One of WA’s largest wildlife rescues says South West expansion could be possible with community support

One of Western Australia’s leading wildlife rescue groups could expand to the South West if the community supported its program.

WA Seabird Rescue is one of the State’s leading animal rescue organisations with volunteers helping rescue entangled birds across the coastline.

However, with a primarily metropolitan-based volunteer group and a significant proportion of its rescues coming from built-up areas, it currently spans only Perth to Mandurah with pockets of rescuers in the regions.

Earlier this month, two British travellers passing through the South West found a cormorant wrapped in fishing line, caught in hooks and trying to eat a plastic lure.

After a full day of waiting, due to the lack of available rescuers and resources, the pair took it upon themselves to rescue the bird and take it to a vet where it was euthanised.

For WA Seabird Rescue secretary Matt Watson, this is the kind of event he and the team were aiming to never see happen again.

“Aspirationally, any seabird or waterbird within WA that gets raised as a kind of concern — whether it’s an entanglement, illness or injury — we want to be able to respond within the day and get a rescuer out to have a look at the bird,” he said.

While Mr Watson said it was unlikely the group would be able to offer that service for all areas of the State, he is hopeful the service could expand to the South West as a priority hotspot.

“Busselton Jetty is case in point,” he said.

“Busselton has a fantastic resource with a jetty there, but with it comes a risk of snagging your line or directly capturing seabirds. We definitely think that there could be potential to increase our ability to rescue birds there.

“If we do expand we want to do it in a methodical way which doesn’t expose us to unnecessary risks or having rescuers poorly trained.

“We do inductions twice yearly and we are happy to work with regional rangers to provide regional training — whether that’s through online portals or sending some of our volunteers managers down into these more remote locations.

“It has been done in the past and we’ll be keen to do it again in the future if there’s public interested in doing so.”

Mr Watson said as well as its on-the-ground rescuers, people with back-of-house expertise and to answer the phone were also needed.

He said protecting wildlife was everyone’s responsibility, but fishers especially needed to be more aware.

“Over a third of all of our rescues are linked to fishing entanglements, and some birds are much more vulnerable than others,” Mr Watson said.

“We certainly aren’t anti-fishing, but we see that there is an ability to balance both the needs of recreational fishers and the wildlife and we encourage seabird-smart fishing techniques when fishing.

“The most important thing is that if you do encounter an entangled bird don’t cut the line, because when you cut it, it just becomes incredible difficulty for our rescuers to go and rescue those birds.”

If you encounter an entangled bird, contact WASR on (08) 6102 8464.