The Bush Tucker Box

08/03/2026

Thank you to the dedicated staff, carers like myself, volunteers and the Coffs Coast Wildlife Sanctuary Rescue teams who rescue wedge-tailed shearwater fledglings during their annual migration from Muttonbird Island Nature Reserve (Giidayn Miirlarl) in Coffs Harbour.

It is extraordinary work and a powerful reminder of how important this coastline is for wildlife.

This post also highlights something incredibly important:

Each autumn, young wedge-tailed shearwaters become disoriented by artificial light from Coffs Harbour, landing exhausted on streets, carparks and roads rather than following the natural light of the moon out to sea. Many are rescued. Many are not.

Which raises a reasonable question for both environmental managers and NSW planning decision makers.

If existing light pollution already disrupts wedge-tailed shearwater fledglings, how will additional residential development and lighting proposed for the Coffs Harbour Jetty Foreshores avoid increasing this risk?

This is not merely a theoretical concern. It is something wildlife carers, NPWS staff and volunteers respond to every migration season!

It is also important to remember that the Coffs Harbour community has already expressed strong opposition to residential development in this precinct, with 69% of voters rejecting it during the 2024 council elections.

When we talk about sustainability and coastal planning, it must include the natural environment and every living thing that relies on it for survival, not only economic or real estate interests.

The Coffs Harbour Jetty Foreshores are one of the region’s most valued public spaces and sit directly beside a globally significant seabird breeding site.

Protecting that balance is not anti development.

It is simply responsible stewardship of a coastal ecosystem shared by people and wildlife.

Many people in Coffs Harbour have grown up watching the shearwaters leave Muttonbird Island each autumn. It is one of those quietly important natural rhythms that makes this coastline special.

Conversations about the future of the Coffs Harbour Jetty Foreshore therefore deserve careful public discussion grounded in science, community values and long term environmental responsibility.

And again, thank you to everyone 🙏 who spends their mornings and evenings helping these remarkable young birds find their way back to the sea. They need many more volunteers atm, so please consider volunteering, whilst also expressing concerns about further development, because if they need more volunteers now, further development will only cause further harm, needing more and more volunteers into the future reactively trying to help, a vulnerable species...💚

Sincerely,
Tracy Chapman

Research related references:

Rodríguez, A., Holmes, N. D., Ryan, P. G., et al. (2017). Artificial light at night as a threat to seabirds. Scientific Reports.

Gaston, K. J., Visser, M. E., & Hölker, F. (2015). The biological impacts of artificial light at night. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B.

Falchi, F., Cinzano, P., Duriscoe, D., et al. (2016). The new world atlas of artificial night sky brightness. Science Advances.

Bará, S., & Falchi, F. (2023). Artificial light at night: A global disruptor of the night-time environment.

NSW Department of Planning and Environment. (2025). Coffs Harbour Jetty Foreshore Precinct revitalisation.

City of Coffs Harbour. (2024). Jetty Foreshore planning proposal community consultation.

Rodríguez, A., Rodríguez, B., & Negro, J. J. (2015). Attraction of petrels and shearwaters to artificial lights.

Every autumn, wedge-tailed shearwaters begin their annual migration north from Muttonbird Island Nature Reserve (Giidayn Miirlarl) in Coffs Harbour. This is a critical time for the species, particularly for the young fledglings who will take off for the very first time 🐣

Unfortunately, these little ones face big challenges: the bright lights from Coffs Harbour can disorient them and many will be stranded in town rather than following the moonlight out to sea. This makes them vulnerable to predators and vehicles.

Which is where you come in! Alongside Coffs Coast Wildlife Sanctuary and WIRES, staff and volunteers patrol the streets every morning and night during migration period to rescue wayward birds. The birds are carefully assessed and re-released to continue their migration.

If you want to join in and help us protect this magnificent species, contact the Coffs Coast office: [email protected]

📸 T. Brewster

30/01/2026

This post comes with a tearful but incredibly important content warning:

Hurting. Depleted. Sad eyes. 😪

It matters that we actually look — right into their eyes — and sit with what this turtle endured, during and after a catastrophic injury. Not to turn away. Not to soften it. To bear witness to what she lived with, moment by moment, until she simply couldn’t any longer.

For me, this is where mindfulness stops being a lifestyle add-on and becomes something real and grounded.

The message here for all of us is simple, and it’s urgent: slow down!

Take in what’s around you. Notice where you are, what you’re doing, who else is sharing that space. Be present with your breath, your body, your choices. There are other lives moving alongside us all the time — quietly, vulnerably — whether we’re working, driving, recreating, or resting.

We are not separate from any of it. And when we carry that awareness into how we move through our days — into how we speak, what we choose professionally and privately, recreationally, and how we genuinely care — we are all better for it. Those rescuers and campers who step up with compassion? They are good, humane beings.

If we let this sad moment shape us, even quietly, then this beautiful turtle’s life — and her suffering — will not have been in vain.
RIP little one. 💚🌈

The Bush Tucker Box gives thanks to Coffs Coast Wildlife Sanctuary for the extraordinary work they do raising awareness, rescuing, rehabilitating, and providing safe care for wildlife — in ever increasing numbers. The work is largely voluntary, deeply humane, and more critical than ever.

Tax-deductible donations are essential to keeping this facility operating and able to continue this vital work for animals who have nowhere else to turn.

28/01/2026

Proactive humane-centred care is important for these vulnerable keystone species in heat events over 35-36 degrees celcius.

This is an important and positive story today from ABC SYDNEY.
Volunteers from Sydney and Canberra have travelled to Cowra in the NSW Central Tablelands to provide emergency care to a colony of more than 3,500 flying foxes.

A vet is on site at Lachlan Valley Way in an air-conditioned mobile care unit, while others are on the ground spraying the grey-headed flying foxes with water to try to keep them cool.

Temperatures in Cowra are forecast to hit 43 degrees Celsius today, and not get below 40C until Sunday.

Jessica Crause from Sydney Wildlife Rescue says the ongoing heat stress threatens the camp of mostly mothers and juveniles.

"They are unable to cope well with temperatures exceeding 40C and the cumulative effect of prolonged high temperatures is compounding," she said.

Follow the ABC News live blog here: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-28/heatwave-south-east-australia-weather-victoria-bushfires/106276290?utm_campaign=abc_news_web&utm_content=link&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_source=abc_news_web

Choose your news on the ABC NEWS app and stay in the know: https://ab.co/abcnewsapp

26/01/2026

Brilliant news. Well done Coffs Coast Wildlife Sanctuary ! 💚💜💚

This is expensive work readers! Please donate what you can to help continue this incredibly important, humane-centred work! 💚

26/01/2026

The Bush Tucker Box urgently needs your help


Posted to assist a Victorian Wildlife rescue group:

PLEASE HELP- WE NEED TO KEEP UP THE FIGHT TO RESCUE OUR WILDLIFE

DEECA is not responding to requests for information about the fate of animals on public land and parks affected by the recent catastrophic fires. Two weeks have now passed and a serious animal welfare disaster is unfolding. Their wounds will be infected, they will be in absolute agony, and they will be starving and dehydrated with their food and water source destroyed, and their injuries preventing them from searching for food and water.

Trained wildlife rescue teams remain banned from fire grounds in all public parks, including the Mt Alexander Regional Park, even if accompanied by the CFA or DEECA.
No access is allowed under any circumstances, even though the Mt Alexander Regional Park has no warnings attached to it and the fire is out.

If you have a spare 10 minutes, could you please call or email DEECA, The Environment Minister, and CC your email to your local elected shire councilors, and your local state and federal members of parliament, including Liberal, Greens and Independents.
https://www.deeca.vic.gov.au/our-department/contact-us
https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/members/steve-dimopoulos/?tab=panel-contact

Please ask the following questions.

Why cant trained fire ground wildlife volunteers access public land affected by the recent fires to search and rescue injured and orphaned wildlife, if appropriately supervised and/or assisted by DEECA? If not, under what conditions are they allowed access ?
Has there been any search and rescue operations by your department on Mount Alexander and other public parks affected by recent catastrophic fires?
If there has been, how many officers are involved and what experience and training do they have in wildlife rescue and rehabilitation? Are there any vets in attendance?
How many animals have been rescued or euthanased in the 2 weeks since the fires occurred and which shelters have they gone to?

It is a serious offense under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act to deliberately leave an injured animal to suffer without providing assistance. There are potentially thousands of animals injured and orphaned in public parks affected by the recent fires.
Are you complying with your legal requirements under this act in regard to fire affected wildlife on public land?

Due to the seriousness and urgency of this matter, please respond within 24 hours to these very important questions.

Thank you
Regards
Your Name

A man is dead, livestock has been killed, and homes lost. But there's one thing that remains unclear.

26/01/2026

The The Bush Tucker Box is holding a deep sense of grief and injustice today.

The killing of an entire pack of Dingoes on K’gari is not just tragically barbaric, disgraceful, and unacceptable. It is a national loss.

These Dingoes were doing exactly what wild Dingoes do, living within their own ecosystem, in the only home they have ever known.

Today we mourn not only a vital part of K’gari, but something fundamental within Australia itself. Ten Wongari lost, not for a proven crime, but for simply existing as nature intended. That loss cuts into the soul of this country.

Wongari are sentient beings and essential custodians of this ecosystem. They regulate balance, carry lineage, and shape the health of the land.

Choosing elimination over coexistence does not make us safer. It makes our country poorer, quieter, and less wild.

Political power wielded should never hold the fate of other living beings in its hands.

When decisions about wildlife are politically driven by fear, optics, or authority rather than evidence, ecology, and ethics, the consequences are irreversible, and unacceptable.

It is a tragedy when precaution turns into a rush to judgment and jury. To wipe out an entire pack while investigations were still unfolding represents a failure of justice for the wild. These beings had no voice, no defence, and no opportunity for evidence to guide restraint.

Even the drowning victim's own family has said they loved animals and would not have wanted the Dingoes harmed. That truth matters, and it should have mattered sooner!

Today, we mourn the fearless 10 Dingoes who paid the ultimate price for being exactly what nature shaped them to be. May they now run free beyond fear based policies and beyond systems that mistake control for care.

This moment should stop Australia in its tracks. It should compel us to ask harder questions about how we manage risk, respect wildlife, and choose coexistence over destruction. Because when we erase the wild from places it belongs, we do not just lose lives. We lose part of ourselves.

Tracy Chapman

🐾🕊️

The father of the woman killed by dingoes on K'gari said the teenager loved animals and would have been against a government cull.

24/01/2026

Heatwave Jan 25–27, 2026

Water matters at every level.
From insects, to birds, to farm animals, to wildlife.
So many living things cannot find shelter or turn on air conditioning.
They rely on us noticing. And acting.

A clean, shallow dish of water.

A topped up bowl.

A quick check of water troughs.

Small, ordinary actions save lives.
This is humane living in practice.
Every one of us can do something. 💚

24/01/2026

Tools for humane living 💧🦎🕊️

Critter ladders × 4 for our pool.

A simple tool that helps insects, reptiles, birds, and small-medium mammals climb out if they fall into pools when no humans are around.

So much of the harm caused to animals isn’t intentional. It’s the by-product of how we live, build, and relax. That’s why I’m always looking for small, practical ways to reduce risk and extend care beyond ourselves.
This little ladder is right up there.
Low effort. High impact. Humane by design.
..Because being the best humane beings we can be often comes down to the quiet choices no one sees. 💚

I purchased our families from:

https://www.pestrol.com.au/buy-online/animal-pool-lifesaver/

This company also sells horrific glue pest traps - if you let them know they should be banned, I'd be grateful.
I bought them from this site as superior quality compared to other's on the market that break down quickly and become toxic waste.

19/01/2026

The Coffs Coast Wildlife Sanctuary could do with your support this weekend. 💚

💚 Coffs Coast Wildlife Sanctuary Yard Sale 💚

65 Orlando Street Coffs Harbour

This weekend only! 🎉

Shop sustainably and support wildlife rescue 🐢🐬
Clothing, homewares, pet items & loads of high-quality goodies!

🛍️ BYO bags
🌿 Inside the Sanctuary garden
🎟️ Free entry to the yard sale
⏰ 8am–12pm (both days)
👉 Animal viewing is extra cost

Come grab a bargain and help protect our precious wildlife 💚

18/01/2026

Important we all have our say in ways that clearly communicate one's position. It's no surprise to anyone that knows me, that I'm all for this "koala park" because it's so much more than 1 species...it's for all of us. It's for all species and their ecosystems-the unseen, unheard, the large, the small - biodiversity grandiosity in all its important glory.

Precautionary Principled, intergenerationally and culturally significant, and deeply humane-centred.

Whether you agree or not, your insight, opinion, ideas are all important at this moment, so do us all a favour and impart it on the link below. You have until March 1st, 2026:

https://www.haveyoursay.nsw.gov.au/great-koala-national-park

NPWS

12/01/2026

Fishing lines easily become snagged, they're then cut, and discarded.

Discarded fishing lines are DEADLY for wildlife!

Please share this important news story widely.