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?
--
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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