
Trapdoor Spider Rescue
In January 2024, myself along with trapdoor spider ecologist Dr Leanda Mason, threatened invertebrate expert Loxley Fedec, and 22 wonderful volunteers relocated 40 trapdoor spiders in the Porongurup Range National Park whose burrows were in the path of new construction. Construction was completed in June 2024 and early signs point to every spider surviving the move. We wrote an article for Australian Geographic about the rescue which was published in the Jan/Feb 2025 issue of the magazine. The article is also available to read on the Australian Geographic website. The local news interviewed Leanda and I in Feb 2024 just after the rescue, and here is a link to the ABC News article which includes some radio interview material as well. We will continue to monitor the relocation site which we have named the Kara Koorl Colony, which means ‘spiders that have moved’ in the Noongar language.