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<\/p>\n
“It gets a tiny bit better each time but it’s like three steps forwards, two-and-a-half steps backwards,” she said.<\/p>\n
Dr Valpied said platypus habitat was also used by Rakali (a species of native water rat), birds, turtles, kangaroos and wallabies.<\/p>\n
“It’s an immediate entanglement risk for platypus,” she said, adding that rubbish also posed a long-term toxicity risk for all the animals through ingestion of polystyrene \u2013 particularly from microplastics.<\/p>\n
“We know there are at least 30 platypuses between Bacchus Marsh weir and the beginning of the Melton reservoir.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Dr Valpied said entanglement was recognised as the leading cause of death for platypus in Victoria and some had died from it in parts of the Werribee River further downstream.<\/p>\n “So it’s a very real danger; it can happen very easily and very quickly, and we don’t want it happening in Bacchus Marsh,” she said.<\/p>\n Dr Valpied said more than 30 people participated in the most recent clean-up, with waste taken to a transfer station.<\/p>\n She said over 50,000 litres of construction waste had now been removed from the area.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2026\/04\/Platypus06_66586.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2026\/04\/Platypus08_71174.jpg\")