May 24th, 2025Hepburn Wildlife News
with Marita McGuirk
As the weather becomes cooler and fire bans are lifted, we start to notice a faint smell of smoke in the air as people begin to burn off leaf litter and branches that they may have had in piles for many months. They may also be carrying out fuel reduction burns of roadsides, gullies and paddocks.
An important fact to keep in mind when planning your burn, is that animals often make their home in piles of leaves and branches.
Birds such as pardalotes will build nests amongst the branches. Lizards will readily live in the thermally protected piles of leaves, not to mention all the insects that will be living in these leaf and branch stacks.
Echidnas are one of the animals that will make a home for themselves and their young (called puggles) in piles of leaves and branches.
So, if your stack has been in place for a few months, it is a very good idea to move it before you set it on fire. This will give all the animals that have made it their home a chance to avoid being burnt.
The echidna which is recovering at the Hepburn Wildlife Shelter was found in a private garden beside a block that had been burnt to reduce the fuel load.
The echidna has burns to its back and side and was thin and dehydrated when found. Gayle Chappell is optimistic about its chances of recovering.
Gayle tells me that there is a myth that echidnas can bury themselves and avoid being burnt in a fire.
When echidnas are frightened, they will bury themselves in leaves and softer soil around trees. The problem is that the leaves and organic matter in the soil will burn and the quills (spines) on the echidna will also burn.
Echidna quills are hollow and when they are exposed to fire, they become super-heated. The heat travels down the quill and into the muscle tissue causing severe damage.
Unless the echidna can bury itself under many centimetres of soil and the soil does not contain any organic matter that will burn and the fire is not very intense, it will be burnt in a fire.
If the echidna can take shelter totally underground, it can survive a fire. But this is not the case for echidnas that are caught above ground when people burn off.
Hepburn Wildlife News with Marita McGuirk Gayle and Jon at the Hepburn Wildlife Shelter have treated many animals that have been burnt by fire.
Please take care and consider the animals when conducting your fuel reduction burns and burn-offs around your property.
Dr Marita McGuirk is a field ecologist and environmental scientist, and a volunteer at the Hepburn Wildlife Shelter. Marita will write monthly columns about the shelter and the animals it cares for. If you would like to donate or volunteer, or just to find out more information, head to www.hepburnwildlifeshelter.org
Article sponsored by The Local Publishing Group
