Following the discovery of another platypus trapped by a hair tie in Bright, a big thank you to all the parents and children who took part in our rubbish collections along the Ovens River and Morses Creek in Bright, Wandiligong, Porepunkah, and Freeburgh.
A huge bag of discarded plastics, sweet wrappers, straws, coffee lids, bottles and cans were collected including several hair ties.
Still more work to be done and we hope to make this a regular event.
What this activity did highlight was that very few residents had seen the warning ‘out of the way’ signs about the dangers of hair ties, rubber bands and rubbish to platypus, rakali and other native wildlife.
Hopefully more prominent signs near to the pathways and swimming areas can remind our visitors and locals to be careful with hair ties, plastics and with recyclable bottles and cans.
We hope too that when you next go walking along our waterways you can take a bag to collect any discarded items…
Martyn Paterson, Vice President, UOVLG