NEWS DESK
A scientist’s
Tree giveaway MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire residents and ratepayers can obtain two free trees this week as part of a long running program to encourage more indigenous plants on the peninsula. Trees can be collected at Advance Community College, Hastings Community Hub, 1973 Frankston Flinders Rd, Hastings 8.30am-4pm, until Friday 28 April; 1/16 Henry Wilson Drive, Capel Sound; and the Horticultural Education Centre, 43 Mitchell St, Mornington. Proof of residency must be presented to collect the trees. Any remaining after Friday will be made available from the Mornington site until they run out. Native and indigenous plants can be bought at the Mornington Peninsula Shire Nursery at The Briars, Mt Martha, 9am 3.30pm, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and 9am-1pm on the first Saturday of each month.
Stephen Taylor steve@mpnews.com.au
Paws to walk REGISTRATIONS have opened for the RSPCA’s annual Million Paws Walk. More than 25,000 dog owners expected to take their four-legged friends to one of the events being held across the state on Sunday 21 May, including at Fred Smith Reserve, Hastings. Anyone who registers can also extend their support by setting up their own fundraising page. Money raised through registrations, merchandise sales and online fundraising will go towards RSPCA programs, adoptions, veterinary services, campaigns and rehabilitating animals seized by RSPCA inspectors. Details: millionpawswalk.com.au/vic
Dump green waste GREEN waste can be dumped for free from cars, utes or trailers, at Mornington Peninsula Shire’s transfer stations, Friday, Saturday and Sunday 28-30 April. The transfer stations at Truemans Rd, Rye, McKirdys Rd, Tyabb, and Watt Rd, Mornington open 8am-4pm Friday and 8am-5pm Saturdays and Sundays.
Nothing eerie about eagle’s new home A PAIR of wedge-tailed eagles has moved into Pearcedale and, with the birds’ known longevity, they are almost certain to be long term residents. The eagles are living in a specially-constructed aviary at Moonlit Sanctuary Wildlife Conservation Park and cannot be released into the wild because of being domesticated while under treatment for injury. The 30-metre aviary is based on a raptor rehabilitation design that is free of any wire and includes slatted wooden sides and a seven-metre high dome with double netting, to ensure the huge birds – Australia’s largest birds of prey – do not injure themselves and have room to fly. “It’s unfortunate the two Wedge-tailed Eagles
are not able to be released into the wild as they wouldn’t be able to fend for themselves based on their upbringing and injuries,” Sanctuary director Michael Johnson said. “The male wedgie was found severely underweight and begging for food on a farmer’s property, while the female was injured in an accident and required surgery to amputate two talons.” Mr Johnson said he hoped the aviary will “become a love nest if the two breed”. He said about 25 per cent of the 60 species of animals and birds at the sanctuary are endangered or threatened with extinction with the park having a major role in conservation and breeding programs. Keith Platt
A LIFE-CHANGING visit to Borneo to help rear endangered orangutans came about after a Somerville woman was asked to “do something for yourself”. Medical scientist Leonie Butler, of Somerville, said she had experienced the full “wife-mumcareer thing” when her own mother suggested she take some time off and do something she really wanted to do. That led Ms Butler to spend most of March enriching the lives of captive orangutans and sun bears at the world renowned Samboja Lestari rescue centre in East Kalimantan. The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation is a 2000 hectare restored rainforest orangutan sanctuary created to provide a safe haven for rehabilitated orangutans and provide a source of income for locals. “I’d always loved orangutans but helping them was something I’d always put on the backburner,” she said. “When I googled Great Projects they sort of jumped out at me and I spoke to [husband] Mark who said ‘You’ve got the time and the money so go for it’. “That was Cup Day last year and I booked the trip next day.” Ms Butler was among six Australians and four British to join Great Projects, a UK-based organisation using “sustainable tourism to positively impact local communities and at-risk environments to aid the conservation of endangered animals and fragile ecosystems”. Days in the rainforest were “hard but rewarding”. Ms Butler spent time making a type of porridge out of chopped bamboo and ginger leaves, and collecting reeds and peanuts which they smeared into the bamboo for the apes to eat. “We saw lots of orangutans in cages, which was quite confronting,” she said. “The cages are
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Western Port News 25 April 2017