REPORTING A PLATYPUS SIGHTING

Platypus are challenging animals to study in the wild.  They are also relatively difficult to spot because of their quiet, retiring nature and mostly nocturnal habits.  Accordingly, if you have ever seen a platypus in the wild (either alive or dead), you possess information that is vital to our understanding of the status, distribution and conservation needs of platypus.

Therefore, please consider reporting the details of your sighting(s) to Platypus Care.

The information that you provide will be maintained in a secure database and used only for conservation purposes.  Sharing knowledge about where platypus occur will not cause any problems for the animals.  Fortunately, platypus are themselves not a problem to anyone and have no commercial value.  Accordingly, the commonest problem facing platypus conservation is human ignorance, starting with the fact that people may be completely unaware that their actions can have an impact on platypus living in the area.

Your contact details will be kept strictly confidential and will not be released to a third party under any circumstances.

If you would like to submit a report to Platypus Care, please follow the steps outlined below.

(1) Select how you would like to complete the platypus sighting report:
        (a) Fill in the form online
        (b) Download a copy of the form to your own computer

(2)    If you have seen platypus in more than one waterway, please complete a report form for each location (or section of waterway) where you have observed the species.

(3)    Contact details.  Please fill in this section of the form just in case we need to clarify some aspect of your report.  All personal details will remain completely confidential (see above).

(4)    When were platypus seen?  Please give the date(s) of your sighting(s) (approximate if you are not sure of the exact details).

(5)    Location details.  Describe the location (or section of waterway) where you have seen the platypus in terms of the distance/direction to nearby named landmarks (bridges, roads, national park boundaries, town centres, mountains, other waterways located upstream or downstream, etc.).  It will help to include a map grid reference (for example, obtained from your regional CFA Rural Directory), but do not worry if this is not possible.

If there is any additional details about your sighting(s) that you would like to tell us about, please tell send an email, fax or letter.

(6)    Other information.  please tell us if there are any additional details about your sighting(s) that you think would be useful.

(7)    To send your completed form online, simply click on Submit.

If you have chosen to download the form to your own computer, you can either fill out the form on your screen, save the completed form as a Word document, and then send an email to platypus.apc@westnet.com.au with the report form sent as an attached document or print off and post /fax the completed form to:
 

Australian Platypus Conservancy
Box 22
Wiseleigh VIC 3885
Tel: (03) 5157 5568
Email: platypus.apc@westnet.com.au

On behalf of the platypus, thanks very much for contributing to Platypus Care.