Keeping the ‘wild’ in wildlife: How to safely interact with native animals

Keep food to yourself

Feed­ing wildlife might feel like a kind ges­ture, but it can actu­al­ly do more harm than good. When ani­mals become reliant on human food, it can cause them to lose their abil­i­ty to for­age for them­selves, lead­ing to mal­nu­tri­tion, dis­ease, or even aggres­sive behav­iour. Over time, this can also dis­rupt their nat­ur­al instincts and rou­tines. It’s always best to let wildlife find their own food and inter­act with their envi­ron­ment the way they’re meant to.

Hear from Ranger Steph about how we can all play our part in keep­ing our wildlife wild. 

Leave no trace

When you vis­it parks leave no trace that you were there. This means if you’ve packed your lunch for a day trip, take all pack­ag­ing and food rem­nants with you. This pre­vents ani­mals for­ag­ing and eat­ing things that don’t agree with them.

Unless the park your vis­it­ing allows it, leave your pets at home. Dogs may not only threat­en wildlife as a preda­tor, but leav­ing behind urine and poo in habi­tat can also cause stress to wildlife.

Remem­ber to stay on tracks and trails and leave habi­tat, such as veg­e­ta­tion or rocks, as they are. It’s impor­tant for wildlife to have places free from peo­ple – you wouldn’t like it if you had an unin­vit­ed vis­i­tor walk into your house and move around your things!

Keep your distance

It’s impor­tant to main­tain a safe dis­tance when you’re observ­ing wildlife. Get­ting too close or touch­ing can cause the ani­mal unnec­es­sary stress or even pro­voke defen­sive behav­iours, which can be dan­ger­ous for both you and the crea­ture. A lit­tle space and respect go a long way in ensur­ing that every­one stays safe and comfortable.

Pic­ture-per­fect moments

We all love cap­tur­ing those unfor­get­table moments in nature, espe­cial­ly when it presents some­thing tru­ly spe­cial. How­ev­er, it’s impor­tant to respect wildlife and avoid cor­ner­ing, lur­ing or star­tling ani­mals. Using an attrac­tant, such as a bait or scent lure, or mak­ing sounds, play­ing audio, or visu­al­ly dis­turb­ing ani­mals can be unethical.

Thanks to mod­ern tech­nol­o­gy, most of us can get a great shot with patience and just the zoom on our phones. If you’re real­ly inter­est­ed in wildlife pho­tog­ra­phy, you can always use a larg­er zoom lens cam­era for a clos­er view!

Remem­ber, wildlife is meant to be observed, not used as a pho­to prop. Get­ting too close for that per­fect shot can cause unnec­es­sary stress and have last­ing effects on the ani­mals. It may also pro­voke defen­sive behav­iour, putting both you and the ani­mal at risk. Always main­tain a respect­ful dis­tance between you and the ani­mal and let the wildlife be wild.

Love ani­mals? Here are some safe ways to inter­act with them:

• Vis­it Cle­land Wildlife Park: Locat­ed in the Ade­laide Hills, you can safe­ly feed some of the res­i­dent ani­mals with food that’s good for them. You can get close to kan­ga­roos, wal­la­bies and potoroos and inter­act under expert guidance.
• Wildlife-Friend­ly Gar­dens: Plant native species to attract local wildlife, pro­vid­ing shel­ter and food while ensur­ing they remain independent.
• Bird Watch­ing: Use binoc­u­lars or a zoom lens to observe birds with­out get­ting too close. You could vis­it the Ade­laide Inter­na­tion­al Bird Sanc­tu­ary – just don’t share your sandwiches!
• Guid­ed Walks: Join nature walks led by experts who know how to safe­ly observe wildlife.
• Build an Ani­mal Home: You can try your hand at build­ing a bird, pos­sum or bat box and put it in a tall tree in your gar­den to give a native ani­mal some­where safe to call home.

Respect wildlife by observ­ing from a dis­tance, not feed­ing them, and sup­port­ing their nat­ur­al behav­iours. By inter­act­ing safe­ly, we help pro­tect both ani­mals and their habi­tats for future gen­er­a­tions to enjoy.