Repeated thefts thwart 11yo’s lizard conservation efforts

An 11-year-old’s mission to save lizards from being killed by cars on a busy Whyalla road has been hampered after thieves stole the awareness sign for a second time in one month. 

Kerryann Jacobs wrote to the Whyalla City Council in late September to voice her concerns over the number of dead lizards she had seen on Horseshoe Road at Mullaquanna. 

Within a month the council erected a lizard warning sign to alert motorists to drive with care. 

But a week later the sign and its post were stolen. 

On Thursday, the council installed a second sign but by the morning the replacement had been nabbed too.

“[The first sign] only lasted about a week really,” council project manager Sam Bourne said.

“We thought we’ll give it one more go and think hopefully the person responsible will leave it alone, but it was gone within a night.”

Mr Bourne said the sign was unique but was not designed to distract drivers.

“We couldn’t really ask people to slow down, we didn’t want to change driver behaviour as such that we cause an accident by telling people to swerve,” he said.

“[It] was more just to make them aware.”

An 11-year-old’s wish

Kerryann’s mother Annette Jacobs said her daughter loved lizards and had written an email to the council during her school holidays.

“It’s such a lovely thing to do,” Ms Jacobs said.

“Whenever she sees one flattened she takes it quite personally and thinks of her pet [lizard] Holly.”

Ms Jacobs said the thief’s actions were selfish and disappointing.

“[The council] put the sign up, then, whoopsie daisy … it’s gone,” she said.

“Kerryann said, ‘Well, now they’re going to get squashed’, and I said ‘Yeah they probably will’.

“She was really disappointed because she tried really hard to do the right thing.”

Hopes to replace the sign

Mr Bourne said his team was discussing options to address the issue.

“I think everyone’s pretty keen to replace them,” he said.

“[We’re] considering whether we put multiple signs up and double up where we’ve got the horse-aware sign

“There’s only so many signs you can fit in your shed, you’d think.”

The thefts have been reported to the police and Mr Bourne called on community members to report the stolen signs if they noticed their whereabouts.

“If they see those signs in people’s yards and sheds … we’re hoping they ring Crime Stoppers and dob them in anonymously, if they can,” Mr Bourne said.

Ms Jacobs hoped the signs could be returned.

“Even if they dropped the signs back to council’s office, that would be fantastic,” she said.