A local’s photo of a darter with a plastic bag trapped around its beak has again raised concern over pollution affecting the vulnerable Peel-Harvey Catchment.
Bill King, who runs and organises the community clean-up program at St Ives Retirement Village in Greenfields, managed to get a photo of the darter in a nearby tree.
“It was in Riverside Gardens, so across the other side of the Serpentine River,” Mr King said.
“There was no chance of me climbing the tree to rescue it.
“I sent the letter of to Keep Australia Beautiful, because I’m a litter reporter and have been for years.”
Mr King said over his time monitoring pollution in St Ives and the river, the number of plastic bags and other detritus has increased.
“I just can’t believe someone would be so darn irresponsible,” Mr King said.
“It looks like there’s something in the bag, and i think what’s happened is the darter’s dived down to get something to eat, and it’s picked up the bag on its way down.
“I would doubt whether the poor thing is even alive now.”
Mr King is also a member of Birdlife Australia and the local bird observation group, a fact he said makes it particularly heartbreaking.
“We go out once a month to do an atlas count of birds in a particular area,” he said.
“That Friday we had our excursion down at the riverside. I walk down there quite often and also around the reserve with my camera, i’m always looking for that special shot of a bird.”
Peel Harvey Catchment Council (PHCC), the area’s peak government-funded environmental body, said they hear of such cases anecdotally, with Mandurah’s various animal rescue groups often strained to attempt rescues, especially on birds.
“Examples of stories we have heard of are entanglement of birds and dolphins with fishing line and birds with plastic bags including bait bags,” PHCC science adviser Steve Fisher said.
“People should report incidents like these to the Department of Parks and Wildlife who work closely others, including the Mandurah Seabird Rescue group.”
