Wildlife rescuers call for virtual fencing

SURFCOAST Wildlife Rescue is pushing for the installation of new virtual fencing technology to help protect wildlife and drivers.

Designed by Wildlife Safety Solutions, the virtual fence is a series of devices placed about 25 metres apart. Activated by headlights, the devices emit sound and light stimuli to alert the animals something is approaching.

Surfcoast Wildlife Rescue’s Jason Cichocki said the virtual fencing warded animals off the road without causing them harm.

“The easier way to explain the sound stimuli is it’s basically what an alarm clock would be like. When your alarm goes off, it starts to annoy you, so you turn it off. The kangaroos obviously can’t do that, so when they hear a noise that’s annoying them, they just move away from it.”

In recent years the technology has been tested in various parts of Australia. The most comprehensive of these tests was a three-year trial in Tasmania, which resulted in a 50 per cent decline in road kill in areas where the virtual fencing was installed.

Surfcoast Wildlife Rescue is working with Animal Justice Party MP Andy Meddick to try to secure funding for the fencing.

Mr Meddick said he had consulted with the council and various wildlife protection groups on measures to stop reduce roadkill in the region.

“I have raised these issues with the Minister for Roads, and any solutions will ultimately be the responsibility of government to fund, as the laws and regulations ultimately rest with them.”

Surfcoast Wildlife Rescue has the measures in place to conduct a detailed analysis of the virtual fencing’s effectiveness.

Group member Sharon Anderson noted they would need to keep data on the collisions, and designed an app allowing members who attended accidents to answer several questions about the incident.

The app also includes GPS data, so the whereabouts of each collision can be shown.

Surfcoast Wildlife Rescue has been collecting data for about two years. Mr Cichocki said the data made them a strong candidate to get the technology.

He has earmarked Forrest Road in Anglesea and the section between Torquay and Anglesea commonly known as “The Mad Mile” as good candidates for the technology but said the ambitions stretched beyond reducing roadkill in those areas.

“Not only do we just want to put this fence up, we want to be able to show through the history of our data and show how effective it is, which could have the potential of being able to go to the government and getting them to implement this right across Australia.”