Australia will give a blanket made of Tasmanian merino wool and a $10,000 donation to a Victorian sanctuary for the endangered mountain pygmy possum to the newborn daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
The prime minister, Tony Abbott, made the announcement on Monday, one day after the duchess gave birth at St Mary’s hospital in London, adding: “I hope one day the princess can visit Australia and hold a mountain pygmy possum herself.”
The blanket will be embroidered with the Australian floral emblem, the wattle, by members of the Australian Capital Territory embroiderers’ guild.
The donation recipient, the Healesville sanctuary in rural Victoria, supports a captive breeding program of the mountain pygmy possum, Australia’s only hibernating marsupial. There are fewer than 2,000 left in the wild.
However, not everyone was a fan of the gift. The Australian Conservation Foundation’s campaigns director, Dr Paul Sinclair, said that if Abbott was serious about helping the mountain pygmy possum, he would act on climate change.
OK, so the Mountain Pygmy-possum is pretty cute #princessgift pic.twitter.com/r8BQnV6Zc4
— Glenda Kwek (@curious_scribe) May 4, 2015
“The biggest threat to the mountain pygmy possum’s alpine habitat is global warming,” Sinclair said.
“The range the possum can live in is shrinking as the climate warms.
“Increases in temperature are changing Australia’s alpine areas. When snow in the Australian Alps isn’t as deep and doesn’t stay on the ground for as long, it is bad news for the mountain pygmy possum.”
The gifts are similar to those received by Prince George, brother of the yet unnamed royal newborn. In 2013, the then prime minister, Kevin Rudd, donated $10,000 to a bilby research project at Taronga zoo in the name of the future monarch, along with the classic children’s tale Possum Magic and a stuffed toy bilby.
Rudd’s selection replaced the toy kangaroo that the previous prime minister, Julia Gillard, had been knitting for the prince. Gillard was ridiculed over a photo shoot for Women’s Weekly that showed her relaxing at home with her knitting needles and dog, Reuben, and revealed that she was making the toy in her spare time.
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard is knitting a kangaroo for the #RoyalBaby. http://t.co/XVZ1zz69d0 #Kate pic.twitter.com/o2t58Tiptj
— BritishMonarchyHeir (@British_Heir) June 26, 2013
George also scored more gifts when he toured Australia and New Zealand with his parents in 2014. He was given a polo mallet, a surfboard, a skateboard, a cricket bat, a rocking horse, an Aboriginal possum skin cloak and a miniature amphibious boat.
Uncle Prince Harry is in Australia on secondment to the Australian defence force. In a statement, he said of his newborn niece: “She is absolutely beautiful. I can’t wait to meet her.”
