canberrabirds

Dogs at Nature Reserves

To: "'Chris Hudson'" <>
Subject: Dogs at Nature Reserves
From: "Ray Drew" <>
Date: Sat, 6 Oct 2007 20:39:46 +1000

In regard to dogs in nature reserves, I wrote to John Stanhope, who forwarded my letter on to John Hargreaves.  Experience has taught me (working in a Minister’s office and as a member of the media) that in order to get action from a government, one contacts the top dog first (i..e., the Minister) rather than requesting help from the bureaucrats below.  Calling a ranger will, of course, yield results in emergencies, but in regard to matters of policy, or to get movement happening where inertia is apparent,  it is best to write to the Chief Minister or a relevant member of cabinet.  ‘Ministerials’ are nearly always treated with urgency.  But each to his own.

Ray Drew

 

 

From: Chris Hudson [
Sent: Saturday, 6 October 2007 7:34 PM
To: Ray Drew
Cc: 'Peter Milburn';
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] Dogs at Nature Reserves

 

Its not the Minister for the Environment....the responsible area is Domestic Animal Services [Part of Teritory and Municipal Services] .
See http://www.tams.act.gov.au/live/pets/dgctfactsht/wherecanitakemydog for contact details. 

If you follow the link to the maps from this page, you will see that Jerrabomberra wetlands is a Dogs Prohibited Area.  You are quite within your rights to raise this with DAS.  I know this as my wife used to work there.  :-)  She says DAS have a weekend and after hours ranger oncall who can be contacted be via Canberra Connect on 132281.  They are often quite quick to respond to calls.

Chris Hudson
Latham, ACT

Ray Drew wrote:

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?

 

Milburn

-- 

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



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