Pledge to make your yard wildlife-friendly.

Join hundreds of Australians pledging to help precious wildlife by better sharing their yards.

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 and Canberra, these states are 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 the continent’s precious 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.

Australian wildlife have 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.

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 safer fruit tree netting in your state – please contact the Environment Ministers in New South Wales, Queensland, and South Australia calling for netting to be regulated, as it already is in Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory, so that only netting that is safer for wildlife can be legally installed over backyard fruit trees.

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.