Submission to the City of Greater Geelong on the Domestic Animal Management Plan 2013-2016 Submission by BirdLife Australia on the Domestic Animal Management Plan BirdLife Australia is pleased for the opportunity to make a submission on the Domestic Animal Management Plan. Background BirdLife Australia is a highly respected, science-based, not-for-profit conservation organisation. With our specialised knowledge and the commitment of our Australia-wide network of 10,000 members, and more than 25,000 volunteers and supporters, we are dedicated to achieving outstanding conservation results for our native birds and their habitats. We have an extensive ongoing program of research, including our National ‘Beach-nesting Birds’ Program, developed to address the severe impacts of people and their recreational activities on beaches on the breeding of Australia’s native resident shorebirds, and the Shorebirds 2020 program, designed to improve our understanding of shorebird populations in Australia and work towards their conservation and management. Both of these programs are active in the greater Geelong region. Our primary concern regarding domestic animals in the greater Geelong region is around the unnecessarily high level of disturbance to shorebirds caused by inappropriate human recreation management, especially concerning domestic dogs and the threatened Hooded Plover. The impacts of human recreation have contributed wholly to the threatened status of beach-nesting birds due to the overlap with their breeding season in spring and summer months. There are several species of resident shorebirds in Australia that lay their eggs directly on the sand on beaches above the high-tide mark or in the dunes. In Victoria, this includes the Hooded Plover, Red-capped Plover, and Pied and Sooty Oystercatchers. The Hooded Plover is the most threatened beach-nesting bird in Victoria because it relies exclusively on ocean beach habitat. There are approximately 550 Hooded Plovers found in Victoria and they are classified as Vulnerable on the DSE threatened species list (Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988). Given the extremely low breeding success of Hooded Plovers, where less than 5% of breeding efforts are successful, we predict that the population will ‘crash’ in the near future and become increasingly endangered as older birds start to die off, given there are so few juvenile replacements. Critical to conservation of the species is a shift in beach use behaviour, particularly towards responsible dog walking behaviour at nesting beaches. In early 2010, two ‘Friends of the Hooded Plover’ groups, one at Breamlea and one for Barwon Heads/Pt Lonsdale region, were formed. There are approximately 36 volunteers in these groups and they are heavily involved in monitoring the breeding attempts of the 10 pairs along the beaches between Pt Impossible and Pt Lonsdale lighthouse. They collect data on threats at the sites and report levels of leashing on average as low as 1 13%. In one walk for example, by a volunteer from Collendina to Point Lonsdale (2/1/11), 70 dogs off the leash were observed and 3 on lead. This is prime Hooded Plover habitat and this was during the peak of the breeding season and with signage requesting dogs to be on the lead. How are breeding Hooded Plovers threatened by domestic dogs? The impacts of dogs on Hooded Plovers are well documented and there is direct evidence for all of the below threats: • Direct crushing of well-camouflaged eggs and chicks by dogs off leash moving above the high-tide mark and in the dunes; • Direct predation of eggs and chicks by dogs that detect their presence through scent or sight; • Disturbance of the incubating adults – research shows when an off leash dog approaches a nesting area that the birds react from double the distance and spend longer periods away from the nest, compared to a walker or walker with an on-leash dog (see Weston and Elgar 2007; Glover et al. 2011). This relates to the greater speed and the irregularity of direction that unleashed dogs take; they are more likely to explore and to move onto the upper beach (Burger 1986), while walkers more commonly choose to move linearly along the hard sand (and a leashed dog moves predictably alongside of them). This disturbance on a day with high temperatures or gale force winds can be lethal within less than 30 minutes for example. When a beach receives numerous visitors and numerous off leash dogs, then the impacts quickly become cumulative. • Disturbance of the chicks and adults – when the eggs hatch, the chicks are tiny, well-camouflaged and flightless for 35 days after hatching. They become mobile immediately after hatching and need to feed by the water’s edge. The role of the parents is to warn them of approaching danger. When a person or dog approaches, the chicks run from the water’s edge or seaweed line to the upper beach or dunes. If the dog chases the adults away from the chicks, then the chicks are left unattended and can be predated by gulls and ravens, or stepped on by other approaching people as the parents can’t herd them to safety. Contrary to popular belief, chasing is not the only impact of unleashed dogs to the chicks. Chicks go into hiding earlier (about 100m) and for longer periods when an unleashed dog is sighted, and can starve or dehydrate if hidden for too long a period (Weston and Elgar 2005). 2 Hooded Plovers in the Greater Geelong area In the Greater Geelong area, the Geelong Field Naturalists club, BirdLife Bellarine Peninsula, Breamlea Coastcare, Ocean Grove Coastcare, Barwon Coast Committee of Management, City of Greater Geelong Council, Barwon Water and Coast Action/Coast Care have become heavily involved in the project, not to mention coastal residents. The stretch of coast between Pt Impossible and Pt Lonsdale has 10 breeding pairs, of which in any given season, two to three pairs successfully breed. These successes come from different sites each season and this highlights the importance of each site on the Bellarine Peninsula and their value for breeding to the Victorian population. There is a need to value and protect each of these sites, particularly as they form a strong connection to sites west of here and across the bay on the Mornington Peninsula (banding birds has shown significant exchange of individuals between these areas showing that breeding output from the Bellarine plays a major role in boosting population numbers across the state). These successes have not been without effort from the community and beach managers, including City of Greater Geelong (contact Alex Shackleton). Signs had to be erected on beaches either side of the nesting site to warn the public they were entering a nesting area. In some areas, a 30-50m section of the upper beach was also fenced off. Small wooden chick shelters were placed on the beach as refuges for chicks to run to when disturbed. Volunteers visited the beach regularly to talk to passers by and in particular to request they put their dog on the leash when moving past the area. While the majority of people are happy to comply once they were told of the significance of the area to this threatened bird, there are several dog owners that raised objections stemming from confusion about how dogs impact the eggs and chicks of beach-nesting birds (see also Williams 2009). Many believed that their dog was harmless and many thought that chasing was the concern, but did not recognise that the danger was through their dog running all over the beach and up into the dunes in the vicinity of chicks and nests. 3 Previous input to the Animal Management Plan BirdLife Australia, formerly as Birds Australia, expressed serious concerns over the designation of the majority of Hooded Plover beach sites as Category 1 Off-leash areas with the note ‘there may be some short term restrictions on beaches where the hooded plover is nesting’. In 2010, after considerable communication and negotiations with City of Greater Geelong, signs at access points between Point Impossible and Point Lonsdale lighthouse was installed which have the capacity to be switched seasonally to read ‘Be aware Hooded Plover nesting. Dogs must remain on leash at all times’ during the breeding season, and during the non-breeding months, switched to ‘Dogs permitted to be off leash under effective control’. See image below. 4 Comments on the 2013-2016 Animal Management Plan We commend City of Greater Geelong for recognising the significance of the Hooded Plover population on the beaches of Greater Geelong and for their efforts so far to address this issue. While the above signs and concern shown by City of Greater Geelong council have merit, after two seasons of using the seasonal signs as above, we think that these are not resulting in a significant shift in leashing behaviour and have had minimal benefit to increasing leashing at Hooded Plover breeding beaches. While it is a great idea to have signs that can be switched and a seasonal leashing regulation that is for the protection of these threatened birds, these are not proving to be effective and this warrants a need to improve the current set up. We believe that there are two major limitations to the effectiveness of the current strategy: 1. The inclusion of the Hooded Plover dog access restrictions under ‘Category 1’. If you look at the Walk Time maps, Hooded Plover beaches are marked in green and so a first impression lends a dog walker to believe those beaches are off-leash areas. If they read the information under Category 1, there is a note that ‘there may be some short term restrictions on beaches where the hooded plover is nesting’ and this is denoted by a bird symbol on the map.