Winter time holds many dangers for wildlife. Our WILVOS 5441 6200 Hotline gets an increase in calls for kangaroos, wallabies, possums and bandicoots at this time of year.
It is that time of year when darkness falls early, just at the same time that workers are returning home. Not a good combination for our nocturnal animals that are emerging to forage at dusk. In the last week in Ninderry alone there have been four adult kangaroos euthanized due to injuries from car impact. They are just ones I know of – so many more will have come to grief.
A Hotline call came through today that reminded me of another problem as winter approaches. Possums and birds find their way into fireplace chimneys. This is not a good scenario in summer. It is disastrous in winter. Now is a good time to get a qualified tradesman to climb up on your roof and check that animals are unable to access the chimney. It only takes a small opening to entice some inquisitive marsupial or bird into the space. Preventing access to the chimney may save you a later expense of dismantling the fireplace to release a trapped animal!
As the food sources lessen in the cold months, our tawny frogmouths also suffer. Their diet is mainly insectivorous, including those delicious spiders, cockroaches and grasshoppers. These are the same insects often poisoned by householders. The toxins then settle in the fat deposits of tawny frogmouths, and they draw upon these fat deposits in lean times. Sadly, these birds are often not found until they have progressed to the stage of convulsing on the ground.
There are so many aspects to think about when it comes to our native animals. How we live our daily lives can make a difference. Drive carefully, make nestboxes to put up in your trees, plant native plants and minimize your use of insect sprays.
Donna Brennan Wildlife Volunteers Assoc Inc (WILVOS) PO Box 4805 Sunshine Coast Mail Centre Q 4560 PH 5441 6200 www.wilvos.org.au