Steve Karakitsos’ campaign to save the native hooded plover bird has gotten the support of Nepean MP, Martin Dixon.

Mr Dixon voiced his concern over the dire situation of the native bird in parliament last week, hoping to convince the government to enforce a total ban on dogs in the Mornington Peninsula National Park.

“The decline of the hooded plover in Mornington Peninsula National Park is directly correlated to the policy of allowing dogs on the same beaches where the birds nest,” Mr Dixon said.

“Unfortunately, 20 years of educational efforts, signage and partial restrictions have not resulted in improved compliance as many dogs are still unleashed or on the beach outside the allowed hours.”

He called on the government to ban all dogs in the park “as soon as possible” after he saw the devastation first hand.

Mr Karakitsos, president of the South Eastern Centre of Sustainability, brought Mr Dixon to Rye back beach a couple of weeks ago and witnessed an unleashed dog running along the area where the birds nest.

Dogs are supposed to be on a lead at all times and are not allowed on the beach after 9.00 am.

Mr Karakitsos says the birds have no area to nest without the fear of being mauled or chased by dogs.

“These birds are being continuously mauled by dogs and nobody cares about it,” he says. “To put it in perspective, you’ve got about 22,000 penguins and about seven were killed by dogs. After that there was a huge furore.”

Currently there are only 550 individual birds left in Victoria. Of the 113 eggs laid in 2012-2013, only 19 chicks hatched and only nine survived the year.
Last season, only three survived.

The unleashed dogs aren’t just attacking the birds. They are running through their nesting areas, scaring the birds off and leaving their eggs vulnerable.

“It’s getting worse and worse,” Mr Karakitsos says.

Dog walking is banned in some areas of the national park in Mornington, but poor signage and lack of enforcement has seen no impact on the situation.

All national parks in Australia have banned dog walking, but when the Mornington park was declared a national park in 1988, the council didn’t enforce the ban.

Mr Karakitsos understands that pet owners would feel like they deserve the right to use public space, but reiterates that right shouldn’t have been there in the first place.

“People really like their pet dogs, and want to have the right to have them run around on beaches, but having said that, there are a number of other places they can take their dogs to allow them to have that privilege,” he says.

He hopes the government heeds Minister Dixon’s calls and acts on the issue before it’s too late.
“Nature is often seen as an obstacle and impediment or too insignificant a reason to act upon at an official level,” he says.