Koala escapes roadkill status with motorbike

Ouch! This little koala ran across the road in heavy traffic this week. 

Luckily this motorbike rider was travelling relatively slowly and slammed on his brakes in time. A little knock, but the little man lived to climb another day.

Not all encounters end this well on Australia roads. 

Marine scientist Len Zell has recently published a book on roadkill, 'Wild Discovery Guides - Australian Wildlife RoadKill'.

Zell has encountered all kinds of road kill on his travels, discovering many intriguing things about Australia's environment from the animals he finds by the road side.

"It gives me an understanding of the diversity of our wildlife and how special it is and how much I don't know about it," he told the ABC.

Zell says the prevalence of certain species found on the roads to tell how populations are surviving in certain areas.

"It does give you a good idea of population density. The last recorded eastern quoll (on the Australian mainland) was as a road kill in Sydney and has never been recorded since."

Tassie Devil Road Kill Project

A project to improve reporting of Tasmanian devil roadkill incidents is being extended to involve trained community volunteers.

The Minister for Environment, Parks and Heritage, David O’Byrne said the Save the Tasmanian Devil Program Roadkill Project was "about harnessing the passion of our community to help establish the impact of roadkill on the devil population."

“Our community volunteers are from local volunteer organisations, government agencies and businesses and regularly travel Tasmania’s roads," he said.

“They will complement the reporting work already being done by the general public and specially trained Parks and Wildlife Service volunteers who became involved in the project when it started last year.”

Mr O’Byrne said the first year of the Roadkill Project proved that the Tasmanian community has a real willingness to get involved in saving the devil.

“More than 400 reports from across the State were received via reply paid forms, the www.tassiedevil.com.au website and telephone and sms messages.

“Sadly, Tasmanian devils are one of the hardest animals to see on the road at night.

“The good news is that in working to save the Tasmanian devil we are helping to protect other native animals from roadkill and the data collected informs ongoing management strategies of wild devil populations.”

The two messages of the Roadkill Project are:

• Slow down on the roads between dusk and dawn; and
• Report any Tasmanian devil roadkill that you see.

Mr O’Byrne encouraged road users to keep a supply of forms in their car so that when they see a roadkill devil they can complete a form and drop it into the nearest mail box.

Forms are available from outlets around Tasmania, including Service Tasmania and visitor information centres. A list of outlets is available at www.tassiedevil.com.au

The Save the Tasmanian Devil Program provides training and resources for volunteers. It is also working with roadkilltas.com to raise awareness of the impact of roadkill on wildlife and its cost to Tasmanians.

Find out more: www.tassiedevil.com.au