Council Moves Swiftly to Protect Koalas in Petrie
Published 22 July 2020
Two days after a dog attack that killed a baby koala and hospitalised its mother Moreton Bay Regional Council voted to remove problematic dog fencing in Sweeney Reserve, Petrie.
Mayor Peter Flannery moved the special motion at Council’s meeting (July 22).
“I am a dog owner and a dog lover, but seeing the photos of these poor koalas sickened me, so I wasn’t prepared for Council to do nothing about it,” he said.
“Sweeney Reserve is just one kilometre from The Mill PDA where we’ve successfully increased the local koala population by over 22% per annum in the past three years.
“As a Council it’s devastating for us to be achieving this kind of success and spending millions of dollars in conservation efforts, only to be undermined by an irresponsible dog owner.
“We will be removing the existing fencing at the Sweeney Reserve dog off-leash park to eliminate any immediate threat on our precious koala population and we will consider building a new dog park away from the koala trees.
“There are fenced dog parks just minutes away at Mungarra Reserve and Leis Park, so there are no excuses for anyone to allow their animals to run unrestrained and kill wildlife, and there’ll be no leniency for anyone breaking the rules.
“We’re also in the process of installing signs warning of fines for unrestrained animals outside the off-leash area and we will increase ranger patrols in the area to catch offenders.
“I’m asking all dog owners who are doing the right thing to report irresponsible dog owners to Council.
“It is the responsibility of pet owners to maintain effective control of their animal and it’s crucial that we do everything we can to prevent dog attacks on native and endangered species.
“Incidents like this are particularly devastating because they fly in the face of all the hard work Council is doing to grow our koala population through regrowing habitat areas and building important infrastructure to keep them safe.
“We’ve actually constructed a tunnel for wildlife beneath Gympie Road so that they can move safely from The Mill site through Sweeney Reserve out to the western corridors without encountering cars.
“We’ve installed over 20 fauna rope bridges and more than 10,000 meters of fauna exclusion fencing to help keep our wildlife and motorists safe.
“Additionally, more than 45,000 trees will be planted in our region over the next three years, including replanting’s that are currently underway at Wyllie Park directly opposite from The Mill.
“And In our 2020-21 Budget, we announced a $1.8 million land buyback initiative to protect wildlife corridors, koala habitat and greenspace.
“Council is doing everything we can to keep koalas safe, but we need the help of locals to ensure these efforts are successful.”