Confronting photo reveals huge danger for Australian wildlife in our backyards
The homeowners were left distressed after making a grim discovery in their backyard.
Devastating images have highlighted the dire risk to Australian animals which can be found in a multitude of backyards around the country.
Adelaide Koala Rescue was called to a property in Macgill, in the city’s east, earlier this month, after the homeowner made the gut wrenching discovery.
“We received a call about someone that had found a koala deceased in their pool,” Jane Brister, the director of Adelaide Koala Rescue told Yahoo News Australia. “They were very distressed.”
Even more tragically, the pool had only just been cleaned and the cover put back on a couple of days before.
“When it happens — because we do get calls now and again — the callers are very distressed and feel very guilty and very sad,” Brister said, describing pool covers as “incredibly dangerous”.
“Often they hadn’t realised that this type of incident was even a possibility, and that if an animal heavy enough like a koala walks on some of these pool covers, then it just sinks and they become entrapped in it.”
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‘There were tears all around’
While Brister’s team wasn’t able to do anything for this koala, they made sure to check for an ear tag to see if it was a known animal, and whether it was a female, and if so, whether it had a joey in its pouch.
“We had some [koala drownings] in recent times that have been very sad because it’s been a koala that we know and it’s devastating to know that when there are so many threats that koalas face, that that’s how it ended for them,” she explained.
“While the last one we sent a rescuer out to, it was a known koala and she’d not only drowned but the joey in her pouch had drowned as well, so there were tears all around for that one.”
“It is always distressing for everyone that is involved. The person that finds it in the pool and the rescuer that goes out to get them.”
Help koalas stay out of pools
In a bid to save koalas from ending up in swimming pools, Brister encouraged Aussie home owners to look out for thirsty animals.
“The first thing is to be aware that wildlife may see their pool as a drinking source so place alternative water sources around the pool area and hopefully they won’t need to go into the pool area,” the director said.
Next is being conscious of pool covers.
“There are a lot of alternative covers you can get now that are safer and are designed so that if a child or an adult walks on them, they don’t sink,” Brister explained.
“And if you do have a pool cover, you need to check it. Especially in warm weather because that's when wildlife are more likely to be drinking from the pool.
People are also encouraged to put things in the pool that will help an animal to climb out, such as a ladder, net or rope. “They're not always going to find it, but at least there’s a chance that they will.
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