Mindless vandalism new threat to birds

From  The Sydney Morning Herald: national, world, business, entertainment, sport and technology news from Australia's leading newspaper.

Ben Cubby, Environment Reporter
December 30, 2008
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AN endangered water bird sanctuary on the South Coast was wrecked by vandals on Boxing Day, the latest in a series of attacks on wildlife refuges in southern NSW.

Eggs have been stolen, nests trampled and vegetation burned in four attacks in the last three months, a level of damage that the National Parks and Wildlife Service says is unheard of.

In the latest incident, at Cudmirrah Beach near Sussex Inlet, the eggs of a hooded plover were crushed - a serious loss given there are probably less than 50 of the shy birds left in the state.

A wooden fence around the bird-breeding area was also dragged off and burned at a Boxing Day beach party.

In a separate act of vandalism two days before Christmas, a breeding zone for terns near Culburra on the South Coast was trampled and partly burned.

Two weeks earlier, a fence around the same site had been ripped away and temporary structures put in place to protect nesting sites were broken.

It is unclear whether the damage was inadvertent or deliberate, but in the second attack some fencing was sprayed with graffiti that may have been a reference to one of the bird sanctuary's volunteers.

"Especially for a bird like the hooded plover, this a setback for the species - with one nest gone that's essentially 2 per cent of the population wiped out," said a National Parks and Wildlife Service spokesman, Stuart Cohen. "I've been here for 18 years and this is the worst year I've seen for this sort of mindless vandalism."

The shore bird recovery program has been running successfully in NSW for a decade and about 200 volunteers regularly take part, the NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change said.

Many bird species have seen their beach habitats threatened, but vandalism is a new problem, Mr Cohen said.

"They already have to contend with foxes, dogs, cats, ravens … we didn't think humans would be so high on the list of dangers until now," he said. "It's very distressing for staff and also particularly for all the community volunteers that work on the program."

National Parks staff are working with police to identify the vandals but no one has been questioned yet. The penalties for harming endangered or threatened fauna can be high, with fines of up to $220,000 and the possibility of jail.