NSW Wildlife Council – "Achieving optimal outcomes for Australian wildlife"

ANIMALS IN THE WILD PHOTO COMPETITION AND EXHIBITION 2018

An initiative of Greens MP David Shoebridge

Animals in the Wild is a much-loved celebration of nature in the wild, unthreatened, and unharmed by humans. We want to see your pictures of quokkas, wallabies, cockatoos, koalas and other beautiful Australian wildlife.

The competition is part of the Greens campaign against recreational hunting, and in particular, the Sporting Shooters Association arms fair ‘Huntfest’ which blights Narooma every year. Animals in the Wild encourages you to shoot with a camera, not a gun.

The winning entries will be announced in Eurobodalla on the weekend of the June long weekend.

Welcome to the autumn issue of the Saving our Species newsletter!

Volunteering with SoS can help threatened species as well as create great inroads to careers in ecology and conservation. And, of course, our volunteers’ efforts greatly increase our SoS projects’ achievements and outcomes on the ground. In this edition we feature six strong ‘Volunteer Voices’ from across the state, leading up to National Volunteer Week from 21-27 May.

We also explore some of our SoS science and research work in action; community support for restoring habitat for koalas in the north and glossy black-cockatoos in the southern highlands; and inspiring stories on plants, people and events.

Click here for the latest news, success stories and visuals – highlighting some of our conservation projects.

We hope you enjoy SoS News.

Linda Bell
Manager
Saving our Species

Calamitous cockies, pushy possums and the odd snake: love them or loathe them, Australian cities are rich in native wildlife that’s adapted to an urban lifestyle.

And even though they can be annoying and often become pests — as anyone who has had possums living in their roof will attest — we can co-exist happily with our city-dwelling feathered, furry and scaly friends.

That’s right — even possums.

Here are a few ways to live alongside the animals on your doorstep without calling pest control every other day.

How do I stop possums nibbling on my herbs …

Boil chillies and garlic in water, let it cool, strain and pour it in a spray bottle, and spray your garden.

This stinky, spicy concoction will keep possums away, along with loads of other herb-chomping creatures, said Sarah Bekessy, an urban ecologist at RMIT in Melbourne.

The natural chemical weapon contains capsaicin from chilli, which is the active ingredient in pepper spray, and irritating sulphur-based garlic compounds, which can kill insects on contact.

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A juvenile humpback whale was rescued on Tuesday afternoon off Indian Head, south of Port Macquarie. The whale had become tangled in rope from fishing traps.

Andy Marshall from the National Parks and Wildlife Service said a Harrington couple was bushwalking and noticed splashing and buoys floating in the ocean about 300m offshore from Indian Head in the Crowdy Bay National Park.

See the full article at http://www.camdencourier.com.au/story/4697273/whale-rescue-off-indian-head-video-photos/

Here’s a great article and information on Flying-foxes

One quarter of all mammal species in the world are bats, which belong to the order Chiroptera, meaning ‘handwinged’.Bats can be divided into two suborders:

• Megabats (Megachiroptera), which includes flying-foxes, as well as the lesser known tubenosed bats andblossom bats.
• Microbats (Microchiroptera), which are smaller insectivorous bats. Megabats differ greatly from microbats (see Table 1 in the attached article); their main similarities are that they are the only winged mammals and are primarily nocturnal.

Download and read the full article

NWC 2016 Grants – Reptile Enclosure Report – Rowan Wigmore, Northern Rivers Wildlife Carers

Thanks to the NWC for a grant of $1000.00 to make a reptile enclosure. The fund request was submitted for an enclosure and accoutrements which came to a little over $1000. When I came to source the products I was overwhelmed by the generosity of local businesses when I informed them of what I was making and that it was for wildlife rehabilitation. (more…)