Injured wildlife and vehicle collisions
Have you found an injured or orphaned native animal?
Recording wildlife and vehicle collisions
Vehicle collisions with wildlife are distressing. Council is seeking to gather records of collisions to better understand which animals are being impacted, high collision zones and wildlife movement patterns.
To assist with this initiative we have set up the Surf Coast Shire Wildlife Road Toll project on iNaturalist.
iNaturalist is a free App you can use on your phone and/or laptop and/or desktop computer. Anyone can join for free and add records.
User instructions
Download iNaturalist from your app store.
Create an account to enable you to add records. You will need:
- a valid email address
- to makeup a Username (the public will see this so use a name you are happy to share)
- pick a Password of at least six characters
Agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and respond to the Consent questions.
Join the Surf Coast Shire Wildlife Road Toll Project:
- go to the Projects tab or section
- tap on the magnifying glass icon to open the project search
- type in Surf Coast Shire Wildlife Road Toll
- Tap on “Join”
Now you are ready to add your observations.
Your safety is the most important thing so only make an observation if it safe for you to park your car and take a photo. If you have agreed to allow iNaturalist to access your location and date and time, all you have to do initially is take a photo and you can fill in the observation fields and upload your record when you have time. If it is safe and you have the time you can make your observation on site. See the full iNaturalist guides here How to Make an Observation : iNaturalist Help (freshdesk.com)
Steps to make an observation:
- Tab Observe or use the + Sign
- Take or add a photo recently taken
- Select the Tick if you are happy with the photo
- Choose an identification. You can start typing in a species if you know what it is or check the suggestions. If you don’t know the species it doesn’t matter. You can select a general category such as Birds or Kangaroos.
- When you saw it should be added automatically.
- Where should be added automatically. If not check the Privacy in the Settings app
- Add to project If you have already joined the Surf Coast Shire Wildlife Road Toll project you should be able to select to add your observation to this project
- Save/upload through the Tick.
There are no easy solutions to wildlife vehicle collisions but better data may help in trialling different approaches.