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3 September – 9 September 2013
MPNEWS (1300 676 397) or email: team@mpnews.com.au www.mpnews.com.au
Objectors riled by tip sign action THE number of “no tip” signs on the southern peninsula took a dive on the weekend when a Mornington Peninsula Shire ranger removed up to 50 signs from roadsides in Dromana, Red Hill and Arthurs Seat. The action angered people objecting to the proposal to turn an old quarry on the Arthurs Seat escarpment at Dromana into a rubbish tip or landfill. A flurry of phone calls and emails ensued and on Sunday the shire was forced to issue an apology for many signs that had been removed in error. Some had been legitimately taken with the shire saying they were obscuring directional and tourism signs. All the signs were returned on Sunday. See full story on Page 3. War of words: Members of lead tip objector Peninsula Preservation Group with reclaimed signs on Monday. Picture: Yanni
Group’s plea to save pets By Mike Hast A DOMESTIC animal lobby group is encouraging Mornington Peninsula residents to lobby the shire council to end the “unnecessary euthanasia of pets that go through the Mornington pound”. The move comes after Mornington Peninsula Shire released its Domestic Animal Management Plan (“Tightening rules for pets”, The News, 8/8/13). Pound Reform Alliance Australia has posted a letter on the internet and is asking residents to sign it and send to the
shire to “highlight the community’s expectations; it will be harder for council to ignore its residents and ratepayers”. When releasing its animal plan in July, the shire said it was considering neutering all pets to avoid community concern about the number of stray dogs and cats being put down. Pound Reform Alliance president Tarsha Andrews said the alliance had “worked with other councils with success in turning around the high euthanasia of pound animals”. The alliance claimed 15 per cent of
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in fact many would have been euthanased. The final and true euthanasia figures would be higher than claimed.” The alliance said “community volunteer engagement is now minimal, foster carers are no longer welcome, and adoptions are no longer permitted at the community animal shelter”. “One of the primary aims of a pound or animal shelter is to enable and encourage adoptions of unclaimed pets within the community directly from its facility. However, the council is instead using rescue groups as the ‘conduit’ by
which adoptions can only occur. “The burden, both financial and practical, currently falls on rescue groups.” The alliance claimed the shire’s figure of 40 per cent of unwanted pets being unsuitable for rehoming was low. “It is generally accepted that about 90 per cent of all impounded pets can be rehomed. “Boroondara and Stonnington [councils] rehome well over 90 per cent of all their unclaimed cats and dogs and have been doing so for close to three decades.” Continued Page 7
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unclaimed dogs and 25 per cent of cats in the shire were euthanased. “While on the surface these figures are better than many other municipalities, the statistics are misleading as euthanasia figures appear not to include the fate of post-eight day unclaimed animals transferred from Mornington to the RSPCA or Australian Animal Protection Society. “In other words, many of the shelter’s animals transferred to these facilities appear to be included in [shire] statistics as ‘rehomed’ or ‘adopted’ when
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