Wildlife park power loss threatened animal safety

Australia Walkabout Wildlife Park team with the generator provided by Greater Sydney Local Land Services
Australia Walkabout Wildlife Park team with the generator provided by Greater Sydney Local Land Services

Australia Walkabout Wildlife Park team with the generator
provided by Greater Sydney Local Land Services

Greater Sydney Local Land Services (LLS) came to the aid of Australia Walkabout Wildlife Park when a loss of power during the recent wild weather threatened to endanger animal safety.

Staff at the Central Coast park feared that foxes, usually kept at bay by electric fencing, would enter the 80 acre property where native animals roam free. General manager of the Park Ms Tassin Barnard said they were concerned when they “noticed how much fox activity was going on outside”. “Foxes are amazing climbers,” Tassin said.

Greater Sydney LLS chairman Terry Charlton heard the Park’s situation on Richard Glover’s radio program and immediately contacted acting general manager Sharon Elliott who got in touch with David Green from Local Land Services’ Wyong office. Green sourced and was loading a generator within half an hour before racing to the Park where he and the Park’s staff worked quickly to get the electric fences up and running before evening set in.

Barnard said when the generator arrived “the whole mood lifted”. “We could sleep easy not thinking ‘should we be out there with torches trying to patrol the fence?’” The Park, amazingly, lost no animals, but staff remained on guard over the weekend as they waited for power to be turned back on. Foxes are a newly declared pest species in NSW and a major threat to native wildlife.

Greater Sydney LLS is working with the community to control fox populations in the region. Greater Sydney LLS is the NSW agency dedicated to minimising biosecurity threats, threats from feral animals and improving productivity of land use across the Greater Sydney region.

Media release,
27 Apr 2015
Sacha Perram, Greater
Sydney LLS