SWCC Threatened Species Project Manager, Jaya Vaughan, and GeoCatch Natural Resource Management Officer, Nicole Lincoln, attended the Dogs Day Out event as part of the Festival of Busselton on Saturday 8th January 2022. GeoCatch hosted Possum Avoidance Training with local dog trainer Asher Lindberg from Geo Bay Dog Training. Dog owners were given tips on training their dogs to ‘leave it’ and reduce access to possums. The training was a great success with many attendees expressing interest about future sessions. There was a Pets Away Possums Play stall where attendees could make a pledge to keep their pet inside at night and pick up a bin sticker to promote local awareness.
SWCC showcased a display of fence retrofit options to keep possums safe and outdoor dogs happy. Attendees showed interest in installing the ‘possum grip’ option on their backyard fences. The possum grip option involves attaching a run of timber or branches along the top of a fence, especially along slippery Colorbond fences, to allow western ringtail possums to more safely move through the urban landscape. SWCC will follow up with attendees who showed interest and offer remote camera monitoring to detect usage. The possum grip option and other information about pets and possums coexisting in harmony can be found here.
Jaya Vaughan said “It was great to see so much engagement and interest from local dog owners looking to implement small steps at home to keep their dogs happy and local western ringtail possums safe”.
This project is supported by South West Catchments Council, through funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program. Photo credit: Sarah Molloy, GeoCatch.
