Call To Arms - Cancer Council - Help Us Tackle Cancer

One in two men will be diagnosed with cancer by the age of 85 – it could be you, a colleague, friend or family member.

Every year, there are approximately 12,000 Queensland men diagnosed with cancer and around 4,000 men die from the disease. Call To Arms aims to raise funds and awareness for men’s cancers by encouraging sporting teams to wear a yellow armband for a gold coin donation per player during a match.

The official month for Call To Arms is July, but you can hold a match any time throughout your season. We are asking players from all codes and all levels to take part in Call To Arms. It’s easy, and can help attract even more spectators to your match as well as saves lives.

To register, visit www.calltoarms.com.au or phone 1300 65 65 85

By participating in Call To Arms, you will not only raise vital funds for men’s cancers but you will also help men in your community think about what they can do to prevent cancer. Remember when it comes to cancer we are all on the same team.

Please pass this on to anyone you know who is in a sporting team.

RSPCA Qld - Very disappointing!

 RSPCA Qld has described the sentence handed down to a Kin Kin woman as very disappointing and sending out the wrong message when it comes to animal welfare.

Tina Ramsdell (38) from Kin Kin pleaded guilty in the Gympie Magistrates Court today to failing to provide appropriate treatment for her 10 year old Clydesdale "Pete" and tampering with seized evidence.

The court heard that in December 2007 a vet advised Ms Ramsdell that Pete required surgical intervention in order to avoid losing his eye. In April 2008 Pete first came to the attention of RSPCA Inspector Julia Steley as the eye condition appeared to have remained untreated. However during the investigation Ms Ramsdell and Pete disappeared and were unable to be located by the RSPCA. In July 2009 Pete was finally found after the RSPCA again received a complaint that the horse's eye was infected and untreated.

The Court was told that on that occasion Ms Ramsdell was given an animal welfare direction to seek veterinary attention for Pete whose eye infection  had clearly got worse and he had pus streaming down his head. She was given instructions by the RSPCA based on veterinary advice. However she refused to follow this advice.

The RSPCA decided to seize the horse and it has been in RSPCA care for 8 months. After treatment with antibiotics, a tumor, the mass of which was larger than the vet’s hand, was pulled from behind the eye. Pete was left blind in the affected eye. Veterinary advice received by RSPCA was that had the tumour been treated earlier the horse would most likely have retained his sight. Pete has been in foster care since the operation.

Ms Ramsdell was fined $500, ordered to pay RSPCA costs of $4600 - both amounts have been referred to SPER - and the Magistrate ordered the horse be returned to her.

“We’re very disappointed with the result,” said Assistant Chief Inspector Tracey Jackson. “We have very real concerns for the future well being of the horse." 

Coral Sea Dreaming - Awaken

The Cairns and Far North Environment Centre (CAFNEC), Plankton Productions and End Credits Film Club will be presenting Coral Sea Dreaming - Awaken in Cairns at the Tanks Art Centre in June.

World renowned Reef Expert Professor Charlie Veron will talk about our greatest marine threats and cinematographer David Hannan will introduce his new and stunning film.

Coral Sea Dreaming – Awaken enters into the very heart of life – and death – on a coral reef. It is a story that spans 500 million years and stars some of the most exotic and wondrous marine creatures on earth. Coral is the planets greatest natural architect, and coral reefs boast the highest biodiversity of any ecosystem.

Emmy Award-winning cinematographer David Hannan has filmed for 7 years to create this magnificent testimony to our extraordinary undersea world, set to an original score by Tania Rose. We meet thousands of reef inhabitants, from ancient turtles to feeding sharks, adorably pygmy seahorses and savage sea slugs, witness a manta ray ballet and courting octopus.

Specialised state-of-the-art High Definition technology captures these lives with unprecedented intimacy, illustrating elaborate courtship displays, mating rituals, feeding frenzies, intense nighttime predation, cannibalism and chemical warfare. Many of the sequences have never been filmed before. Some may never be filmed again. Corals have survived 5 mass extinctions. But can they survive us?

Filmed over 2000 dives on three great coral reef ecosystems; The Great Barrier Reef, Ningaloo Reef and Papua New Guinea, Coral Sea Dreaming – Awaken is a celebration of reefs now under threat of climate change and ocean acidification. There is much to be done to safeguard these precious ecosystems for future generations. And very little time to do it.