Construction surge prompts crisis across Aussie city: 'It's not right'
Sad photos reveal the hidden wildlife casualties of one Aussie city's development boom.
For three years in the early 2020s wildlife in one Aussie state was living its best life. In urban regions of Victoria, construction rates slowed, there was very little traffic on the roads, and there was a mass exodus of people from the state.
The lockdowns associated with the Covid-19 pandemic were a stressful time for anyone living around Melbourne. But one positive outcome was that wildlife rescues plummeted.
Now people are returning and the city is booming. Pictures supplied by rescue group Vets for Compassion illustrate the knock-on effect on Melbourne's wildlife.
Its volunteers have seen rescues jump from an average of 20 a week during lockdowns to 60 to 90 — and that’s just one small organisation working in metropolitan and outer Melbourne. But it’s not necessarily the rate of construction that’s concerning the rescue group’s CEO, veterinarian Dr Elaine Ong AM, it’s the blunt design of the projects.
“It’s a problem we’ve had since Covid, we’re trying to fit seven million people in the city. So we need infrastructure — there’s now freeway construction, and we’re building housing estates everywhere,” she told Yahoo News.
“But we’re displacing wildlife, and it's their habitat, not ours.”
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Why wildlife is increasingly spotted in shops and on streets
Generally, the impact of a project on wildlife isn't considered unless it's going to impact a species that's already endangered. Localised extinctions are a growing issue not just in Victoria, but across Australia. Farmland in Sydney’s southwest and Perth’s southern suburbs have been rapidly transformed, forcing marsupials like kangaroos and possums to flee.
Ong isn’t against development, she just wants to see humane solutions for wildlife that's being displaced. In Victoria, developers can apply for a permit to kill the abundant wildlife on the land they wish to build houses on, but this option isn’t always accepted.
“They don’t have the heart to shoot them. And it’s often unsafe because there are houses nearby,” she said.
“The simplest solution for them is just to ignore them and hope they move elsewhere. But they've got nowhere to go. They end up in the train station, in a car park, in schools, on a busy road, just searching for shelter, food and water.”
Related: 'Big error' discovered in Melbourne's new housing plan
In one series of images supplied by Ong, a kangaroo can be seen lost in the city's eastern suburbs at Moorolbark train station. Pictures show it being tracked by an experienced darter, who sedated and removed the animal from harm's way.
Another picture shows a swamp wallaby sheltering under a red supermarket shopping trolley. While others show scared kangaroos hiding in suburban front yards, a freeway construction site, and housing development sites.
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Simple solution to Australia's planning problems
One easy way of fixing the problem would be to mandate that developers must retain green spaces for wildlife, and forested corridors for them to move about the city. This would run counter to the current trend of building large houses with small yards, or townhouses.
The city already fairs badly when it comes to tree canopy cover. Metropolitan Melbourne has around three per cent adequate tree coverage, while Sydney has 17 per cent and Seattle 75 per cent.
After new developments are approved, it’s not government, developers, or planners who attend to wildlife that’s found displaced in buildings or killed on roads.
“We and other volunteers around Melbourne are picking up the pieces, and it's not right,” Ong said.
“There should be mitigation measures — like wildlife corridors so they can get to reserves. It happens overseas. So I can’t see why it’s not done here.”
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