The City of Moreton Bay has installed 49 permanent wildlife escape hatches across active koala corridors in Joyner, Petrie, Lawnton, Cashmere, Bray Park and Griffin, as part of a coordinated effort to reduce wildlife road deaths.
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The installations are spread across several roads in these northern suburbs. Seven hatches were placed at Youngs Crossing in Joyner, four along Samsonvale Road at Joyner, and two along Samsonvale Road at Bray Park.
In Cashmere, five were installed on Kremzow Road, four on Lilley Road, and three on Old Northern Road. Gympie Road received nine hatches at Petrie and two at Lawnton. Griffin was covered with two hatches each on Henry Road and Dohles Rocks Road.
The devices, known as Fauna Escape Hatches, were developed by local business Endeavour Veterinary Ecology (EVE) in partnership with Council. Fitted into roadside fencing, they are one-way egress points that allow koalas and other native animals to exit road corridors into nearby bushland, while preventing re-entry.
The rollout follows a successful Australia-first trial of 16 hatches across seven Council-managed roads. Over the 12-month trial period, no koala fatalities were recorded at wildlife crossings where the devices had been installed. Camera monitoring showed that koalas, echidnas and bandicoots were using the hatches to exit road corridors into bushland, according to the City of Moreton Bay.
Mayor Peter Flannery said Council was proud to be early adopters of the Australian-first device. “We are committed to protecting our wildlife including the iconic koala, and EVE’s fauna hatches are helping us do just that,” he said. “The trial showed us that these hatches provide effective exits for native animals when navigating roads, preventing them and road users from being injured or killed.”
EVE Environmental Manager for Technology, Natasha Banville, said the program had grown out of the original trial through monitoring and design refinement. “What started as a trial to understand how koalas navigate roads has evolved into the Fauna Escape Hatch program through ongoing monitoring, design refinement and collaboration with Council,” she said. The hatches have since been verified by the Infrastructure Sustainability Council and are becoming a standard feature in road infrastructure projects across Queensland.
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Funding was secured through Queensland’s SEQ Koala Threat Management Initiatives (KTMI) program. Council is also trialling larger hatches for macropods on Bribie Island and continuing to install seasonal wildlife warning signs at collision hotspots during peak breeding and dispersal periods.
Further installations are planned for Kallangur and Caboolture. The City has also granted a 10-year community lease for the Moreton Bay Wildlife Hospital, which will operate as the region’s first dedicated wildlife hospital on Council-allocated land.
Published 27-April-2026
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