As Bandicoot begin to encroach on residential areas, the small marsupial has been put in greater danger according to wildlife carer and Mandurah Just Joey Marsupial Care co-founder Dot Terry.
Ms Terry has had to care of bandicoots that were on the verge of death after being bitten and scratched by household pets.
She pleaded with the community to lock up their cats and dogs at night, in order to save the small marsupial.
“We have a very good bandicoot population but it seems to be in the built-up areas instead of the areas they should be in, which is sad,” she said.
“They’re now roaming closer to residential properties and quite often they’ll go into them.
“We don’t want pets to roam outside their properties because that way then there’s less danger for them.
“It’s bad enough bandicoots have to face foxes occasionally, as well.
“Luckily at the moment they numbers are fine but if this keeps up their numbers will be depleted, so we just need people with pets to be a bit more aware.”
Recently Ms Terry has been looking after a family of bandicoots that were attacked by a dog.
She said a woman had taken a mother bandicoot and her five joeys to a Greenfields vet after her dog attacked them.
The vet then passed the mother onto Mandurah Just Joey Marsupial Care.
“We had a call from the vet and we had it picked up and brought out here,” she said.
“They didn’t expect that the mother would live but they wanted me to save the babies.
“I saved the mother over a series of days and now she’s quite mended and looking after her babies by herself.
“People need to know that their dogs will chase them, because the bandicoot will run.
“They’ll chase and when they get to the end of that chase, they’ll attack.
“Especially bigger dogs, they will shake them and rip all their flesh.
“They will either kill them or they will need veterinary care urgently.
“The best thing is for people to keep an eye out that their dog isn’t roaming.
“If they do have bandicoots that come into the yard they need to try and block off where they’re coming in so the dogs in their yard aren’t going to kill them.”
She said cats posed just as much risk as dogs.
“When have received bandicoots with cat attacks too,” she said.
She said people also had to be viglant while driving at night and in the early morning.
The family has since been released in Dawesville and were monitored days after their release to ensure they survive.
Mandurah Just Joey Marsupial Care look after possums, kangaroos, chuditch, quoll, banicoot and phascogales.
If you see a young marsupial in danger please call Ms Terry on 0409 734 125 (Mandurah) or Trish Dixon on 0407 251 140 (Rockingham-Baldivis).
For more information about the service visit their Facebook page.