May2011_MT MEE NEWS
by Ian Wells
It’s still mostly raining on the Mountain! But the grass is still growing and the cows look contented! The “Three Day” (Bovine Ephemeral Fever) season is hanging on a little longer than usual though.
Incredibly, some may still be unaware that 2011 is World Veterinary Year! It celebrates the 250th anniversary of the foundation of the first veterinary school in Lyon, France by one Claude Bourgelat. (No cracks about the profession and french letters please).
Despite the trend, it won’t rain on the Mountain on Sunday 23rd May, because that day the St Lucia Orchestra is performing at Mt Mee and it never rains on the SLO! Read about the concert elswhere in this Grapevine, but don’t forget to book soon because it is bound to be a sell-out
Try Kay (5498 2104) or Joyce (5498 2270).
The March Hall Markets were a big occasion, with record business done by many stall-holders and by the kitchen. Your writer and his leader were away on other business – perhaps we should take the hint and be away more often!
The ANZAC Dawn service at the recently completed ANZAC memorial at the Dahmongah Look-out again saw a very good crowd. It was a moving service. The readings by the two Mt Mee School pupils of the passage of the troops in boats from the ships to the beach at the Gallipolli landing raised hairs on the backs of many a neck. Vern Duncan sang “Amazing Grace” with his amazing voice, and a few brave souls sang the New Zealand national anthem in Maori and in Pakeha! Once again, the flyover by the old Chipmunk trainers in RAAF livery was a highlight – many many thanks to those involved. And the Gunfire breakfast was as welcome as ever.
Sunday 10th April was a big day for the congregation of the Mountain Top Church. Their newly completed chapel was consecrated and officially opened before a big crowd of visitors and local residents. This was the culmination of years of fundraising and hard work by a small but highly motivated group of people. Some were surprised to find that, like them, the Deity may be “PowerPointed”out. The electricity supply failed at the critical moment and the remainder of the celebration was non-digital – and in fact was sans ohms, hertz or any other wonders of the electronic age. And it all worked perfectly!
One of April’s important milestones was a visit to Mt Mee by the National Wild Dog Committee, accompanied by luminaries from Biosecurity, National Parks and the new Forestry. They lunched at the Hall, and this gave them opportunity to chat with the likes of Adrian Raedel and Judy Quinn and learn more about the particular difficulties we periurban eastern folk experience in controlling wild dogs. The emphasis has rightly been on the range grazing industry in rural areas of Australia. So much so that, until recently there has been little national understanding of the dimension or nature of problems in the closer settled districts like ours – especially where there are large tracts of bushland close by. Those real ‘bushies’ count their baits in tens of kilograms. One NSW sheep farmer explained to me how he (or his neighbour) butchers a “baits”cow every year and they share it! He couldn’t understand the paper work we have to complete for our handful of baits, or the need to tie them, bury them and retrieve them. Of course there are good reasons for that – 1080 is only such an effective tool because it is absolutely deadly to dogs, cats and foxes. There can be no laxity in rural residential areas.
I think that the National group went away with a much better understanding of the economic and social cost of our wild dog population and a real appreciation of the issues we face in getting sufficient baits on the ground in our relatively closely settled area. Many asked why no helicopter baiting is undertaken along the length of the D’Aguilar Range. We had no answer.
We learned anew that the wild dog problem is growing Australia wide. The difficult economic situation of many larger scale sheep and cattle producers means that mum and dad have to try to do alone what a team of staff handled in better times. Dog control is one of the tasks that suffers. From the Queensland perspective, there are sadly now probably as many dogs inside the barrier fence as outside.
And those few Councils that have persevered with dog bounties are getting rid of them as fast as they can, because they are not giving value for money.
It is a very gloomy picture.
Council officers desperately need solid information on wild dogs on the Mountain. They need an information bank of tracks, sightings, nocturnal howling, damage to livestock or domestic animals and confrontations with people so that they can plan strategy and tactics, and extract continuing funding from tight government budgets. We must all get serious about this.
There are some new poisons on the horizon, including a cyanide formulation which euthanases the dog painlessly in about 30 seconds. Bring it on!
There are also lethal soft jawed traps in the wind. Traps do work, and the Council’s Ray Johnson has been having considerable success in other areas of his patch. But the non-lethal variety needs to be visited daily, and that is very time consuming. For some reason, no-one on the Mountain seems to invite Ray to trap. Why not?
Here on our Mountain, shooters Rod and Len have accounted for only nine dogs this year to date – not because dogs are scarce, but because Rod can no longer afford expensive fuel for more frequent visits. Our Dog Fund is empty.
On the brighter side, there is no doubt that dog damage to Mountain livestock was relatively light this season. The baiting/shooting combination has been a winner!
And thereby hangs a tail! Please approach treasurer Kay to make your subscription to the Fund. It will be receipted with thanks, and used to strike another blow in the containment of our wild dog menace.
Despite the trend, it won’t rain on the Mountain on Sunday 23rd May, because that day the St Lucia Orchestra is performing at Mt Mee and it never rains on the SLO! Read about the concert elswhere in this Grapevine, but don’t forget to book soon because it is bound to be a sell-out
Try Kay (5498 2104) or Joyce (5498 2270).
The March Hall Markets were a big occasion, with record business done by many stall-holders and by the kitchen. Your writer and his leader were away on other business – perhaps we should take the hint and be away more often!
The ANZAC Dawn service at the recently completed ANZAC memorial at the Dahmongah Look-out again saw a very good crowd. It was a moving service. The readings by the two Mt Mee School pupils of the passage of the troops in boats from the ships to the beach at the Gallipolli landing raised hairs on the backs of many a neck. Vern Duncan sang “Amazing Grace” with his amazing voice, and a few brave souls sang the New Zealand national anthem in Maori and in Pakeha! Once again, the flyover by the old Chipmunk trainers in RAAF livery was a highlight – many many thanks to those involved. And the Gunfire breakfast was as welcome as ever.
Sunday 10th April was a big day for the congregation of the Mountain Top Church. Their newly completed chapel was consecrated and officially opened before a big crowd of visitors and local residents. This was the culmination of years of fundraising and hard work by a small but highly motivated group of people. Some were surprised to find that, like them, the Deity may be “PowerPointed”out. The electricity supply failed at the critical moment and the remainder of the celebration was non-digital – and in fact was sans ohms, hertz or any other wonders of the electronic age. And it all worked perfectly!
One of April’s important milestones was a visit to Mt Mee by the National Wild Dog Committee, accompanied by luminaries from Biosecurity, National Parks and the new Forestry. They lunched at the Hall, and this gave them opportunity to chat with the likes of Adrian Raedel and Judy Quinn and learn more about the particular difficulties we periurban eastern folk experience in controlling wild dogs. The emphasis has rightly been on the range grazing industry in rural areas of Australia. So much so that, until recently there has been little national understanding of the dimension or nature of problems in the closer settled districts like ours – especially where there are large tracts of bushland close by. Those real ‘bushies’ count their baits in tens of kilograms. One NSW sheep farmer explained to me how he (or his neighbour) butchers a “baits”cow every year and they share it! He couldn’t understand the paper work we have to complete for our handful of baits, or the need to tie them, bury them and retrieve them. Of course there are good reasons for that – 1080 is only such an effective tool because it is absolutely deadly to dogs, cats and foxes. There can be no laxity in rural residential areas.
I think that the National group went away with a much better understanding of the economic and social cost of our wild dog population and a real appreciation of the issues we face in getting sufficient baits on the ground in our relatively closely settled area. Many asked why no helicopter baiting is undertaken along the length of the D’Aguilar Range. We had no answer.
We learned anew that the wild dog problem is growing Australia wide. The difficult economic situation of many larger scale sheep and cattle producers means that mum and dad have to try to do alone what a team of staff handled in better times. Dog control is one of the tasks that suffers. From the Queensland perspective, there are sadly now probably as many dogs inside the barrier fence as outside.
And those few Councils that have persevered with dog bounties are getting rid of them as fast as they can, because they are not giving value for money.
It is a very gloomy picture.
Council officers desperately need solid information on wild dogs on the Mountain. They need an information bank of tracks, sightings, nocturnal howling, damage to livestock or domestic animals and confrontations with people so that they can plan strategy and tactics, and extract continuing funding from tight government budgets. We must all get serious about this.
There are some new poisons on the horizon, including a cyanide formulation which euthanases the dog painlessly in about 30 seconds. Bring it on!
There are also lethal soft jawed traps in the wind. Traps do work, and the Council’s Ray Johnson has been having considerable success in other areas of his patch. But the non-lethal variety needs to be visited daily, and that is very time consuming. For some reason, no-one on the Mountain seems to invite Ray to trap. Why not?
Here on our Mountain, shooters Rod and Len have accounted for only nine dogs this year to date – not because dogs are scarce, but because Rod can no longer afford expensive fuel for more frequent visits. Our Dog Fund is empty.
On the brighter side, there is no doubt that dog damage to Mountain livestock was relatively light this season. The baiting/shooting combination has been a winner!
And thereby hangs a tail! Please approach treasurer Kay to make your subscription to the Fund. It will be receipted with thanks, and used to strike another blow in the containment of our wild dog menace.
