Rapid industrialization and urbanization has seen many animals forced to flee from their natural habitats and we can only imagine what the impact of these shifts in ecosystem dynamics will be in the future.
Several thousands of native animals were moved to safety from their home in Western Australia because a new Chevron gas processing plant will start construction. All sorts of creatures from termites and worms to lizards, snakes, and mice were moved to an area about 10km outside the construction site.
During construction of Chevron's massive gas processing facility, 12 kilometres from the tiny town of Onslow, just over 30,000 animals were salvaged from the 1,000 hectare site at the top of Exmouth Gulf.
Graham Thompson, partner and principal zoologist at Terrestrial Ecosystems said it was the largest number of animals he had ever removed from an industrial development site. In all, 240 species were recorded in the mammoth effort to collect and relocate as many animals as possible from November 2011 until July 2018.
(Image credit: Terrestrial Ecosystems/ABC)