What's different in Moonee Ponds
A named Buruli ulcer suburb
The Department of Health lists Essendon, Moonee Ponds, Brunswick West, Pascoe Vale South and Strathmore among its inner Melbourne locations. Better Health Channel says the overall risk of transmission is considered low, and that it isn't known to pass from person to person.
Backyard water
The department's advice is to reduce the places water can pool around the house: pot plant containers, buckets, open tins or cans, and discarded tyres.
Possums in the garden
The department says local research has found both mosquitoes and possums play a role, mainly ringtails and less commonly brushtails. The bacteria has been isolated from possum droppings in areas with human cases.
What a pest business can't do
No pest treatment prevents Buruli ulcer, and possums are protected, so nobody can clear them out of an area. What you do in your own yard matters more here.
A Saturday job list
Walk the yard for water
Tip out pot bases, buckets, tins and anything else holding rain, and repeat through the warm months.
Glove up before you dig
The department suggests gardening gloves, long sleeves and trousers, with repellent on exposed skin.
Wash afterwards
Wash off soil or water from your skin, and cover any cuts or scratches.
Keep an eye on sores
See your doctor about a slow or non healing skin sore, and ask them to consider testing for Buruli ulcer.
The rest of the pest year
Buruli ulcer aside, the usual Melbourne calendar applies. European wasps nest mostly in the ground, so a steady line of them going into the lawn is the sign to look for, and it's one to leave alone. CSIRO says cooler weather pushes mice indoors, so scratching often starts around the time the heater goes on.
A possum in the roof is a proofing job, and our Melbourne possum page covers Victoria's rules. For anything in a park or on a nature strip, ask Moonee Valley City Council who looks after it.
What we'd do about pests in Moonee Ponds
Treat the yard as a chore list, not a crisis. Clear the water, wear gloves in the garden and see your GP about any sore that won't heal. For rats, wasps or something in the roof, tap what you've found and your postcode.
Want someone to look at it?
Tell us what you've seen and your postcode, and a local pest business that handles exactly that calls you to talk it through.
