Pledge to make your yard wildlife-friendly.

Please help our precious wildlife by pledging to make your yard wildlife-friendly.

With more land being cleared for farming and urban development, safe habitat for wildlife is rapidly diminishing. On top of this, extreme weather events and the climate crisis are having a devastating impact on Australian animals’ homes and food sources.

Wildlife who do survive the fires, droughts, floods, and land clearing are hungry and may be looking for a home. Turning your backyard into a wildlife haven is an impactful way you can help.

By installing nesting boxes and planting native species of trees, flowers and shrubs, you can provide shelter and food for those who need it most. Providing safe access to drinking water, by leaving shallow dishes of fresh water in the shade and high up in trees if possible, can also spare animals from suffering heat stress or death.

If animals are enjoying your backyard fruit trees, know you are kindly helping to feed hungry little mouths – including babies who might be waiting for their parents, and their dinner, back in a nest or hollow.

Devastatingly, thousands of flying foxes and other native animals lose their lives each year after becoming entangled in backyard fruit tree netting. Some suffer for days, until they starve or die from heat exhaustion. Those who are rescued often have severe injuries from the constriction of the plastic nets, and spend weeks or months being cared for by volunteer wildlife carers.

If you do choose to use tree netting, opt for netting that is safer for wildlife. With the recent implementation of a legal ban on dangerous backyard netting in Victoria, the state is leading the way in creating safer backyard habitats for native animals – and there is hope the other states will soon follow.

By sharing your fruit trees or only using wildlife-safe netting, you are helping keystone species like flying foxes who pollinate trees and play a crucial role in the health of our country’s forests and ecosystems.

As animals wander into our backyards, be mindful that the cats and dogs we share our homes with can be a risk to them. To best look after both our companion animals and wildlife, consider installing a cat enclosure to keep your feline-friends happy, and train your dog to resist barking, chasing or confronting wildlife who pay a visit.

Australia’s wildlife has a special place in our hearts – let’s offer them a safe place in our yards as well. After all, it’s their home, too.

NOTE: Only trained and vaccinated rescuers should ever handle bats in Australia. If you have a bat in need of help, always call your local wildlife rescue group.

This pledge plays a vital role – but you can have an even greater impact for animals today.

HERE’S HOW:

• Check out several ways you can help wildlife during increasingly hot and dry Aussie summers.
• Learn more about flying foxes and share information within your community. Flying foxes play a crucial role in Australian ecosystems, and with some species being listed as threatened, and vulnerable to extinction across the country, they are in need of protection.
• Demand safe fruit tree netting – Please contact the Environment Ministers in NSW, QLD, and SA calling for netting to be regulated, as it already is in VIC, so that only wildlife-safe netting can be legally installed over backyard fruit trees.
  • NSW Minister for Environment and Heritage
    • The Hon James Griffin
    • GPO Box 5341, Sydney NSW 2001
    • (02) 9976 2773
    • griffin@parliament.nsw.gov.au or use the contact form here
  • QLD Minister for the Environment and the Great Barrier Reef and Minister for Science and Youth Affairs
    • The Hon Meaghan Scanlon
    • GPO Box 5078, Brisbane QLD 4001
    • (07) 3719 7140
    • environment@ministerial.qld.gov.au
  • SA Minister for Environment and Water
    • The Hon David Speirs
    • GPO Box 1047, Adelaide SA 5001
    • (08) 8463 5680
    • speirs@sa.gov.au