A local contractor found two dead platypus within a couple of days last week on causeways in Upper Wilsons Creek.
They were healthy looking juveniles with no sign of injury. There would undoubtedly have been other dead platypus he didn’t find.
Coincidentally in the previous week, Council staff/contractors were injecting glyphosate (Round-up) into Coral trees along the length of the watercourse.
Their dead leaves have been dropping into the creek. Perhaps insect larvae feeding on these leaves have been falling into the water too.
Platypus eat enormous amounts of insect larvae. Maybe there is a particular insect in larval stage at this time of the year. Or it may just be a co-incidence.
Monsanto says glyphosate is mammal and insect ‘safe’, but I can see online there is some debate about this.
If anyone knows what might have caused a platypus kill, it would be in everyone’s interest to let Council know.
There may not be a single living platypus left in Upper Wilsons Creek.
Michael Balson, Upper Wilsons Creek
With the emphasis on the Bentley action a number of locals have taken their eye off what is happening in our own back-yard where increased herbicide use is very visible. How BSC and land-care can continue spraying next to drains and water courses is beyond me. See Huonbrook Road.
Growing evidence from around the world has found glyphosate (round-up) is not as innocent as it has been sold to us by the makers. More countries are either banning or phasing out its use as more impacts on human health becomes evident. If its impacting on us then it must be destroying a lot of fauna we can not see. If an injection of a herbicide can kill a tree then its killing a lot else and it is now proven that many insects and birds and butterflies have adapted to coral and camphor trees after us humans removed their original food sources
. Platypus forage along the edges of creeks.