Antechinus Antics

by Alan Nash

I was asked if I’d like to care for four antechinus. I thought I’d call them the Fab Four but then I found out there were two boys and two girls so I’ve gone with Abba: Agnetha, Frida, Bjorn and Benny.

I was warned they were escapologists and to use a bathroom to weigh them, in case they escaped. The first time I weighed them it all went well but the second time Benny, with a wriggle and a leap, was out of my hands, over my shoulder and gone. Loose in the downstairs flat with a thousand things to hide in.

I began the painful process of going through things one by one. I left food in the middle of the loungeroom floor and a pouch, hoping he would sleep in there. But no, in the morning the food was gone but no one inside pouch. I continued searching, convinced I could hear sniggering from behind the lounge. No luck!

I decided to set up wildlife camera overnight to, hopefully, find out where he was hiding and that it was not just a mouse eating his food. Morning camera viewing revealed Benny alive and well and having a great time.

I discussed the problem with Debbie Ellis who said she had a humane trap. The next day I set the trap next to food. He didn’t come near the food all day and the trap stayed empty. I was convinced he’d died but morning came and there he was, caught like a rat in a trap.

I put him back in the enclosure thinking he would immediately rejoin the rest of the band in their pouch. No, he just raced around the enclosure grumbling all the time. He hadn’t lost any weight and looked in fine form. As I triumphantly left the downstairs flat I’m sure I heard them starting up Fernando with Benny taking the lead.

All’s well that ends well. Three days on the run has done him a world of good.

Lennie, the Galah

by Rachel McInnes

A young galah, on the brink of flying, was found in a backyard in Dalmeny. Its parents were around.

The resident has a dog (and three kids). The galah, named 'Lennie' by the kids, went under a fence into the neighbour's yard where there was another dog. It was a short term rental so I took the galah home for two nights, waiting for the renters to leave with the dog. I then took Lennie into the rental's yard and his parents came immediately, much to the excitement of the three kids, parents and me (hip hip hoorays all 'round!)

That afternoon I got a message that Lennie had flown off with his parents. My heart is so happy! 🥰

Wildlife Groups Left Out of Summit

Wildlife groups were not invited to the first National Disaster Preparedness Summit in September 2023 that had an attendance of almost 300 people.

An inquiry after the Black Summer bushfires that killed or displaced an estimated 3 billion animals, recommended that wildlife rescue needed to be better integrated into future emergency responses to disaster.

WIRES is amongst several wildlife organisations that have "warned a new disaster response plan hasn't been completed almost four years after the Black Summer bushfires, leaving native animals at risk as summer approaches.”

WIRES' national director of government relations Peter Stathis said that barriers faced by wildlife rescuers during Black Summer remained in place.

"This year we'll have people who are frustrated wanting to be included in emergency response who can't gain access to fire grounds for weeks," he said.

"We'll have animals that will be in pain needlessly, that will die painful deaths when they could be given humane outcomes — that's the worst-case scenario."

Ref: Penny Burrito, Wildlife rescuers warn of 'catastrophe' as key groups omitted from national disaster summit, ABC News, 17 October 2023.

Saving Northern NSW Emus

Coastal emus are endangered. In northern NSW the population is less than 50. Coastal emus were "once widespread along the NSW north coast, but habitat loss through development, bushfires and floods, as well as predation by wild dogs and pigs and a devastating number of roadkill, has seen its numbers and range shrink…”

In 2021 when a male emu was killed when crossing a road with five chicks the local Clarence Valley community banded together to campaign to lower the speed limit on Brooms Head Road and have signs installed.

"The group conducted speed surveys, gathered donations at local markets, sold emu Easter eggs, held a surf club fundraiser and managed to raise $8,000.

"Clarence Valley council became involved, as did Transport for NSW and traditional owners from the Yaegl, Bundjalung and Gumbaynggirr nations. The initiative, called the Caring for our Coastal Emu project, has become a community-wide cause.

"In late 2021, two patches of the road were painted bright green to designate them as an Emu Zone, and the speed limit was reduced to 80km/h. Yellow signs warning that emus were present were installed in 2022."

Ref: Ute Schulenberg, Emu crossing ahead: the fight to save the coastal emus of northern NSW, The Guardian, 17 September 2023.

Kangaroo Assault Punished

Three young men who assaulted a kangaroo in Merimbula in July 2023 have been fined $2000 each and ordered to do 150 hours of community service work.

Police alleged the men grabbed the kangaroo in Main Street and repeatedly assaulted it before the kangaroo managed to get away.

The men aged 18, 20 and 22 pled guilty to committing an act of animal cruelty.

Ref: Albert McKnight, Three men who admitted committing animal cruelty fined $2000 each when sentenced in Bega, About Regional, 24 October 2023.

Tallaganda State Forest

Stop-work order extended: The NSW Environmental Protection Authority has extended a stop-work order in the Tallaganda State Forest, near Braidwood, for another 40 days. The authority first told the NSW Forestry Corporation to halt operations in August when an endangered greater glider was found dead near a logging site (see September 2023 newsletter). Since then the EPA has recorded 89 greater gliders and 20 den trees in the area to be logged.

Ref: Albert McNight, Activists demand urgent reforms after almost 90 endangered animals found in potential logging site, About Regional, 10 October 2023.