Victorian Natives

13/09/2024

Antechinus Twerking.
This video shows a Yellow-footed Antechinus waving its bottom in the air or 'Twerking', this is a behaviour we have noticed quite often in Autumn and early Winter.

Antechinus TwerkingThis video shows a Yellow-footed Antechinus waving its bottom in the air or 'Twerking', this is a behaviour we have noticed quite often in...

11/09/2024

84-year-old Violet Town woman Dorothy Sloan was found guilty in July 2024 of more than 70 offences including poisoning wildlife, animal cruelty, and wildlife possession. A Northern Victorian court heard on Friday, when she was due to be sentenced, that she has died, with the magistrate striking out the three-year-long case.
The magistrate found that Ms Sloan had admitted she poisoned birds, had a wrongly held belief that eagles killed lambs at her property, and that she and others purchased the type of poison which killed the birds. He also noted that poison had been found in bird, sheep, and kangaroo carcasses at the property, and that she had lied to officers about having any knowledge of dead wildlife on the property.
On Wednesday, July 24, Magistrate David Faram found her guilty on all charges. In the hearing, Sloan also pleaded guilty to 26 charges of wildlife possession, including four kangaroo joeys and 22 birds, mainly galahs, cockatoos and ducks, which were found in a freezer in her house.
The birds had all been shot. The case came about after carcasses of 271 dead birds and animals — most of which were wedge-tailed eagles or other birds of prey — were found in 2019 during an investigation into the poisoning of the birds in the Violet Town and Earlston areas.

84-year-old Violet Town woman Dorothy Sloan was found guilty in July 2024 of more than 70 offences including poisoning wildlife, animal cruelty, and wildlife...

28/07/2024

Finally, after nearly10 years of knowing that our Birds of Prey were being killed, someone has been found guilty.
From the Shepparton News Newspaper 25th July 2024:
Dorothy Sloan, 84, from near Violet Town, was found guilty of baiting Wedge-tailed Eagles and other birds of prey using other dead birds and animals doused with a chemical generally used on crops. In the nine-day hearing — which ended in December — Sloan pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of killing wildlife by poison — including baiting 23 medium-sized raptors and 11 wedge-tailed eagles. She also pleaded not guilty to seven counts of aggravated cruelty that resulted in the deaths of six wedge-tailed eagles and a whistling kite because of a poisoned bait, and five counts of possessing protected wildlife.
On Wednesday, July 24, Magistrate David Faram found her guilty on all charges. In the hearing, Sloan also pleaded guilty to 26 charges of wildlife possession, including four kangaroo joeys and 22 birds, mainly galahs, cockatoos and ducks, which were found in a freezer in her house. The birds had all been shot.
The case came about after carcasses of 271 dead birds and animals — most of which were wedge-tailed eagles or other birds of prey — were found in 2019 during an investigation into the poisoning of the birds in the Violet Town and Earlston areas. Veterinary pathologist Lydia Marwood told the court most of the birds that were found dead on the Sloan property had died between 2011 and 2019. The charges Sloan faced did not relate to all the bird deaths, only those that died from July 2019 onwards. All of the dead birds were either on Sloan’s property or on other properties that bordered the Sloan land.
Mr Faram said an illegal baiting program was taking place on the 750 hectare Sloan farm — which mainly ran sheep — and the evidence was that all of the birds of prey died of poisoning. The court heard that Sloan baited the eagles and other raptors using other dead birds that had been infused with a pesticide generally used on crops, but that was poisonous to birds and animals and would result in their deaths within hours. The magistrate accepted that the birds did not die of natural causes. Mr Faram said that while he was “unable to conclude” that Sloan was solely responsible for the offending, he was satisfied that if she didn’t do the poisoning herself she “intentionally assisted or encouraged”, and therefore could be found guilty of the charges as she had been complicit. In reaching this determination, Mr Faram said he took into account historical admissions that Sloan poisoned birds, that she wrongly held beliefs that eagles killed her lambs, and that she and other family members bought the type of poison which killed the birds. He also said poison was found in bird, sheep and kangaroo carcasses that had been butchered across her property, and that Sloan had in her freezer the same type of birds that were identified as bait birds in the paddocks.

27/07/2024

I also made a short video of our lovely little Painted Button-quails

26/07/2024

It is wonderful to remember our beautiful Bush Stone-curlew chicks. We were very excited when we saw this video, as we never saw any chicks with our own eyes.

25/07/2024

This next YouTube short shows one of our many stunning Lace Monitors, it is great to see it so Close-up.

21/07/2024

This is second one.

21/07/2024

Here are 2 more, we hope you enjoy them. It is great to share some of the thousands of videos we have collected over the last 10 years.

20/07/2024

It is wonderful to have these beautiful creatures on our property.

20/07/2024

Here are 2 more short videos, one is about our endangered Owls and the other shows our beautiful Sand Goannas. Hope you enjoy them.