Snake-necked turtles in Beeliar’s wetlands are under threat of local extinction by fox predation.
To date, 361 turtles have been killed by foxes across three lakes in the area: Yangebup Lake, Bibra Lake, and Little Rush Lake all in Western Australia.
Walliabup Wildlife Warriors, a volunteer group within the wetland’s conservation society, came together to protect and conserve the turtles in the Beeliar wetlands area.
Volunteer and conservationist Dr Felicity Bairstow said the situation is “devastating”.
“I’ve got two grandchildren, and the work I do is for future generations.
“To think they could come to Bibra Lake, and it won’t be any turtles there, It’s just horrible,” Dr Bairstow said.
Predators are a major challenge
The push for change began when the wetlands entered their activation stage, a natural process that dries them out every few years.
“Over two days 130 dead turtles had been dug up by foxes and killed,” said Dr Bairstow.
“That was the point where we realised, we had to move a bit beyond just looking after the nests, and that we had to start advocating for the protection of the turtles in a wider sort of conservation respect.”
Fox control essential
Dr Felicity Bairstow stated, the most urgent action that needs to be taken now is fox control.
“The report that was done for the south-west group, which the City of Cockburn are part of, 5 years ago, says that Fox control should be done for four episodes at least per year and 7 to 14 days per episode, that’s not being done at the moment,” she said.
“We consulted three separate fox control professionals and some academics, and we still believe there should be $90,000 a year spent on fox control.”
In response to their request, the City of Cockburn has indicated plans to increase its fox control budget.
Dan Arndt is the City of Cockburn’s Director of Sustainable Environment, and Safety. He confirmed the motion submitted to the council requesting $90,000 be allocated towards quarterly fox control in Beeliar Regional Park.
“fter reviewing their request, the city determined that five rounds of fox control could be done annually over a larger area, including other reserves, and the cost would be $40,000 cheaper than the Warriors’ estimate,” Mr Arndt said.
“The city is now looking at modifying the budget […] to allocate more funding for turtle protection.”
Threatened with extinction
Dr Felicity Bairstow expressed the concerning decline in the turtle population.
Data on turtle numbers has been limited, but adult survival is critical to the species’ longevity.
“The high mortality rate among younger turtles and hatchlings means that once they reach maturity, after 10-15 years, they could live for 20-30 more years.”
If we’re losing 200 a year, a population can’t sustain that sort of massive loss, it’s not going to be viable.
Dr Felicity Bairstow
Dan Arndt agrees the risk is significant.
“The city has been committed together with a number of other surrounding local governments with putting in place methods to look at how we can address issues in terms of the local populations.
“We’ve seen […] increasing number of nesting and hatchlings.”
Fox predation is not just a threat to snake-necked turtles, but also the wetlands.
The loss of the turtles could disrupt the role of maintaining a healthy wetland ecosystem.
Dan Arndt said the City of Cockburn has pledged a $40,000 one-time contribution to the Perth South-West Metropolitan Alliances Fox Monitoring and Targeted Control Project.
“The idea is to monitor where foxes are nesting and target those areas for control.
“The project aims to reduce the regional fox population by at least 75 per cent.”
Mr Arndt said the target was recommended by federal animal control experts, from the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development.
For those interested in helping track the population and contribute to conservation efforts, TurtleSAT is a website where you can record and map turtles or their nests in your area.
The message
Walliabup Wildlife Warrior’s volunteers are working non-stop to help save the native snake-necked turtles.
The local community have been supportive of their mission, also taking the issue to the council.
“The community in general is very nature-focused, a lot of people use the lake for recreation and exercise and just to enjoy nature.”
Dr Felicity Bairstow said they got more than 700 signatures for their petition just by sitting out the front of their local shopping centre.
“We have to work together on this, [the council has] to listen to the people that are on the ground, the volunteers, the community, and we have to go at sooner rather than later, this is part of climate change.”
“This is not going to get better quickly so we have a great opportunity if we step up to the plate to protect our diversity.”
Wow! This is such an amazing story and very interesting read. I had no idea of the severity of it!
Amazing article