Wyperfeld NP
By Birding-Aus, on October 16th, 2013
Unfortunately the horrible situation described by Peter and Bev Morgan at Wyperfeld NP may confront any of us venturing into relatively remote places searching for birds. Direct confrontation with irresponsible and probably drunk hooligans is not advised if smashed faces, phones and cameras are not to your liking. Having some sort of pre-emptive strategy in place provides considerable peace of mind to timid souls like myself. Fortunately I have not yet had to test the following strategy in the face of real danger but I have on a few occasions used my mobile phone camera to record evidence of illegal or suspicious activities. If a direct confrontation seems likely to develop over an observed or imminent illegal activity the images can be quickly emailed to a distant trusted friend. The actual or potential offender is perhaps more likely to back off when made aware of the fact that the phone images have already been sent elsewhere and that the activity is in fact illegal. However it may be difficult to preserve anonymity and the risk of future retribution for ‘dobbing’ may influence decisions. A more prudent approach may be to concentrate on documenting evidence of offences as soon as possible after the event so that community pressure can be applied to all those responsible. Reduced funding for National Parks and talk of recreational hunting in NPs is a great worry. =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) to: birding-aus-request@vicnet.net.au http://birding-aus.org ===============================
Hi Peter and Bev, What an appalling act to witness, especially in a National Park. I hope you were able to get number plates of the offender’s cars and report it to police/rangers asap. They might even have been able to catch them that night! I always consider myself a bit of a ranger’s assistant when I’m in places like National Parks, etc. If I see things that need attention, problems, or people doing the wrong thing I feel its my duty to report it asap. The limited resources of the rangers and police cannot see everything going on all over their park, but by the general public, after all it is our park too, help by bringing problems to their attention they have a better chance of being corrected, repaired or acted upon. Your other sightings were certainly lovely experiences. I love Wyperfeld, but do not get there often enough, unfortunately. Elizabeth Shaw Phillip Island Victoria —–Original Message—– Sent: Tuesday, October 15, 2013 2:06 PM Last Saturday, we took a drive in the late afternoon from the Casuarina Campground. We pulled up for a bit of a look around and spent some time looking at Rufous Fieldwrens. The whole thing was disturbed when 4 vehicles came towards us, and one peeled off to start chasing 3 emu across the grassy plain, shooting at them. Three emu were chased down and shot. At some point, the people in the vehicles became aware of our presence, and three of them sped up and drove past us. The shooter finished off the last emu and that vehicle drove off back the way it came. It was an act of senseless slaughter, and we can only assume that each of the vehicles had shooters on board and there would be a lot of killing that night. Early on Sunday morning, Bev heard a Gilberts Whistler calling, and I was able to pick it up when I put the hearing aids in. It kept going and we decided to look for it. Eventually, about 300m away, we had very good looks at a male . It was still calling from the same spot when we left at midday. Monday, Brown-headed Honeyeaters were found near the Wonga Campground. They are not included on the park list. Tuesday, Chestnut Quail-thrush also not on the list, was seen on the Dattuck Track, out from Wonga Campground. Peter and Bev Morgan =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) http://birding-aus.org =============================== =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) http://birding-aus.org ===============================
Sat phone. On 17/10/2013, at 9:39, “Tony Russell” < pratincole08@gmail.com> wrote: =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) http://birding-aus.org ===============================
Pigeon post? —–Original Message—– [mailto:birding-aus-bounces@lists.vicnet.net.au] On Behalf Of Peter Shute Sent: Wednesday, 16 October 2013 10:21 PM Cc: birding-aus@vicnet.net.au Peter, how do you email the photos in a remote area? Peter Shute Sent from my iPad wrote: Wyperfeld NP may confront any of us venturing into relatively remote places searching for birds. Direct confrontation with irresponsible and probably drunk hooligans is not advised if smashed faces, phones and cameras are not to your liking. peace of mind to timid souls like myself. of real danger but I have on a few occasions used my mobile phone camera to record evidence of illegal or suspicious activities. If a direct confrontation seems likely to develop over an observed or imminent illegal activity the images can be quickly emailed to a distant trusted friend. The actual or potential offender is perhaps more likely to back off when made aware of the fact that the phone images have already been sent elsewhere and that the activity is in fact illegal. However it may be difficult to preserve anonymity and the risk of future retribution for ‘dobbing’ may influence decisions. offences as soon as possible after the event so that community pressure can be applied to all those responsible. Reduced funding for National Parks and talk of recreational hunting in NPs is a great worry. =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) http://birding-aus.org =============================== =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) http://birding-aus.org ===============================
We saw some illegal firewood collecting going on at Barrington Tops once. We got the vehicle rego and later found the car in the camp ground at the base of the hills. The local ranger was very interested, confronted the offenders, and threw them out of the park with a fine. However, we dipped on the Rufous Scrub-bird. Tony. —–Original Message—– [mailto:birding-aus-bounces@lists.vicnet.net.au] On Behalf Of H D Peter Thomson Sent: Wednesday, 16 October 2013 10:02 PM Unfortunately the horrible situation described by Peter and Bev Morgan at Wyperfeld NP may confront any of us venturing into relatively remote places searching for birds. Direct confrontation with irresponsible and probably drunk hooligans is not advised if smashed faces, phones and cameras are not to your liking. Having some sort of pre-emptive strategy in place provides considerable peace of mind to timid souls like myself. Fortunately I have not yet had to test the following strategy in the face of real danger but I have on a few occasions used my mobile phone camera to record evidence of illegal or suspicious activities. If a direct confrontation seems likely to develop over an observed or imminent illegal activity the images can be quickly emailed to a distant trusted friend. The actual or potential offender is perhaps more likely to back off when made aware of the fact that the phone images have already been sent elsewhere and that the activity is in fact illegal. However it may be difficult to preserve anonymity and the risk of future retribution for ‘dobbing’ may influence decisions. A more prudent approach may be to concentrate on documenting evidence of offences as soon as possible after the event so that community pressure can be applied to all those responsible. Reduced funding for National Parks and talk of recreational hunting in NPs is a great worry. =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) http://birding-aus.org =============================== =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) http://birding-aus.org ===============================
Peter, how do you email the photos in a remote area? Peter Shute Sent from my iPad =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) http://birding-aus.org ===============================