Newsvine
Print
Email

Wallabies snacking in opium poppy fields are getting "high as a kite" and hopping around creating crop circles.

Tasmania is the world's largest producer of legally-grown opium for the pharmaceutical market.

Tasmania attorney-general Lara Giddings told a budget hearing yesterday that she recently read about the wallabies in a brief on the state's large poppy industry.

She said: "We have a problem with wallabies entering poppy fields, getting as high as a kite and going around in circles.

"Then they crash. We see crop circles in the poppy industry from wallabies that are high."

A manager for one of two Tasmanian companies licensed to take medicinal products from poppy straw said wildlife and livestock - including deer and sheep - that eat the poppies are known to "act weird".

Tasmanian Alkaloids field operations manager Rick Rockliff said: "There have been many stories about sheep that have eaten some of the poppies after harvesting and they all walk around in circles."

Tasmania supplies about 50 per cent of the world's raw material for morphine and related opiates. About 500 farmers grow the crop on 49,420 acres of land.

Switch your Gas & Electricity and save up to £380 with Independent Compare

Comments

( Leave a comment )

obviuosly

sillofthedoor wrote:

Thursday, 25 June 2009 at 10:12 am (UTC)

Afghanistan should be doing the opium supplying.

Link | Reply | Thread

These last days

mori_e wrote:

Thursday, 25 June 2009 at 03:11 pm (UTC)

My name is Mori and I am the last of the resistance. The wallies have been marching around our camp for days, round and round they go. The ominous collective thumping of their feet drones on even as I write this, reminding me of a funeral march. Funerals... their won't be one for poor Marty. Marty finally went yesterday, just one day after Barbara choked laughing hysterically- he just couldn't take it anymore. I think their glassy, soulless stares got to him and he just gave up- he's joined them now. It makes me sad to see him out there, hopping around in circles with his undies on his head, but at least he seems to be in a happier place. I don't know how much longer I can hold out. I've been making preparations for the eventuality that I too succumb. I've written this journal as a lasting testament to our horrible plight and the strength of human spirit...
I'm also washing my underwear.

Link | Reply | Thread

shah_kenaw wrote:

Thursday, 25 June 2009 at 07:32 pm (UTC)

Once again, where's the news in this news? Animals get high when they consume narcotics...

Okay, it'S true that I did not know that Tasmania was one of the world's largest producers of, legal, raw opium. Nor did I not know that opiates cause sheep, deer, wallabies and other wildlife to act weird and walk in circles, generaly. The only news I guess I'm waiting for is how many more instalments will I need until I've collected the complete encyclotpedia.

Link | Reply | Thread