Clearing Snakes from Waratah Park

[Gilleni]

Hey pete,

Tell them they dont need a lisense to keep wild snakes in the park.. :lol:

 

[Allan]

Apart from the sheer stupidity of the project, It must be impossible to rid the area of every single snake and even if that was possible, the park is more or less surrounded by Ku-ring-gai national park with snakes in abundance.

 

[junglemad]

i hate that word 'euthenased' what a freaking waste that would be.

as for the inexperienced python hunters catching elapids...YEEHAAA!

 

[Reptilia]

The course is also home to Copperhead, Brown and Tiger snakes, along with European wasps and bees, and caution is urged.

Thats weird. Why would they say that? I live next to lysterfield park and at least every week go for a stroll around the bike track and national park. Yes, their are alot of wasps and bee's but in my 9 years of living at lysterfield I have never encountered or even heard of snakes in the area. I have found/seen millions of other animals including both brushtail and ringtail possums, lace monitors, several variety's of skinks, foxes. feral cats and birds etc, but never any elapids.

Interesting..... I might be going for a few more walks every week.

 

[Sdaji]

I cant beleive how people just wait for something like this to get on their high horse.

High horse? The purpose of our posts is to encourage people to protect snakes. What's the purpose of this comment of yours?

You're quite right, if it was another type of farm, they'd probably kill all the snakes. I wouldn't support that either. Ever hear farmers complain about rats and mice? Interesting, isn't it? The thing which really shocked me here was not so much that snakes were to be killed en masse, that's something I, along with many of the members of this site have become well and truly hardened about and used to. What shocked me was that there were supposed snake enthusiasts supporting the stupid idea and attempting to recruit people to help! If people are wanting to wipe out snake populations, yes, over time they will do it. I can't stop it, I acknowledge that, but I sure as hell will not condone it and will not sit silent while people who claim to love snakes help, just because they have the skills to do it. So often we get people using any excuse they can find to go out and catch snakes, even if it means causing harm. I've been contacted by a few people in the last 24 hours (this thread has certainly been of great interest to a few) and they've thanked me for putting things into perspective. A few read the first posts and thought "Wow, I'd love to get involved, going out and catching snakes would be fun". I was the first to speak up in this thread, but I'm sure others would have if I hadn't, however, I'm shocked it took so long. We of all people should understand that snakes aren't dangerous. If these people wanted to kill koalas, everyone, including the reptile enthusiasts would be furious. Even if they wanted to cull kangaroos many would be angry (I quite comfortably support kangaroo culls, because unlike snakes, kangaroos are increasing hugely in number and are causing problems), but snakes are doing it tough, they are with few exceptions declining in population and I don't know of any cases of snakes causing problems in Australia. One of the few Australian snakes benefiting from humans is the coastal taipan, but even this fellow is helping out, he is only increasing because we've caused an increase in the rat population and he is helping us to control it.

Oh, and make no mistake, the animals in this 'sanctuary' are never going to be used to repopulate areas outside fences. They're not even making that claim. The animals can survive inside the fences because the feral predators and competitors have been reduced. Put them outside the fence and they'll die. Unless we erradicate foxes, cats, rabbits, etc etc etc, releasing animals into areas they have been eliminated from is an idiotic waste of time.

 

[instar]

Not happening, never was. misinformation at large.

 

[crutch2]

i agree with sdaji but what about the alternative shoval weeling idiots

 

[JeffHardy]

Not happening, never was. misinformation at large.

Thank you Instar.

No approach has been made to DEC (NPWS) to catch and relocate reptiles from Waratah Park. It would be nice if people who start these types of threads could first check their facts with those that might know the real situation. First there is the local NPWS Area office at Bobbin Head, there is Brendon Neilly whose name was quoted in the thread -Brendon is one of my work colleagues - and of course you could call me.

Irrespective of what the reported intentions or proposals of the Waratah Park (that is no longer owned by Dr Walmsley) management may be, the unlicensed collection and relocation of venomous snakes is not an option.

Waratah Park is virtually surrounded by the natural habitat of Ku-ring-gai NP and relocation of reptiles from the area is simply not on.

In any situation that the removal of a specific snake from an area is in the interests of its wellbeing or of human safety, the capture of it and relocation to nearby natural habitat can only legally be undertaken by a person that is licensed to perform that community service.


Cheers,

Jeff Hardy
Coordinator Wildlie Licensing
DEC

 

[peterjohnson64]

Yes Jeff, as you will know in 3 minutes, I have had a long conversation with Brendon. You will then know exactly what happpened here. People love to take things out of context when it suits them.

 

[herptrader]

You might be interested in this thread about my sighting of a copperhead... just up the same river system (and bike path) from Lysterfield:

http://www.aussiepythons.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&p=234554

I spent much of the weekend camped in the bush and mountain biking near Murrundindi. Similarly I have been visiting this area - well clear of suburbia for many years (actually over 20) and never seen a snake... but I know they are there. On Saturday I did a 20k circuit along tracks and fire roads that had not seen a car since the day before. I spotted no less than a dozen snake tracks in the bull dust t the side of the road. I took a close look ever track to see if the serpent that made them was still around but there was no sign.

When I followed the copperhead last week I was impressed at how quickly and efficiently he dissapeard into fairly short grass.

just because you don't see them does not have to mean that they are not there. (A good thing ;-) )

The course is also home to Copperhead, Brown and Tiger snakes, along with European wasps and bees, and caution is urged.

Thats weird. Why would they say that? I live next to lysterfield park and at least every week go for a stroll around the bike track and national park. Yes, their are alot of wasps and bee's but in my 9 years of living at lysterfield I have never encountered or even heard of snakes in the area. I have found/seen millions of other animals including both brushtail and ringtail possums, lace monitors, several variety's of skinks, foxes. feral cats and birds etc, but never any elapids.

Interesting..... I might be going for a few more walks every week.