Tocumwal's feathered menace

Both Broome and Kununurra had a problem, a major problem - corellas. Tocumwal has the same problem.

Broome residents shot 15 ute loads one weekend. When Kununurra built a new and longer runway to accommodate the new MMA Fokker jet, the University of Perth were asked to count or estimate the number of corellas that flew over the new site after sun up and prior to sundown. They said 72,000 each way.

I reckon Toc had 100,000. Council invited a pest contractor to address this problem. They also said 100,000.

This contractor offered to use noise to discourage them and noise again to attract them to a different location. Council declined.

I asked this contractor for a quote to keep them from my house, but they declined saying it was too expensive for an individual to purchase.

Their company representative, named George, said our infestation was the worst he had ever seen anywhere in Australia.

The numbers have since declined now but are still greater than 50,000. This is my opinion.

I have recently written three letters to council asking action be taken.

The first response was one of platitudes saying they were doing what they could. The second saying they are having discussions with the NSW wild life authority, and the third saying they could do nothing.

This correspondence to and from council is in my possession and is available for anyone to read.

So why are these birds an issue?

1. They are destroying the eucalypts along the river. In time these trees will die. They have been severely damaged now, just take a walk along the river between the two boat ramps, check both sides of the river. One long time local resident says when they have been destroyed, the wind will roar up the main street. He points out these trees are not being replaced. Other native birds have been displaced and gone. Check out the small bill boards between the new boat ramp and town beach. Do you see any of these birds. Mostly not and only very few of other species.

2. They are noisy and dirty. Feathers and droppings everywhere, especially where people sit on the grassy foreshore and some sit there to eat. This is not a secondary factor, it is a major problem - a major health problem.

3. Tocumwal’s Richard Tweedley became gravely ill. It took five days in hospital for his sickness to be diagnosed, followed by an additional two weeks in hospital. A bird disease. Mr Tweedley had voluntarily mowed the grass on the foreshore and picked this up from corella droppings and feathers. NSW Health were notified. They sent a printed fact sheet to many government agencies around, and could have been state wide. I have one in my possession and I feel our council would have also receive one. One sentence, and I quote from this publication “Outbreaks have been linked to breathing in dust stirred up by lawn mowers after being contaminated by bird droppings”.

4. Prior to moving to the Riverina I lived in Miles; a town in the Darling Downs. The doctor in Miles was Allan Salter, and he died from disease picked up from his pet parrot.

So what is the council doing about it? Nothing practical has been bought to my attention.

Council states they are protected and because of that they can’t control them.

I have pointed out that a previous council had a permit to cull and, to my knowledge, these are still issued.

I also asked if they had been to see the management or workers at the 24/7 diner which provides the food stuffs (grain). That was not answered.

The council must act.

Yours etc.

Gary Mexted

Tocumwal