While the brazen theft of reptiles from Blackbutt Reserve is still under investigation, today Blackbutt is welcoming some new reptilian residents.
Two olive pythons, a bearded dragon, eastern long-necked turtles and various creepy crawlies will be calling Blackbutt home and feature in new reptile shows starting next month.
Blackbutt Coordinator Brad West said it was tragic to lose the reptiles last September, but it's exciting they can welcome some new ones.
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| Olive Pythons Image NCC |
"This [the theft] was really unfortunate and sad for our visitors and also our staff, it happens I guess and it's unfortunate. But we're back and going to be better than ever so we have the start of our reptiles, we have a few more on site as it is so we are able to start our reptile shows again."
The snakes who are siblings were donated by Wild Life Sydney Zoo and the female central bearded dragon was donated by a private Newcastle reptile keeper.
The reptiles play an important part at the reserve, particularly for educational purposes for children.
"Part of the main reason is for the education, obviously we generate some income for Blackbutt, we're trying to make Blackbutt sustainable for the long term. Council has invested a lot of funds into infrastructure upgrades," said Brad.
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| Blackbutt Reserve coordinator Brad West. |
Last September isn't the first time reptiles were ransacked, so now the reserved has beefed up their security in a bid to stop it happening again.
"We've upgraded our security so now we're hoping that should restrain our animals and keep the public out or whoever would like to break-in and take them. We've got a back-to-base system we always had that, that's what alerted us last time. We've got upgraded security on the windows to slow access down and also CCTV," said Brad.
A competition will be launched next week on the Newcastle City Council and Blackbutt Reserve social media channels with the winner receiving a VIP meet-and-greet with the reptiles they name.
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| Bearded Dragon Image NCC |
