Aussies warned over a 'deadly' Halloween tradition
The Halloween tradition can be a death trap for birds and small mammals while creating dangerous hazards in our waterways.
While excited Aussies prepare to celebrate all that is grim and macabre on October 31, experts are urging them to avoid one common tradition that can spell disaster for our wildlife and environment.
Halloween traces its roots back to an ancient Celtic festival and is rapidly increasing in popularity with 5.3 million Australians expected to take part in 2023, spending a whopping $490 million, according to Roy Morgan Research.
But as homes are turned into haunted houses and abandoned graveyards in preparation for an onslaught of trick or treaters, the real horror is the use of fake synthetic spider webbing as outdoor décor which can be a death trap for birds, invertebrate and small mammals.
Melbourne wildlife ecologist Dr Gráinne Cleary told Yahoo News Australia that Halloween coincided with fledgling season, where baby birds were leaving their nests for the first time to explore their environments.
“This netting is made out of dense cotton, PVC and other artificial synthetic materials so it’s quite strong and sticky,” she said. “Plus, it can be almost invisible at night.
“In Spring, we know lots of insects, invertebrate and birds are out and about, fledglings are leaving their nests for the first time and are exploring your front garden, your back garden.
“If they accidentally walk or fly into it, they might not be strong enough to escape. It can get wrapped around their little legs and they can get stuck – it could even kill them.”
Dr Cleary said the most vulnerable birds were wrens, thornbills and fantails which were smaller and less able to fight their way out should they get stuck.
“It’s about considering who we share our gardens with, baby birds are out exploring this time of year and are trying to get a sense of ownership,” she told Yahoo News Australia.
Aussies have enough 'great spider webs'
“Birds will be curious and exploring and can accidentally ingest the webbing because they don’t see it or they can fly into it and get it caught up in their legs.”
Dr Cleary said putting artificial webbing on the outside of your home, trees and bushes at Halloween was “completely novel” to birds who might try to use it to feather their nests leading to babies getting stuck or injured.
“This is something we have seen, in their nests sometimes weeks after Halloween,” Dr Cleary said. “They are not accustomed to it.
“This is the bird parents making the wrong decision but they don’t know, they’re just trying it out. Birds are vulnerable, we need to make it safe for them.
“We have enough great spider webs in our gardens anyway, this is Australia!” she added.
Fake cobwebs 'should be banned'
The issue, which has come up in recent years, was highlighted this week by doggy support group Paws & Recover which shared a Facebook post stating: “Reminder for this Halloween season. Fake spider web can trap birds, insects and animals.
Stunned Aussies shared the post 18,000 times with many saying they were unaware how dangerous it could be to native wildlife.
In a separate post on Reddit, one concerned Aussie said artificial cobwebs were a “microplastics nightmare that should be banned”.
“I’ve been spotting these around again being put up for Halloween,” the poster wrote.
“Just thought I would get the word out that these cobwebs are made out of tiny plastic fibres that break apart and end up in our river system, contributing more tiny particles into our oceans, which ends up in the fish we eat.”
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