A loge of uncommon daisies dating back to the mid 19th century has been destroyed by Australian biosecurity officials after a paperwork commixture - up . Upsettingly , it ’s the second such incident to happen in Australia in late month .
Asreportedby ABC News , the pressed plant samples were send from the National Museum of Natural account in Paris to Queensland ’s herbarium in Brisbane . It ’s common practice for museums and herbariums to swop material to aid identify and analyse rarified industrial plant metal money — in this case , daisies that go out back to the 1850s . ( The species in enquiry was not disclosed . ) But in a foreign and impetuous move , the Australian biosecurity officials handling the case took it upon themselves to burn the intact aggregation , sound out the shipping documents were filled out incorrectly . Australian quarantine official are now enquire the incident , which happen back in March .
“ They were the first type specimens collected of a species , ” Michelle Waycott , chair of the Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria , secern ABC News . “ So literally unreplaceable collections and of high historic and scientific value … it may have a major impact on our ability to do our inquiry . ”
Upsettingly , it ’s the second like incident to take place in Australia in a matter of week . Recently , a collection of lichen specimen from New Zealand ’s Allan Herbarium en path to the Australian National Herbarium in Canberra was also destroyed by biosecurity police officer . In response , New Zealand ’s herbaria have instituted a Bachelor of Arts in Nursing on sending any more plant specimens to Australia , Waycott told ABC News .
In the case of the rarefied daisies , Australian biosecurity official aver the paperwork failed to meet Australian meaning requirements , and was drop information such as a listing of the specimens , botanical nomenclature , and whether the specimens were maintain or not . official made a request to the Gallic museum for more information , but for some inexplicable reason , the compendium was incinerate before the museum had a fortune to respond .
The Federal Department of Agriculture and Water Resources ( FDAWR ) , which master Australian biosecurity , enunciate the accumulation was make for 46 day longer than require , but intromit the works should n’t have been destroyed . “ [ The ] destruction of the specimen should not have go while communicating between the section and the stand for recipient was ongoing , ” noted the section in a statement .
Pressed flowers may not seem like an environmental risk , but Australia , with its history of invasive species , is hypersensitive when it comes to importing biological materials . The FDAWR says herbarium specimens “ are not without biosecurity risk , ” cite such as concerns as the intromission of contaminated grunge contain pests and diseases .
Risk or no , it ’s in spades a frustrative incident . Makes you wonder what the biosecurity officials were believe — and why they only did n’t do the right thing : return to sender .
[ ABC News , BBC ]
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