{"id":848772,"date":"2026-08-09T05:16:33","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T05:16:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/848772\/"},"modified":"2026-08-09T05:16:33","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T05:16:33","slug":"cockburn-calls-for-volunteers-to-track-and-protect-vulnerable-turtles-this-nesting-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/848772\/","title":{"rendered":"Cockburn calls for volunteers to track and protect vulnerable turtles this nesting season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">Cockburn\u2019s passionate turtle protectors are gearing up for the incoming nesting season, and will be volunteering at 10 major lakes to track the near-threatened reptile population.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">Tracking season begins on September 1, with a series of turtle information pop ups and special training sessions. So far, more than 120 people have attended the pop ups and about 80 have registered for the training, which will be held on August 9, 12 and 16.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">Volunteers will this year expand their tracking reach to cover Bibra Lake, Boodjar Mooliny, Eco Lake, Harmony Lake, Jubilee Park, Little Rush lake, Manning Lake, Market Garden Swamp, Tapper Lake and Yangebup Lake.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">The Wetlands Conservation Society and Walliabup Wildlife Warriors will also run their first collaborative trial coordinating volunteer teams across the city.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ddb0049cfb5e1be8269763021961451e23681069.jpg\" alt=\"Cockburn environmental education officer Vicky Hartill is encouraging the Cockburn community to show up for near-threatened local turtle population.\" class=\"css-16r7l45-StyledImage en5ut4d0\"\/>Camera IconCockburn environmental education officer Vicky Hartill is encouraging the Cockburn community to show up for near-threatened local turtle population. Credit: Ramiro Larguia<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">\u201cWe began tracking our nesting turtles eight years ago and in that time our volunteers have protected 835 nests, which is a valiant effort,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">\u201cBeginning at Bibra Lake, we gradually expanded to Manning Park, and then Cockburn\u2019s other lakes where nesting females routinely leave the water in search of the right soil to lay their eggs each September to January.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">\u201cIt\u2019s been gratifying to witness the community come on board with us over the years with interest growing as we all band together to try to ensure our turtles can access safe habitats to help support this vulnerable population.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">Volunteers watch over the nesting turtles while they are vulnerable, and aim to allow them to continue their natural behaviour without facing the dangers posed by roads, pets, feral predators and climate change. Physically touching the turtles is a last resort safety option.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">Last year a record 2815 volunteer tracking hours were achieved, the highest of any community or local government tracking team working within the Saving Our Snake-Necked Turtle program in WA.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">The team of 96 volunteers protected 358 nests, and the program is expected to continue growing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">\u201cThis season we are looking forward to partnering with resident, friend and community groups to strengthen and expand local turtle tracking teams and will continue to work with WA Wildlife and The Wetlands Centre Cockburn to offer conservation and education programs,\u201d Ms Hartill said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cockburn\u2019s passionate turtle protectors are gearing up for the incoming nesting season, and will be volunteering at 10&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":848773,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[1313,64,63,155775,75,44,46,128,8080,45,338],"class_list":["post-848772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-animals","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cockburn","tag-environment","tag-news","tag-perth","tag-science","tag-south","tag-wa-news","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848772","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=848772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848772\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/848773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=848772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=848772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=848772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}