WILVOS’ hotline is always a good indication of how our wildlife is managing out there.
We didn’t need a crystal ball 10 years ago to predict what was going to happen in southeast Queensland, and we don’t need a crystal ball now to see what is ahead for our wildlife. It is depressing!
A common brushtail possum that was found as a pinkie in the middle of the township of Coolum
This isn’t unique to southeast Queensland. I have been reading statistics from fauna returns in North Queensland, and the impact is also being felt there.
Queenslanders know we are in ‘God’s own country’, so why can’t we see the necessity to preserve the qualities we love.
We have the technology and the climate to make a difference.
Individual households can be responsible for their own power and water useage. Funds should be going to every household to ensure self-sufficient alternative power sources (such as solar), and water catchment. This all effects our wildlife in the long run.
I intensely dislike visiting subdivisions where forests have been demolished to make way for housing blocks that daily look deserted. Inhabitants are either working or at school. So why have a house and yard?
It is so much wasted space. It would be kinder to our environment to encourage multi-storey development, and provide ample public space, sporting facilities, bikeways and walkways for the ever-growing population. The transport, fuel and energy savings alone would be phenomenal.
Simple ideas are never looked upon as a solution. There always has to be a complicated, expensive alternative. Otherwise, it will not be taken seriously.
WILVOS’ fauna returns span almost a decade and they show that the number of calls to our hotline are ever-increasing, partly due to people being aware that there are people at the ready to help distressed wildlife.
Often, these calls are for advice, and it is wonderful that people are interested enough to ring up with their questions about local wildlife.
The days of ‘it’s just nature’ are hopefully fading, as people realise that such incidents as domestic animal attacks and vehicle accidents are not ‘nature’ – they are a result of human impact.
However, there has been an increase in calls for some species, and a decrease in calls for others. These are indicative of the effects of population growth. And either way it’s not good news.
From the coastal and fast-developing areas, we are receiving more daily calls about possums having their habitat destroyed.
Of course, the brushtail species are going to seek refuge in ceilings – there is hardly a hollow or sheltered area to be found. Our ringtail possums are grateful for the palm trees, usually not native, but providing a good base in which to build their dreys (nests).
Unfortunately, when the fronds fall down, or the tree is removed, these animals are again displaced – that’s if they survive crashing to the ground. Refugees in their own country!
But even more depressing is the lack of calls about the glider species. Ten years ago, we were being called often about squirrel gliders and sugar gliders, even though their numbers were diminishing.
Now there are so few calls about gliders, that it is a challenge getting a colony together for release. These animals, as with ringtail possums, cannot be released singularly.
Luckily, WILVOS have the expertise of an ecologist to assess release sites and chose suitable sites for our rehabilitated animals, which are returned to the wild in a nestbox.
Putting them up a tree on a few hectares is not enough. All sites are becoming overpopulated as animals compete for territories, with adequate food and shelter.
Another obvious victim of development is the macropod. We now receive far fewer calls about kangaroos and wallabies than we did 10 years ago – a 25 per cent decrease in some areas. Other areas are totally bereft of macropod populations.
A tragedy that could have been foreseen, but it was more important to put up houses on 450 to 650 square metre blocks of ex-forest and grassland.
Whie development will always continue in this beautiful area, there are some peoeple who have taken on the responsibility of helping the previous inhabitants.
What happened to the bandicoots, echidnas, reptiles and birds that were once so commonly seen around southeast Queensland?
Tawny frogmouth chicks sit in a fragile nest made of a few sticks. If they fall to the ground, the parents will care for them – but they are at the mercy of feral animals.
Urgent calls made to find help for injured and orphaned birds are soaring.
In some cases, nestling birds can be re-installed in a man-made nest up a tree near the parent birds, then observed to see if they are again being fed.
However, this cannot be done when the parents have been mauled by a cat or dog. But why is it so difficult to keep domestic pets contained? People do not think twice about putting a bird in a little cage, but the same persons would not build an enclosure for their cat, with activities installed to entertain it while they are away all day. In the meantime cat can be left at home to roam freely and do its bit to decimate the dwindling bird, reptile and marsupial population.
I believe that people, domestic pets and wildlife can live together. But we are supposed to be the superior species, so it is up to us to at least ease the developmental impact on our precious Australian native wildlife.
Putting a stop to what seems to be inexorable urban growth into our precious bushland would be a start. For more information visit the WILVOS website.
Related articles:
Follow Eco