Perth's first possum rope bridge across Beeliar Drive to offer a lifeline to wildlife

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A rope bridge is being hailed as a breakthrough to prevent native possums being killed by both predators and heavy traffic at one of Perth's most sensitive wetlands.

Key points: The brushtail possums' native habitat was severed when Beeliar Drive was built

The rope bridge is designed to protect possums from both vehicles and predators

The 6.3m bridge — the first in Perth — will span two large trees along the road

In a first for Perth, a cable-tensioned rope net will be strung across a busy road that severed the native habitat of brushtail possums when it was built in the 1990s.

The City of Cockburn said a recent tracking program found very high numbers of possums living around Kogolup Lake, but very few across the northern side of the road at Yangebup Lake in Beeliar Regional Park.

The city's environmental officer, Sophia Wright, said the aim of the bridge was also to increase the long-term survival of the species by dispersing their population.

"The road is a major issue for the population of possums to move freely between the two reserves," she said.

"We are experiencing instances where possums have been run over by vehicles."

Ms Wright said the 6.3-metre bridge would be hooked between two large trees on a crest along Beeliar Drive.

"The possums can safely enter on to the bridge and exit off without needing to go down to the ground, where they can be predated on by foxes, cats and dogs," she said.

"It might take a little while for them to get familiar with it and understand what the structure is, but hopefully within a couple of years we'll be able to see the possums moving between the two reserves using the bridge safely."

Animal bridge crossings are not uncommon in country areas of Australia and there are several already operating in WA's South West.

"They have proven to be quite successful so we have high hopes for our possum bridge here in Perth as well," Ms Wright said.

Safe passage to a new home

Bibra Lake-based wildlife rehabilitation group Native Arc said it had treated more than 30 injured possums from the local area in the past 18 months.

"The majority of those were from predator attacks or from vehicle accidents and a lot of those were female possums with joeys," rehabilitation coordinator Karen Clarkson said.

"The bridge will absolutely reduce the injury rate and death rate of possums in the area."

Ms Clarkson said possums were extremely territorial and did not like being stuck in small areas of habitat.

"Once they've started breeding … there's not enough room for the possums to expand and it becomes increasingly difficult for the males, who are very, very territorial," she said.

"Sometimes they will actually fight to the death in order to maintain their own territory and population.

"By opening it up with a bridge, that provides a safe passage and another large area of habitat that we can get the possums to move into.

"During the night they'll spend a reasonable amount of time on the ground foraging and that's when they're likely to get attacked by predators and struck by vehicles."

In a similar fashion to possum bridges in WA South West towns of Dunsborough and Busselton, the Perth bridge will be fitted with motion sensors and cameras.

"We'd also like to install a microchip reader on the bridge itself so we will be able to track the movements of the possum between the two reserves," Ms Wright said.

Ongoing research by the University of Western Australia monitors the movements of the critically endangered western ringtail possums across the bridges in the South West.



Highway bridge to mimic natural environment

In another first for Perth, a bridge specifically catering for wildlife crossings is being built near the northern Perth suburb of Ellenbrook as part of a $1.12 billion extension of Tonkin Highway.

The 12-metre-wide bridge will be off limits to humans and will be covered in trees, shrubs and bushes that mimic the natural environment.

A spokesman for Main Roads WA said the crossing would allow native animals to move through the natural corridors they have always used, while the 110-kilometre-per-hour Mitchell Freeway runs beneath.

The bridge will be completed in September.

Topics: animals, conservation, urban-development-and-planning, perth-6000, wa, dunsborough-6281, busselton-6280, beeliar-6164