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Pet owner urges council to rethink scare guns

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Christine Webster, Murray Pioneer

A Waikerie pet owner is calling on Loxton Waikerie council to review its use of scare guns to control corellas after her dog went missing for several hours when becoming startled by noise.

Judy Channon after returning from work, on 11 December last year, discovered her purebred blue heeler, Gus, was missing from home.

“I got home at 11am from Berri and thought it was strange that Gus was not meeting me at the side gate like he normally does,” Ms Channon said.

“I was calling out to him and there was nothing, and I went to the back door and there was nothing, and I wondered how did he get out of the yard?”

She said Gus had managed to climb over the fence in her yard by using a tap as leverage.

Ms Channon is certain it was noise of the scare guns that caused Gus to run off as he had reacted in this way before, but had always returned home.

“All he can think of is that he needs to get away from it,” she said.

Ms Channon said a fence had been made higher to stop the dog from running off, but this failed to prevent him on this occasion.

Ms Channon, her partner Paul, friends and family, spent the rest of that day driving around the town searching for Gus.

She also requested assistance via Facebook from the community to help find her eight-year-old dog.

“One person told us that they had seen him running around behind Woolworths, but that was all,” Ms Channon said.

“A lady later posted on social media that she had seen him running across the roundabout, but did not say what time.”

Ms Channon said her neighbour also told them he had heard a dog whining at about 1pm.

She wonders if Gus had returned home and found no one there, as everyone was out looking for him, and then ran off again.

Ms Channon said her son, during a search for Gus, at the lookout near O’Loughlin Street, which is part of the Waikerie Rotary Cliff Top Walk, thought he heard a noise, but was unable to find anything.

She said this was possibly because her dog was on a cliff.

Ms Channon said no other reports were received of Gus’s whereabouts, and by 9pm she had lost hope of ever finding him again.

But in a stroke of luck, a canoeist contacted police after noticing a dog on a ledge of a cliff, upstream from the Waikerie ferry.

“He apparently went over to him, but was unable to retrieve him and contacted the police, who contacted the Barmera SES to rescue Gus,” Judy said.

James Copeland
Waikerie houseboat operator James Copeland who used his pontoon boat to help rescue ‘Gus’, Judy Channon’s pet blue heeler in December. File photo.

Her son also decided to contact Waikerie houseboat operator, James Copeland, to assist in the rescue.

Mr Copeland responded quickly, and within five minutes Paul and Mat joined him on his pontoon boat on the Murray River to look for Gus.

“They had spotlights, but it was hard for them to see him because he was hiding, as he was frightened because he is not a very brave dog,” Ms Channon said.

“They called out to him and then he recognised Mat and Paul and he started howling and squealing.”

Ms Channon said they managed to coax him off the cliff onto the pontoon boat, around the time the Barmera SES arrived.

She is grateful to Mr Copeland, the canoeist and her friends and family who helped search for Gus and relieved he was returned home safely.

Mr Copeland would not accept their offers of money to cover the petrol he used to drive his pontoon boat for the search.

“He went home like it was something he does every day,” Ms Channon said.

“I just think it is beautiful we have people in our midst that would do things like that,” she said.

Mr Copeland told The Murray Pioneer he has known Judy and Mat for many years and was happy to help.

“He was one happy fella that dog, when we rescued him from the ledge of the cliff,” he said.

“He wasn’t barking, he just came onto the boat his whole body was shaking, and his tail was wagging and he came up to each of us.”

Corella controlling is complex, says council

Loxton Waikerie council has described corella control as complex and challenging.

Manager of environmental service, Cheryle Pedler said corella control remains an ongoing challenge, with measures needed across all major townships.

Waikerie pet owner Judy Channon is urging council to find a more humane way of controlling corellas, after her dog, Gus, ran away and went missing for about 10-hours last month due to the noise made from scare guns being fired.

“In his mind, Gus just wants to get away from that noise because it frightens him,” she said.

“We have technology, why can’t council put something up in the trees that will hum or something like that.

“Perhaps something can be used instead that can be controlled with a mobile phone or that has batteries and buzzes or hums or spins around enough to frighten the birds.”

Ms Pedler said the situation was “a complex issue, as there are limits to what can be done to mitigate the significant environmental impact of the little corella.”

“This matter will be brought to council for further discussion at the January 2025 meeting,” she said.

Murray Pioneer 15 January 2025

This article appeared in the Murray Pioneer, 15 January 2025.

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