{"id":46975,"date":"2025-08-06T04:35:14","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T04:35:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/46975\/"},"modified":"2025-08-06T04:35:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T04:35:14","slug":"new-96000-fence-to-save-little-penguins-from-bass-highway-deaths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/46975\/","title":{"rendered":"New $96,000 fence to save little penguins from Bass Highway deaths"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new $96,000 barrier along Tasmania\u2019s Bass Highway is set to save little penguins from becoming roadkill after years of heartbreaking losses at Lillico Beach.<\/p>\n

The Friends of Lillico Penguins have swapped out a crumbling 26-year-old fence for a taller, bright blue barrier that now stretches 2km between Don and Leith.<\/p>\n

The upgrade comes after reports of up to 20 penguins being killed on the road each year.<\/p>\n

The group said the old fence had turned into a death trap, with gaps and damage that allowed the protected seabirds to wander onto the highway.<\/p>\n

\"\"Little penguins nest at Lillico Beach. Image \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is great news for the upcoming and future penguin breeding season,\u201d the group said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fence will stop penguins waddling onto the highway and in harms way of car strikes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"The previous 26-year-old fence has been replaced with a blue alternative<\/p>\n

Locals have long raised concerns, with the organisation receiving frequent calls from people distressed about penguins on the road or finding dead birds along the route.<\/p>\n

The project was funded through Wildcare Tasmania\u2019s Nature Conservation Fund, with extra backing from the Peter Nelson Foundation, WIRES Australia and Botanical Resources Australia.<\/p>\n

The new barrier is anchored securely to stop animals burrowing underneath and its design blocks penguins from slipping through. <\/p>\n

Crews have also cleared vegetation and debris that could help wildlife climb over.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease note that other wildlife still use the highway and its shoulders as habitat and a corridor, so reducing vehicle speed between dusk and dawn and always appreciated,\u201d the group said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new $96,000 barrier along Tasmania\u2019s Bass Highway is set to save little penguins from becoming roadkill after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46976,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[64,63,128,338],"class_list":{"0":"post-46975","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46975\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}