More of us are coming into contact - and sometimes conflict - with wildlife
as cities and suburbs spread. Use this information to find out whether you
need to step in or step back when you find yourself living with wildlife.
Read this first
All native animals are protected by law.
Removal is not a solution
Relocated animals often die. And when an animal is removed, another
one often takes its place.
Put up a barrier
Deterrents only work for short periods. If you don't like animals
in your property, stop them getting in.
Nothing lasts forever
Many wildlife 'nuisances' are only passing through. Be patient
and remember that we share our home.
Lucky you
Living closely with wildlife can have benefits. Enjoy your close
encounter with Australia's amazing animals.
Bandicoots
Bandicoots are gradually disappearing
from rural areas close to towns.
Source: Steve Parish Publishing
Bandicoot digging conical holes in the lawn and garden beds.
Duration: Temporary
Bandicoots will only be around as long as the food source lasts, about 5 days.
In many places, they only come to a backyard once every 10 years or so.
Microbats (small bats) in the ceiling, walls or other living space
Duration: Long-term
Benefits
Bats are invaluable mosquito controllers.
Action
Don't worry. However, if you do want to remove or seal out the bats, provide
another roosting site first:
Provide an alternative home such as a bat box (see Nestboxes>) nearby.
Get some bat droppings from the existing roost and paint some moistened
droppings inside the new roost to provide a familiar smell.
Spot where the bats leave and enter the property at dusk or dawn.
Cover the access hole with black plastic fastened over the sides and top
of the hole. This allows the bats out but stops them re-entering the property.
To allow all the colony to leave, seal the access entirely only after
3 nights.
Swarming feral European bees are
an environmental and health risk and need to be controlled. Call a bee removalist
to deal with a European bee swarm or a European bee nest in a building or
tree. NB Single European bees are not a threat and should be left alone.
Baby birds that fall out of nests are
often still looked after by their
parents.
Source: Halley
Baby bird fallen out of nest
Duration: Temporary
Action
Don't worry straight away. Parent birds often continue to care for baby
birds that have fallen out of nests
Keep children and pets away.
If you are worried, leave the baby bird on a low branch so that the parents
can feed it without coming to the ground. These birds are more likely to
survive than those 'rescued' by humans.
If the bird needs rescuing for its own safety, contact Queensland
Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) on 1300 130 372 (24 hours) or your local
QPWS office.
Birds harassing a possum, koala or owl during the day.
Duration: Temporary
Action:
Don't worry. Nocturnal animals out during daytime always attract unwelcome
attention from butcherbirds, noisy miners, crows and so on. The target animal
is able to take care of itself and will move off after dark. However, if the
animal is injured or sick, it may need rescuing.
Birds nesting on lawns or ovals and swooping on passers-by.
Duration: Temporary
Often only lasts 3-5 weeks. Once the eggs hatch and the babies mature, the swooping
stops or lessens. The adult birds rarely strike a person. They are just defending
their young.
Action
Keep away if possible. Let the birds hatch the eggs and move on of their
accord.
If the birds do have to be moved for safety reasons (eg from a school
oval), contact
Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) on 1300 130 372 (24 hours)
or your local QPWS office.
Moving or breaking native bird eggs is illegal. If the eggs are broken, the
bird will nest again but will be even more aggressive. See also Magpies.
Bird strikes on windows
Duration: Long-term or temporary.
Long term: Birds think they have clear flight path through your window. .
Temporary: Birds see their reflection in the glass and think it is
a rival. See Action to deal with these situations appropriately.
Action
Clear Flight path
Birds can see through the house or otherwise mistake the window for a clear
flight path and so keep trying to fly through. This situation will not be confined
to the breeding season.
Either obstruct the view by sticking tape across the window or put a sticky
silhouette of a hawk on the glass.
Trawler netting, ribbons or any other obstacle on the outside of the window
will also prevent bird strikes.
Reflection
Some birds get territorial during the breeding season in spring and summer.
They see their reflection in the glass and think it is a rival. Kookaburras,
kingfishers, magpie larks and butcherbirds are prone to this. Some birds can
be very persistent.
Open the windows or place paper over the glass to stop the reflection.
Change the appearance of the window with balloons, streamers or plastic
shopping bags (securely fastened).
If the bird persists, cover the window for the whole breeding season.
Brush turkeys
Brush turkeys are fascinating to
watch in your backyard.
(Photo courtest Trixie Benbrook)
Brush turkeys building a mound in the backyard
Duration: Long-term
Benefits:
Brush turkeys eat insects and larvae pests.
Action
On the QPWS
web site, read Living with wildlife for tips on co-exisisting with these
fascinating birds.
Peg chicken wire or a tarpaulin over your mulch pile to stop the birds
using it as mound-building material.
Place chicken wire or rocks around precious plants to deter the turkey.
Replace the mulch on garden beds with heavier material such as gravel.
Keep compost in a closed bin.
Don't bother removing the mound. The bird will just build it again, often
within a day.
Crows
Young crows like this one make a
lot of noise when they congregate.
photo: Trixie Benbrook
Crows calling as a nuisance noise, getting into the garbage and eating dog food,
mobbing and harassing other birds
Duration: Might be long-term
Benefits
Crows are nature's garbage collectors. Because they are primarily scavengers,
they prevent salmonella, botulism and e-coli spreading to humans.
Action
Noise: You can do little. Crows are a protected native species in
Queensland and so cannot be killed or harmed.
Garbage raiding: Secure the garbage and either feed cats and dogs
inside or remove the food as soon as the pet has eaten. You should do this
anyway for the health of your pet.
Harassing other animals: Don't worry. Crows are scavengers, not predators
and do not reduce the populations of other animals.
Ducks
Ducks in the swimming pool
Duration: Temporary
Action
Be patient. Ducks will either be happy to share the pool with you or will
move on. However, baby ducklings that are too young to fly might get stranded
in the pool and be unable to get out or might be threatened by cats and dogs.
Stop ducks flying into the pool:
Cover the pool with a proper pool cover or matte black plastic sheeting,
or stretch ropes across the pool surface to prevent them landing.
Tie helium balloons to the pool fence on the side they fly in.
Floating toys on the water may deter them.
Leave your dog shut inside the pool fence for a couple of days, but
only if no ducks are present. You may only need to do this at full moon
because ducks are attracted by light reflecting on the water at night.
Stop ducks walking into the pool. If ducks and ducklings can walk through
the pool fence, attach a 50 cm high band of shade cloth around the bottom
of the fence for a barrier.
Get stranded ducklings out of the pool: Raise the level of the pool water
so that the duckling can step out or secure a plank on the edge as an escape
route, or use a leaf scoop to remove the ducklings without hurting them.
Keep pets away while ducklings are vulnerable.
All feral animals are controlled by the Queensland Department of Natural Resources
and Mines (DNR&M) or your local council.
Action
Contact your local DNR&M
office or your local government office.
Fire ants
A backyard fire ant nest. DPI&F
Fire ants can be seen in different
growth stages and sizes.
DPI&F
These imported insects are a serious threat in South-East Queensland and
must be eradicated.
Call the Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries (DPI&F) on 13 25
23.
Flying-foxes
Always net your fruit trees properly with
flying-fox safe netting or foxes
might be
injured or killed. Louise Saunders
There is a small risk of catching a virus from flying-foxes. Never touch a flying-fox, only a registered bat carer should deal with any live animal. Contact the
Queensland Parks and
Wildlife Service (QPWS) on 1300 130 372 (24 hours) or your local QPWS office.
Flying-foxes eating fruit
Duration: Temporary
Flying-foxes will stay as long as the food source lasts.
Benefits
Flying-foxes pollinate and disperse the seeds of many native plants and rainforest
trees. They only eat cultivated fruit because their wild food trees are being
cut down.
Action
Use a physical barrier to prevent flying-foxes eating fruit.
Net your fruit trees with flying-fox safe netting that is stretched taut
over the tree with no folds or loose ends that might entangle animals or
birds.
Put plastic or paper bags over individual fruit.
Flying-fox caught on powerlines
Action
In cities, flying-foxes are often caught on powerlines and electrocuted. The adult will be killed outright but babies carried on the mother's fur often survive, only to die of starvation or exposure. If you think a dead bat on a power line is carrying live young, call Energex on 13 12 53.
Frogs
Striped marsh frogs are often noisy in
ponds in South-East Queensland.
Source: Halley
Frogs in the house
Duration: Long term
Benefits:
Frogs eat insects and their larvae.
Action
Don't worry. Frogs aren't poisonous and do no damage. Frogs are most likely
settle to in the toilet or bathroom. If you don't want resident frogs, stop
them getting in. Tie mesh (such as panty hose) over the ventilation pipe on
the roof or over the ends of the overflow pipes.
Noisy frogs in the pond
Duration: Temporary
Frogs can call all summer, every summer. Most noisy in rain and on moonlit
nights.
Benefits
Frogs will eat unwanted pests in the garden and attract some wading birds
to your area.
Action
Your pond: If you really do want to get rid of your frogs, fill in the pond
in winter so that you don't kill the frogs.
Neighbours' pond: Because backyard frogs are not domestic pets, you cannot
force your neighbour to get rid of the frogs in their pond.
Frog spawn in the swimming pool
Duration: Temporary
The spawn will hatch and the tadpoles turn into frogs and leave.
Benefits
You will have a resident frog population in your backyard - but they will return
to their lay their own eggs in the pool in future!
Action
Don't worry, unless you don't want frogs.
Make sure it isn't cane toad spawn. Cane toad spawn looks like long,
jelly strings. Scoop it out and throw it in the bin.
If you know it's frog spawn, scoop it out of the pool, put it in a container
with non-tap water and relocate it to a suitable neighbourhood pond.
Frogs in a box of fruit or produce
Find out where the box has come from. Contact the Queensland
Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) on 1300 130 372 (24 hours) or your local
QPWS office.
Geckos
Robust velvet geckos are natural pest controllers
Geckos in the house
Duration: Long-term generally
Geckoes are less active in winter.
Benefits
Geckoes are natural pest controllers. They eat cockroaches, moths, mosquitos
and midges.
Action
Don't worry. Their droppings are much cleaner than those of the pests they
control.
If they are tripping the burglar alarm, alter the system's sensitivity.
Koalas
This koala's dirty bottom shows it is not healthy.
Source: Moggill Koala Hospital
Koala in a backyard tree
Duration: Short- or long-term
Action
Check if the koala is sick or orphaned or in danger from pets.
Sick koalas have wet dirty bottoms and/or weepy, red or closed eyes.
Orphaned koalas are smaller than a football and call constantly for
their mothers.
If the koala looks sick or orphaned or threatened, contact the Queensland
Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) on 1300 130 372 (24 hours) or your
local QPWS office. In South-East Queensland, call the Daisy Hill Koala Centre
on 07 3299 1032 (24 hours)
If the animal looks healthy, then a tree is its natural place. Alert
the neighbours and keep pets away while the koala is in the area.
Relocating koalas is not recommended. They are territorial and, especially
in South-East Queensland, are hard to relocate away from roads and dogs.
Koala on the road
Duration: Temporary
Action
Don't worry. If the animal is uninjured and not in immediate danger, it doesn't
need to be caught or relocated.
Where safe and appropriate, stop your car, put on the hazard lights and usher
the koala off the road with a stick while keeping a safe distance.
Lizards
Blue tongue lizards often live inside houses or sheds.
Source: Halley
Lizard in the house
Duration: Temporary
Benefits
Lizards are great pest controllers and eat cockroaches and snails.
Action
Don't worry. There are no poisonous lizards in Queensland.
If you aren't sure whether what you have is a snake or a lizard, contact
the Inquiry Centre at the Queensland
Museum. See Snakes
Skinks and larger lizards, such as Blue tongues, often live in houses,
garages and sheds. If you want to remove the lizard for its own safety,
call Queensland
Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) on 1300 130 372 (24 hours) or your
local QPWS office.
You can try to entice it into a box (such as a beer carton) and move the
box outside, but don't harm or scare the lizard.
Magpies
Swooping magpies are defending their nests. Halley
Magpies swooping and attacking
Duration: Temporary
Swooping lasts for the 6-8 week Spring breeding season.
Action
Never harass breeding magpies. Birds who swoop are defending their nests
against perceived threats.
Move out of the attack zone without running. Dismount if you are on a
bicycle. Try not to look up
Wear a broad-brimmed hat. Place sunglasses on top of the hat or even paint
big fake eyes on the top of your hat or bicycle helmet.
Rodents will stay as long as there is a food source
Action
Check that rats and mice are what you have (rather than possums). Look
for signs of chewing: possums rarely chew and rats chew on anything.
You can pay for a rodent removal service but the animals will be poisoned
and more will move in to take their place within weeks. Stopping up their
entrances keeps rodents out permanently.
Repair the holes in the house where the rodents are getting in.
Ensure you are not providing an easy food source. Keep cupboards closed.
Keep compost in a closed rodent-proof bin.
You can trap the rats or mice yourself. Place a trap in a box with
two entrance holes. Put a different bait on the trap each night (most
rodents can't resist a drop of oil of aniseed).
Possums
Brushtail possum.
Source: John Sweet
Possums in the roof
Duration: Permanent or at least long-term
Action
Check that possums are what you have (see mice or rats). Possums will not
damage your property; and they will stop Indian myna birds establishing themselves
in your roof space.
If you pay for possum removal, the animals will only be relocated within
50 m of your house. Generally the same possums return or different ones will
move in to take their place within weeks. Stopping up their entrances keeps
possums out permanently.
Find out where the possums are getting in and out.
Wait for the animals to leave for the night and seal the gap.
If you want to have the possums around but not living so close to you,
consider putting a possum box in your yard.
Possums eating fruit and vegetables from the garden
Duration: Temporary
Possums will eat fruit as long as there is any available.
Action
Protect the food source from the possums.
Put possum-proof fences around the vegetable patch.
Put plastic bags over large fruit such as banana bunches.
Try to prevent the possums climbing tree trunks if this is how they are
getting to the fruit. Put a 50cm minimum broad metal collar around the trunk.
Make sure the collar is high enough to prevent the possum just jumping up
over it.
Seabirds
Pelicans can swallow hooks that are actively
being used by anglers.
Photo Australian Seabird Rescue
See also Birds, Swallows and martins
Seabird entangled or hooked in fishing tackle
If you hook or entangle a seabird, while fishing, do not cut the line. Follow these steps:
Make an attempt to reel the bird in, gently.
Place a towel or shirt over the bird's head, and, if possible remove the hook
and/or line.
If you cannot remove the hook without incurring further injury to the bird,
do not release the bird. Contact Queensland Parks and Wildlife
Service (QPWS) on 1300 130 372 (24 hours) or your local QPWS office
If the line breaks when attempting to reel in the bird, or you find a bird
hooked or entangled that you cannot help, contact Queensland
Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) on 1300 130 372 (24 hours) or your local QPWS office.
Warning: Most snake bites happen to people who are trying to catch or kill a
snake.
Snake in the backyard
Duration: Varies
The snake has probably lived in the garden for a long time without being seen.
Most snakes, given the chance, will move away from humans so the nuisance is
temporary.
Action
Make sure that what are seeing is a snake, not a lizard. Legless lizards
look very similar to snakes. Lizards
are not dangerous. Contact the Inquiry Centre at the Queensland
Museum.
Keep children and pets away.
Let the snake move away on its own.
Snakes often die when relocated but if you do want the snake removed
for its own safety, you can search online for your nearest local snake catcher, or contact Queensland
Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) on 1300 130 372 (24 hours) or your
local QPWS office. Alternatively,
contact the Queensland Reptile and Amphibian Club on +61 7 3200 0266 for
advice and information.
Keep watch from a distance until help arrives so that you can direct
the handler to the snake.
It is illegal to attempt to harm native wildlife (though it is legal to kill
a snake that poses a threat to people or pets).
Python in the roof
Duration: Permanent
The python will stay if there is a local food source.
Benefits
Pythons are not venomous and tend to avoid people. A python in your roof will
eat any rats or mice that might otherwise eat your electric wiring.
Action
If you still want the python removed, see Snake in the backyard.
Swallows and martins
Swallows and martins nesting under the eaves
Duration: Temporary
Will stay during the nesting season
Benefits
The birds eat flies and mosquitoes.
Action
Don't worry. The birds do no damage and will move on at the end of the season.
If the nest is over a doorway, you can put a drip tray underneath to catch
the droppings.
If you do not want the nest to stay after the season, remove the nest
around the end of February with a high pressure hose.
If you don't want the birds to return next year, dissuade them by fixing
a plastic sheet against the wall on the nest site. Mud won't stick to the
plastic so the birds will give up nesting in that spot and you can remove
the sheet once they have moved on.
FAQ
If I feed the birds in my backyard, will the local cats eat them?
Feeding birds is very common in backyards but regular feeding can make it
easy for cats to hunt the wildlife. See Feeding
wildlife for information on how to feed wildlife safely and healthily.
Can I take a sick wild animal to the vet? Will I have to pay?
Most vets will treat wild animal without charge and then arrange to release
it back into the wild.
I want to chop down a few trees and tidy up the backyard. How will this
affect the local animals and birds?
See Garden trees and wildlife for
information on how to reduce the impact on wildlife if you decide to cut down
backyard trees.
I really think I need help from a wildlife rescue service or some information about wildlife that needs help.
