birding-aus

Dogs at Lake Francis?!?

To:
Subject: Dogs at Lake Francis?!?
From: "Dave Torr" <>
Date: Mon, 05 Jul 2004 05:05:22 +0000
As a (I hope) responsible dog owner and also a keen birder I have been following this debate with interest. I have seen a dog walker take two (unleashed) large dogs into the Dandenong Ranges NP (outside Melbourne) right under the nose of a ranger - she cahllenged him but his response was a polite "I always do this" and he walked on - and she had no real means of challenging him.

I am concerned at the moment in a battle to stop a development of around 7000 people on the fringe of a remnant grey-box forest outside Melbourne - the developers assure us the forest will be safe because there will be signs up prohibiting dog walking.....

But on the other hand (slightly tongue in cheek) let us not push "user pays" too far or I can see councils eagerly putting a levy on birders going into the parks. After all - as a dog owner I pay (an admittedly small) amount to my council which partly funds the parks I use to walk my dogs. WHereas as a birder I pay nothing (apart from my permit for the local sewage treatment plant).

And we have not even started on the trail bike riders, mountain bike riders, horses ...

And are ALL birders always totally ethical about not going on private land without permission etc.....

The realities are that we have insufficient space (in this vast open country) to meet the conflicting demands of users and compromises have to be made. Education programs, signage etc are all useful - but I suspect that in many cases the "problem users" can't read! Enforcement is an answer - but unless the fines for non-enforcement are made realistic councils will claim it can't be done - and in around 35 years of dog ownership in four countries I don't think I have ever seen a "dog ranger" - let alone been asked to see if my pets are licensed.


From: Craig Williams <>
To: 
Subject: Re: [BIRDING-AUS] Dogs at Lake Francis?!?
Date: Mon, 05 Jul 2004 14:35:26 +1000

Hi folks,

These stories are typical of experiences I've had and will continue to have in the foreseeable future. What is to be done?

Of course, much is being done by various levels of government and other groups to wrestle with the complexities of competing and conflictive human leisure practices, and their impacts on other organisms and ecologies. But so much of this unfortunately is windowdressing: this is perhaps to be expected given that so many of these institutions/organisations claim to have insufficient resources to enforce regulations and provide effective control and monitoring of areas. Potential remedies must be examined, and I would suggest agitation in line with the "user-pays" principle that is now the dominant mode of governmental operation in this country (for some users at least...). So what about some sort of levy on registered dog owners in addition to the peanuts they are already paying which is specifically marked for use in the management of sensitive areas. Or a levy on pet/companion animal products - dog food, cat food, etc - combined with a concerted effort to fully and comprehensively establish the importance of ethical and equitable animal ownership philosophies and practices? Councils are loathe to chase these matters in legal contexts for all the obvious reasons, but overall the evidence indicates that current systems of fines are not working.

Dog and cat owners incresingly have strong representation in local government contexts in Australia: so much so that in many cases local councils have chosen to operate on the populist pretence that giving ground, literally, to pet owners is good democratic administration. In many instances the decisions taken are likely to lead to breaches of environmental legislation. This sort of practice may keep some groups in power in local government, but much more work needs to be done on our part in generating a sharper and very public understanding of the statutory obligations of local and state government when it comes to policies on companion animals and the connection with state and federal legislation.

Yes, I know there are many good, ethical, caring pet owners out there. Only wish them to have more power and influence over some of their peers. Or something along those lines!

cw
>>> Ricki Coughlan <> 07/04/04 18:25 PM >>>
Re: [BIRDING-AUS] Dogs at Lake Francis?!?There are many activities which the Lesser-brained Ignoramus seems to enjoy and walking (unleashed) dogs in inappropriate areas appears to be one of them. This is probably because, like many members of the Godwit genus, LBI's just simply cannot control themselves.



--------------------------------------------
Birding-Aus is now on the Web at
www.birding-aus.org
--------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message 'unsubscribe
birding-aus' (no quotes, no Subject line)
to 


<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the birding-aus mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the archive e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU