General News
21 January, 2026
Platypus sighting sparks summer caution
A PLATYPUS was sighted in the Curdies River in Timboon in what was previously thought to be an area of extinction for the species.
The sighting sparked joy for Australian Platypus Conservatory biologist Geoff Williams, who said it was “really rare” since there haven’t been reliable sightings in the Curdies River since the 1990s.
“All the evidence at the time when we did our surveys back then was that the platypus population was extinct in that area,” he said.
“The big problem at that point in time was flow for the river was low in most places and in some places, it ceased to flow.
“Consequently, given that we didn’t find any platypus during the surveys, given that there had been no recent sightings, we concluded it was probably a case of this population going extinct.
“Until this sighting came up recently that was pretty much how everybody saw it.”
Mr Williams said he was very excited to discover a platypus had been seen in the Curdies River.
“It’s not every day that a population you thought had gone extinct is suddenly proved to be not extinct,” he said.
“In the national sense, platypus are classified as near-threatened, but in Victoria they are classified as vulnerable, which is one level down from endangered.
“They were given that classification because they had gone down in many places and the Curdies River was one of the examples that was taken into account when that classification was arrived at some years ago.
“A lot of work has been done in the past 20-odd years to improve the habitat along the Curdies River, particularly the work of the Catchment Management Authority and the Landcare groups who have done a lot of planting of new trees and things like that, so that’s really positive.”
Mr Williams said January was one of the best periods for potentially seeing platypus.
He encouraged people to keep an eye out and record any sightings with the Australian Platypus Conservatory website.
He also said there were a number of things people could do to keep platypus safe this summer.
“The first is to be aware that if people are fishing or yabbying they’ve got to do it in accordance with regulations,” Mr Williams said.
“Unfortunately one of the problems people don’t understand is that opera house yabby traps and all other enclosed yabby traps are now totally banned in Victoria.
“If you are going fishing, we encourage people to really check the regulations and make sure they know what sort of nets they can use for yabbying and if they are fishing be careful not to hook a platypus.
“If you leave fishing lines set and unattended, when that happens platypus do sometimes get hooked and drown as a result.
“The thing we would emphasise is that it is easy to hook a platypus so consequently if you are fishing, keep an eye out for platypus, and if you do see one, just reel your line in and don’t fish until the platypus has gone away.”
Mr Williams said the other problem for platypus was litter, including fishing line and elastic hair ties.
“The platypus easily get entangled in all sorts of litter and again, one of the big culprits is fishing line, so we urge all anglers to be really responsible in terms of not leaving fishing line in the creek,” he said.
“Another thing that happens at this time of the year is people go swimming in the creek and often leave things behind including elastic hair ties.
“We have horrendous examples of platypus that have got these around them and because they’re so thick and strong it’s very difficult, if not impossible for the platypus to get them off, and they end up dying a very unpleasant death.
“Any litter in creek areas we emphasise is something people need to be aware of at all times, not just the holiday period.”
Read More: Timboon