Blue-tongue lizards were once the lords of Sydney’s backyards, but high-density development is banishing them to the city’s fringe.
Wildlife groups are reporting that blue-tongues and other natives, such as the tawny frogmouth, are being pushed to the edge of the city by more intense development and higher human population density.
”Even 10 years ago so many backyards had a blue-tongue but nowadays, due to snail baits and dogs and cats, you hardly see them any more – it’s a highlight if you do see one,” the general manager of the Australian Reptile Park, Mary Rayner, said.
”Some day people are just going to turn around and realise they haven’t seen one for five years and they will wonder where they’ve gone.”
The reptile park, in Gosford, is running an ”endangered species month”, with daily exhibitions featuring native animals that are under threat.
Blue-tongues are not yet classified as endangered but observers agree populations are thinning out.
The WIRES native animal rescue service said its reports in the past two decades showed that native animals had been attacked by cats 34,363 times and by dogs 16,885 times since 1991 in NSW.
The NSW Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water said healthy blue-tongue populations survived in pockets of bushland.
”[Yet] urbanisation, loss of backyard habitat and predation from family pets continue to have an impact on blue-tongue lizards and other animals across the greater metropolitan area,” James Dawson, of the department’s biodiversity conservation section, said.
“While there is increasing pressure on these animals and numbers are difficult to ascertain, there are things people can do to encourage wildlife in their backyards.”
The department recommends leaving at least part of a garden in a relatively natural state, with logs and rocks resting on the ground and bushy shrubs to provide cover for small animals.
Instead of snail baits, which are toxic to many other animals too, people can use slug traps or physical barriers made up of sawdust, grit or eggshells.