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apothecary

Smacked out Wallabies

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http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2009/...weird-news.html

wallaby-story.jpg

WALLABIES are hopping into Tasmania's opium poppy fields and getting high.

The revelation has also solved what some growers say has spurred a campfire legend about mysterious crop circles which appear in the state's poppy paddocks. In true X-Files style, Attorney-General Lara Giddings said yesterday the drugged-up wallabies had been found hopping around in circles squashing the poppies, creating the formations.

The wallabies are increasingly entering the fields and eating the poppy heads.

That causes them to get high and run around in turns 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 Giddings told a Budget Estimates hearing.

"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 which 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.

"But as growers we try our best to try and stop this sort of consumption, particularly by livestock, due to concerns about the contamination of the meat.

"There is also the risk to our poppy stocks, so growers take this very seriously but there has been a steady increase in the number of wild animals and that is where we are having difficulty keeping them off our land."

Tasmania is the world's largest producer of legally grown opium for the pharmaceutical market. About 500 farmers grow the crop supplying the market with about 50 percent of the world's raw material for morphine and related opiates.

Ms Giddings was answering questions about the security of Tasmanias poppy stocks, that are considered some of the safest in the world.

However there has been 17 thefts resulting in 2280 poppy heads stolen throughout the financial year.

Of those, Ms Giddings said 551 heads, eight events were from thebaine crops.

Thebaine is a variety of poppy opiate alkaloid is can be potentially deadly when it is consumed.

The other main variety is morphine.

Mr Rockliff said those figures were still considered very low but called for a review into the state's security protocols.

"Although there has not been a major incident in the past 40 years of this industry it is time that we look at licensing measures and other security handling procedures to make sure that stays the same in the future."

Edited by apothecary

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Oh those poor poppy farmers, perhaps they should mass cull this native animal so that they can continue to grow in peace a very highly profitable introduced plant species :scratchhead:

Edited by santiago

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Hmmm, I knew that wallabie costume would come in handy at some point :D

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No wonder I've been eating so much wallaby these days.......

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theft,.......... I saw a couple years ago sum1 used a combine harvester to steal 80000 poppy heads in one night. Now thats security. ;)

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How do they know the Wallabies are getting high...?

isn't it the case that most animals can eat poisonous plants and things that would have an effect on us as humans but don't on animals...I'd be interested to know if they are actually getting wasted on the poppies...I know science has used rats to map activity with a lot of chems, but I'm still not convinced the wallaby is getting high...perhaps they find the leaf nutritious or something.

H.

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How do they know the Wallabies are getting high...?

It's all too obvious when you see em slouching around the streets of tassie wearing faded adidas tracksuits with spoons and bottles of water stashed in their pouches

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Just give the Wallabies beer.

Like elephants and monkeys.

Just not of your favorite brew.

Hire social workers and teachers to instruct the Wallabies so they no longer use narcotics.

By no means let them start smoking opium or using hyperdermic needles.

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Just give the Wallabies beer.

Like elephants and monkeys.

Just not of your favorite brew.

Hire social workers and teachers to instruct the Wallabies so they no longer use narcotics.

By no means let them start smoking opium or using hyperdermic needles.

Wallaby Methadone program maybe LMAO, its more like government policy to battle addiction of one dangerous chemical withone twice as dangerous and twice as addictive

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its all bullshit to detract us from the crop circles.....and its worked on all of you!

lol,just having a laugh.....i'm fascinated by crop circles.....

but if the wallabies were turning circles,good bet they were affected?

t s t .

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how many smackheads do you know that run around in circles after a taste?? LOL

all sounds pretty sus to me.. crop circles, opium farmers, Wallabies on drugs.... conspiracy theorists, go nuts on that!

:bootyshake:

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How do they know the Wallabies are getting high...?

isn't it the case that most animals can eat poisonous plants and things that would have an effect on us as humans but don't on animals...I'd be interested to know if they are actually getting wasted on the poppies...I know science has used rats to map activity with a lot of chems, but I'm still not convinced the wallaby is getting high...perhaps they find the leaf nutritious or something.

H.

Well remember, this is just a politician who has read a recount in one of her briefs from the poppy industry. But there is one crucial line in the article which gives away their stonedness: "Then they crash".

Is running around in circles then crashing out the normal post-feeding behaviour for Wallabies? :P

Humans aren't the only mammals with opioid receptors and endogenous opioids, I believe in kangaroos it plays a role in feeding and nurturing.

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Do some searching, lots and lots of interesting posts about GSK and their poppies on this forum :)

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i would guess oz natives would not have much exp with opiates before the white and yellow men arrived?so are not adapted to it......but it sounds like they eat quite a bit....more than a human would?.......wouldnt expect most people to eat more than,off the top o my head,10,unless habituated?

t s t .

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Someone should study them you never know they might be getting high & also self medicating for intestinal worms or something

ahh look how smashed the guy in the pic is , who im i kidding they r just getting high & nodding because they like it

Edited by mac

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