“Our party has spoken to Parks and Wildlife, [and we need to do] what they did in Sydney and bring in a sniper, bring in an army sniper.”
“I think it is the only thing we can do here.”
Whish-Wilson stated that the plan would involve letterbox dropping around the local area informing residents that any dog found on the beach alone would be shot.
“If your dogs are going to be down there, they’re going to get shot, this is what we’ve had to do in other areas.”
The “other areas” Whish-Wilson refers to is the remarkable plan back in 2009 that did see two marksmen employed to protect the fairy penguin colony at Manly and North Head, after nine of the animals were killed. However, this was largely due to foxes, and was used in conjunction with a fox-baiting program, along with infrared cameras.
“Snipers on the beach in a town boundary I don’t think would be acceptable, and I don’t think our community would accept that as being a practical solution.”
“We’ll need to be prosecuting people that aren’t looking after their dogs properly.”“It’s not acceptable that people leave their dogs roaming around streets.”
So there you have it. Maybe just lock your dogs up securely at night and make sure they leave the poor wee little penguins alone.