Residents in Mandurah’s south asked to look out for ringtail possums in annual survey

Residents in Mandurah’s south are being asked to look out for ringtail possums as part of an annual survey to help researchers find out more information about their local distribution.

The Western Ringtail Possum 2024 Autumn Tally began on April 7 and invites residents in the Peel region to act as citizen scientists and record sightings of the possums over a 30-minute timeframe.

The tally, co-ordinated locally by Wirambi Landcare, aims to gather knowledge and data to get a picture of the critically endangered species’ distribution.

Wirambi Landcare’s head of landcare, research supervisor and volunteer co-ordinator Jason Bird said those getting involved could help out from their own backyard.

“It’s only for 30 minutes and it’s when the sun goes down, so you can do it from your own backyard,” he said.

“Or when you’re walking the dog, you can count any ringtails you see down the local reserve and it can be once a week or twice a week — it doesn’t need to be every single night for the month.”

Mr Bird said this year they were particularly needing tallies from Bouvard and Dawesville to gauge local populations after previous years showed a decline in numbers.

He said the decline could mean the population was dwindling, or it could be because less people were taking part in the survey and less sightings were being recorded.

“We’re trying to get as many people out there counting ringtails in those suburbs for us because, hopefully this year and the following year, we won’t see a decline,” Mr Bird said.

“It might have just been a one-off event.

“We want to try and establish that this isn’t a species decline trend — if it is still that same trend after three years we do have a serious issue, being that they are critically endangered.

“It’s such an isolated population; we just want to try and identify is it just Bouvard-Dawesville or expanding ... in the surrounding suburbs as well.”

Mr Bird said people could create safe spaces for possums to live in their backyards by planting peppermint trees, tuarts or acacias and hanging up water containers in trees.

The tally finishes on May 4, with completed data sheets required to be submitted by May 31.

For more information or to receive a tally sheet, email wrtp.wirambi@gmail.com.