The best recourse seems to be to write to the local Minister for
the Environment and complain. I did so recently in respect to dogs running wild
at Weston Park, endangering the birdlife and the kangaroos (in the case of some
roos the dogs could be endangered as well). In response they told me they
had a ranger ‘blitz’ of the park for two weeks, handing out warnings
and fining 60 people. They also agreed to put a couple more ‘dogs prohibited’
signs up. Of course, a month or two later there are still people
(presumably illiterate) with dogs frolicking around in front of the signs! I
also recommended that more leaflets be distributed letting people know about
the reserves and explaining why dogs aren’t welcome . He passed on that
one.
Anyway, if people e-mail in, some more action should be
forthcoming.
Ray Drew
From: Peter Milburn
[
Sent: Thursday, 4 October 2007 3:46 PM
To:
Subject: [canberrabirds] Dogs at Nature Reserves
Following Stuart Cooney's report I am finally compelled to
raise this issue. I don't have any problem with dogs being exercised but
I also support the concept of nature reserves.
Every time I have visited Kelly's Swamp lately there
have been dogs running amok. It is clear that people bring their animals
especially to that location for exercise.
Two (Red Setters?) are frequent visitors, splashing around
in the shallows. After flushing everything from Kelly's Swamp they give
the FSTW a work out as well. The last time I saw them they were even
chasing around in the cow paddocks (although there is not much in there but
feral species anyway). I have also seen people walking in front of the
hides on the nice green lawn having a good time watching their German Shepherd
causing havoc.
Isn't this supposed to be a sanctuary for transnational
migratory species? Is there an appropriate channel for complaints of this
kind?
I think that having the bike path through the place is a big
problem. Apart from unleashed dogs accompanying cyclists (a frequent
source of the trouble) there is simply too much human traffic through the
place. That there are neither enough hides nor adequate screening of the
swamp would be an issue if the general public didn't walk in front of them
anyway.
Of course this isn't simply restricted to Jerrabomberra
Wetlands. I won't bore everyone to death with a list of nature reserves
that are frequented by unleashed dogs. Perhaps the answer is to have
specific dog-friendly exercise areas in order to reduce the use of sports ovals
and nature reserves for this purpose. Perhaps there are too many ovals in
the light of limited water supply so perhaps these could be the doggie havens
of the future?
--
Dr P.J. Milburn
Technical Specialist
ANU ACRF Biomolecular Resource Facility
John Curtin School of Medical Research
Australian National University
GPO Box 334
Canberra ACT 0200
'Phone +61 2 6125 4326
FAX +61 2 6125 9533
__________ NOD32 2570 (20071003) Information __________
This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system.
http://www.eset.com
