Find the perfect companion for you and your family
A pet cat is an environmental hazard which can have a devastating effect on local wildlife populations. The average cat brings home 32 small animals each year (16 mammals, 8 birds and 8 reptiles) or more than 300 animals during its average life span. Cats also create...
Even though there are some concerns about feeding native birds, there is no scientific evidence that it causes any harm. In fact, home owners assist in the survival of native birds by offering them food, water and shelter, protecting their nesting sites and growing...
Jack the Corella Update We revisited Jack the Corella and his owner and trainer, Ida Gallop. As well as being an excellent talker Jack has many amazing tricks in his repertoire, including riding on a dustpan, rolling over, and going to the toilet on command. If you...
Dog Mat Rita Hill created a soft, fleecy mat for her dog. Sparky needed a medium-sized mat, but it’s easy to change the dimensions to suit the size of your own pooch. Dog Bed Sizes (includes 3cm seam allowance) Small 76cm x 56cm Medium 76cm x 106cm Large 96cm x...
Jamieson the Trick Horse Horse trainer Steve Jefferys wrote to Burke’s Backyard to tell us about his black stallion, Jamieson. Jamieson, aka ‘Spud’, is a 7 year old Australian Stock Horse. He has a huge repertoire of tricks including: counting...
Fostering Cubs Fiona Fearon and Rob Zammit are hand-rearing two tiger cubs. When only a few days old, the tiny Bengal tiger cubs were rejected by their mother. It is thought that a period of very heavy rain caused the mother to abandon her cubs to concentrate on her...
This week, by popular demand, we showed Misty the Rainbow Lorikeet doing more amazing tricks. (See last week’s road test for more information on lorikeets – click here.) If you have a pet as clever as Misty, why not write in and tell us about it? Send your...
Satin Bowerbird Paul and Chris Coffey contacted ‘Burke’s Backyard’ to tell us that satin bowerbirds were constructing a bower in their garden. John Dengate visited the Coffeys and had a look at the bower, which he says was built by a group of...
Talking Budgie Recently Bill Marks wrote to Burke’s Backyard to tell us about his talking budgerigar, Frederick. Freddie is a 4-year-old male budgie with an amazing vocabulary. In fact, attached to Bill’s letter was a three page list of all the things...
Timmy the Sheep Timmy the Merino sheep was born a runt and his mother abandoned him. Carol and Graham Blaser took pity on the poor little lamb. They bottle-fed him around the clock, and wrapped him in sheepskin. Things took a turn for the worse when Timmy developed...