BellingenNSWThis could happen anywhere in Australia:
Biodiversity conservation going to the dogs
Somewhere in crowded suburbia is a small creek with a bit of bush left behind by accident. It is a refuge for swamp wallabies, blue wrens and many other species of the biodiversity kin.
‘User groups’, that is locals and their dogs demand that the last bit of green is for their ‘recreation’ and not Australian flora and fauna. Pet owners allow that their roaming dogs destroy the last small fragmented refuges where native wildlife can survive.
Recently a council voted to fence dogs out of the park "to manage the growing dog population in the municipality." There are “problems with dog behaviour…They (swamp wallabies) are threatened and chased and killed by dogs.”
Anger and vandalism followed. Local pet owners demand to "make the park off-leash for dogs.” The dispute requires 'conflict experts’ from outside to get involved.
In a place where everything is 'dog friendly’ and where half of Australian households own at least one dog, they implicitly ‘voted with their paws’ to be 'wildlife unfriendly'.
* Conflict experts called in following a dispute over a dog fence in Coburg >>
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04-09/merribek-calls-in-conflict-experts-about-coburg-dog-fence/106541266
* A 'balancing act' as council votes to fence dogs out of park, sparking safety concerns >>
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08-21/merri-creek-dog-fence-swamp-wallaby-coburg-victoria/105675854
#biodiversity #wildlife #conservation #UserGroups #dogs #pets #roaming #DogOwners #TheBush #recreation #parks #FOMC #fences #UrbanEcology #extinction #councils #WildlifeUnfriendly
NSW.Biodiversity