Greens Senator Wants To Pay A Sniper To Pick Off Penguin-Murdering Dogs

Welp. That headline’s a sentence you definitely didn’t expect to read today, I can almost 100% guarantee it.
Tasmanian Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson is incensed after the bodies of 14 tiny wee penguins that had sadly been killed at the Stanley beach on Tasmania’s north-west coast were discovered this past Sunday night. It’s believed that the penguins were all killed by dogs that had been allowed to roam free on the beach.
Whish-Wilson, mincing very few words, stated that the situation was absolutely unacceptable, and called for drastic action to be taken to ensure the future safety of the resident penguin colony.
Drastic action like employing a sniper to camp out at the beach.
A sniper that would shoot any rogue dogs wandering the beach unattended.
Seriously.

“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.

With Tasmania being an effectively (and “officially”) fox-free state, any potential plan to pay snipers to provide covering fire for commando-rolling penguins would solely be targeting domesticated pet dogs.
Fortunately, Circular Head Mayor Darryl Quillam expressed extreme doubt as to whether residents would stomach having a bloke with a high-powered rifle just chilling on the banks of their beach.

“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.

Y’know. Like a responsible pet owner.
Source: ABC News.
Photo: Auscape/Getty.

More Stuff From PEDESTRIAN.TV