Page 17 - Tropic Magazine Issue 31

TROPIC • ENVIRONMENT

Mission

accomplished

WALLABY RELOCATION
There’s limited conversation between
A pioneering project to carers, and red lights and sedatives
move a population of agile are used to reduce stress even more,
as project founder and ecologist
wallabies from their shrinking Shai Ager explained. “We do it in the early
habitat in suburban Cairns hours of the morning because it’s cooler The Agile Project Founder Shai Ager
has been deemed an ecological and lower temperatures lead to less stress Credit: The Agile Project
success story. for the animals and that’s best practice,”
she told Tropic. “We can GPS track them but it’s
Words: Renee Cluff very exciting when we get to visually see
how they’re doing,” Ms Ager said.
The Agile Project began almost five years “Within 24 hours they’re reforming their
ago, when an expanding residential special family groups.”
development in Trinity Beach displaced They doze off and before The project’s been such a triumph that
local wallabies, creating a spike in Ms Ager is now being asked to share her
dangerous and deadly interactions they know it, are being expertise with other wildlife groups.
between humans, their pets, and the released into their new “There’s a prison in Derby, Western
wildlife. A plan was hatched to relocate Australia, that was accidentally built
the wallabies to more suitable habitat, but safe haven with wallabies inside it and over the
a scheme of such a scale had never been Shai Ager years they’ve reproduced so I’m going to
done before, and certainly not by The Agile Project implement very similar practices there,”
wildlife carers. It took years of research, Founder she said. “I’m also trying to find a way to
advocacy, court battles, government relocate eastern grey kangaroos because
approvals and fundraising, but now the “The wallaby is removed from the they can get up to 110 kilograms in weight.
plan has finally come to fruition. trap, weighed, injected and then hung I’m confident it’s doable, though.”
Over the past four months, almost 400 in individual bags inside the van.” It’s the never-say-die attitude of a
wallabies have been relocated to private Veterinarians are always involved, wallaby warrior whose precedent-setting
bush blocks north and south of Cairns. and Ms Ager is delighted to report project has paved the way for macropod
It’s been a delicate operation because the that not one wallaby has died from relocations across the country.
macropods are so easily stressed, which stress-induced myopathy. She checks
can kill them. The moving vans arrive in their progress through special cameras MORE: theagileproject.com.au
the early morning, while it’s still dark. installed at the release sites.

Reducing Smartphone

run-off salvage
3,513
BUILDING BIOREACTORS
In a world first, comprehensive
guidelines have been developed for The number of old
the use of denitrifying bioreactors mobile phones recycled by
on Far North Queensland farms. Cairns residents in 2020-21
The bioreactors are woodchip-filled Credit: Wet Tropics Major Integrated Project
trenches that intercept and treat The research has now led to the
nitrate in surface water, preventing development of fact sheets to help Total weight
fertiliser from reaching the Great farmers plan, design, install and 261kg
Barrier Reef. The Wet Tropics Major manage their own treatment systems.
Integrated Project, which works closely
with primary producers, has been 100kg up on the Queensland
trialling seven bioreactors on sugar MORE: terrain.org.au record set by Cairns in 2019/20
cane and banana farms. Source: Cairns Regional Council

17 • tropicnow.com.au