There seems to be much excitment about the discovery of lots and lots of playtpuses at Maleny, 100 odd kms north of Brisbane, where some locals have been trying to stop the building of a Woolies for many, many months.
The ideas is that because there are Platypuses there should be no supermarket. Indeed according to ABC Online:
Opponents of the development of a major supermarket at Maleny, in south-east Queensland’s Sunshine Coast hinterland, are hailing extensive research they believe may sound the death knell for the development.
They say a team of scientists has irrefutable proof of a large colony of platypuses, living under the site and they have called on Environment Minister Desley Boyle to intervene to stop construction of the supermarket.
Under the Nature Conservation Act it is an offence to knowingly disturb a platypus habitat.
One of the scientists, Graham Kell, says more than 50 platypus burrows have been discovered on the site and all have been photographed and their location fixed by satellite tracking.
Mr Kell says it is a remarkable discovery.
“There’s a lot more activity at the proposed Woolworths site than I’ve seen in many regions before…the burrow activity at Maleny is just phenomenal,” he said.
Yeah, And isn’t the development well back from the watercourse and aren’t there platypuses in the Yarra as far downstream as the suburb of Heidelberg in Melbourne.
The idea that wild animals can’t coexist with development, and using the presence of wild animals to block development, may not be in the longer term interests of this and other platypus colonies.
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD has worked in industry and government. She is currently researching a novel technique for long-range weather forecasting funded by the B. Macfie Family Foundation.
i believe thet playpuses CANNOT live with constructed sites. i am only 15 years old but i to live in an area with 5 freshwater creeks(sydneys west) that were abundant in reptiles, amphibians and platypuses. the creeks were soo clean that people could swim in them. but that all changed and now it is devastating to face the fact that many of the native species are introuble and there has been no site of a platypuse in the are. BUT council hs done a great job in regenertaing the bushland and creeks back to their natural ways and hopefully we may be able to spot a platypuse some day.