Dandenong Racing Pigeon Club’s Keith Flentjar “flabbergasted” by Parks Victoria ban on Blairgowrie beach bird release
DANDENONG pigeon trainers have been left “flabbergasted” by a Parks Victoria crackdown on homing pigeons being released from a southeast beach.
Mornington Peninsula Leader last weekreported a pigeon fancier who took up to 1500 homing pigeons to Koonya Ocean Beach in Blairgowrie every Saturday morning has been told by rangers not to return with his birds.
RELATED: Parks Victoria ban pigeon fancier from releasing birds
Dandenong Racing Pigeon Club president Keith Flentjar said he had been taking his pigeons to the same spot for 40 years to train them for races.
“You have to maintain their fitness because we fly up to (960km) and so they have to be able to fly all day,” Mr Flentjar said.
“They’re not polluting anything and 99 per cent of them fly home, it’s not like they’re going to stay down there.
“For what reason are they condemning pigeons when there’s dogs, foxes, cats and whatever else in national parks.”
Mr Flentjar estimated 100-200 pigeon flyers would go to Blairgowrie and Rye each weekend to release birds.
Meanwhile, Cranbourne’s Morning Mist Pigeon Racing Club secretary Rod Cook questioned how Parks Victoria was allowed to enforce such a ban.
“Parks Victoria cannot stop anyone going into a public car park and having pigeons or any other animal that doesn’t set foot on the car park, what restrictions have they got,” he said.
“They do not own the airspace, they are only policing the ground.”
Parks Victoria area chief ranger Kris Rowe said it was an offence under National Park regulations to bring birds or other animals into a national park.
“The Koonya Beach car park is within the Mornington Peninsula National Park,” he said.
“There are alternate locations on the Mornington Peninsula where pigeons can to be released outside of the National Park.”