Protecting our wildlife

Our campus grounds are home to a wide range of native wildlife.

We're committed to fostering and protecting native species with natural habitats that provide natural food sources.

Most of the time, animals and humans co-exist peacefully. Occasionally, the balance is disrupted. When this happens, animals can become:

• overly dominant or assertive, especially when food is involved. This most often happens with birds, including crows and ibisises, both of which are prevalent in many areas of South East Queensland.
• sick, injured or orphaned, and might need our help.

We can all play our part in protecting native species on campus.

Injured wildlife

If you find a sick, injured or orphaned animal on campus:

• Assess whether the animal needs rescuing, is in immediate danger, sick or injured. Young birds found on the ground are often still being cared for by their parents.
• Do not attempt to handle animals, especially ones that can cause serious injury or disease such as bats or snakes.
• Do not offer food or water as feeding an animal in shock can be fatal.

Outside business hours and for all other campuses and sites, contact the RSPCA or a local wildlife carer organisation.

Wildlife hospitals and carers

• RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals)
• Brisbane Area Rescue Network (BARN)
• Bat Conservation and Rescue Queensland
• Pelican and Seabird Rescue
• Reptile Rehabilitation Queensland Inc.

Help keep wildlife safe

We can all do our part to help protect and prevent issues with wildlife on our campuses:

• Don't feed the wildlife. Feeding native animals can cause them to become dependent on your food source. This means they can become aggressive towards people as they lose their ability to forage for natural foods and instead learn to achieve a food reward through attacking and taking food.
• Dispose of food scraps in appropriate bins. Even if you don’t intentionally feed the wildlife, leaving scraps lying around can also provide a source of food if the animals are able to easily access these scraps.
• Never feed introduced animals, either. This includes animals such as feral cats, which you may encounter from time to time. Feeding these animals increases their longevity and population size with devastating impacts on native species.
• Dispose of all rubbish thoughtfully and don’t litter. In addition to food scraps, plastics and other rubbish can cause harm to wildlife if they are ingested, become tangled around animals’ bodies, or interfere with their living spaces and sources of food and water.
• Respect the animals’ environment. Where possible, try to move to a different area – or avoid known problem areas – when incidents with wildlife or other animals occur. Try to maintain a distance from any young chicks and their parents, so you don't cause undue stress or inadvertent separation. Don't strike out at or otherwise attempt to physically deter or remove the animals from your presence.

Report a safety concern or injury

If you're injured following a wildlife encounter, want to report a safety concern or need any immediate assistance, contact Security.

If you're a staff member, contact your Health Safety and Wellness representative to log a UQSafe incident.

What we do when problems arise

Many of the wildlife on our campuses are protected species. Under the Nature Conservation Act 1992, there are laws around what we are all allowed to do, and how we must manage and interact with Australian native wildlife and protected species.

When we become aware of safety concerns or other problems with wildlife on our campuses, we do our best to restore the balance in that environment. We will always try to:

• erect signs and distribute warning messages when we're aware of aggressive or difficult wildlife (particularly birds). Be mindful of any signage and follow the instructions provided. If you notice wildlife is becoming a problem in a dining area, we also provide stickers that can be placed on tables alerting people to this fact
• bring in external wildlife experts and, in some cases, enact wildlife management plans to potentially relocate problematic populations to other sites (either on our grounds or elsewhere) that are safe and able to support the introduction of the native species
• manage populations of invasive or introduced species using appropriate, humane and legally sanctioned methods of animal management.