Last weekend whilst walking along a a creek near Koorawatha one of our members came across some bailing twine tied to a log and trailing down into the creek. She decided to investigate what it was and wanted to let everyone know.

“I’ve had a sad experience over the weekend of getting my first Rakali sighting ever, unfortunately deceased in an opera house net. It appears to be a mother and offspring, based on sizes/sex etc – this was the cost of catching one small yabby. I can only hope there were other siblings around that are old enough to survive without the mother.

I thought it could now at least be something that can be shared among our Landcare network?

A reminder about the risks and impact of enclosed nets (legal or illegal), as some people really seem to forget why opera house nets are illegal to begin with, and the need to not submerge enclosed nets ……this one even had excluder rings on the entrances, so that’s also still not safe.

I thought it’s likely some people would think these were just exotic rats if they caught them too..”

Maybe you did not know that the opera house nets are now illegal as of the 30th April 2021. You can find out more here. New open top style yabbie nets are widely available and must be used instead to allow non target species to safely exit the traps. Please don’t use the closed in nets anymore.

You can also find out more about the wonderful Rakali (sometimes described as Australia’s otter) here.