​Cartoon by Natasha Williams-Novak
By Catherine Watson
PHILLIP Island wildlife carers Kaylene Mendola and Colleen Gilbee found plenty of support when the council confiscated their warning signs late last month.
The signs warned motorists to go slow to avoid injuring or killing the island’s native wildlife.
PHILLIP Island wildlife carers Kaylene Mendola and Colleen Gilbee found plenty of support when the council confiscated their warning signs late last month.
The signs warned motorists to go slow to avoid injuring or killing the island’s native wildlife.
The council's impoundment letter However, zealous council staff deemed the signs a hazard and “impounded” them. To add insult to injury, the council sent the volunteer carers a bill of $2470 - $130 per sign – to have the signs released from the pound.
According to Kaylene, they had made two attempts to find out what they needed to do to put out the signs and the council never returned the calls.
She posted: “In all the years we’ve been doing the rescues, they [council] have never helped with ongoing support for wildlife but are very happy to forward calls from members of the public that have found injured wildlife.”
Within a day more than 800 people had signed a Change.org petition calling on the council to let the signs remain and the council became the subject of statewide radio talkback outrage.
CEO Paul Buckley quickly moved to smooth troubled waters, telling ABC Radio Melbourne’s Jon Faine, 3AW’s Tony Jones and ABC Gippsland that the council had removed the signs due to safety concerns and VicRoads signage rules.
However, he promised all fees would be waived and the council would work with the rescue group to find the best places for their signs. He also paid tribute to their valuable work.
According to Kaylene, they had made two attempts to find out what they needed to do to put out the signs and the council never returned the calls.
She posted: “In all the years we’ve been doing the rescues, they [council] have never helped with ongoing support for wildlife but are very happy to forward calls from members of the public that have found injured wildlife.”
Within a day more than 800 people had signed a Change.org petition calling on the council to let the signs remain and the council became the subject of statewide radio talkback outrage.
CEO Paul Buckley quickly moved to smooth troubled waters, telling ABC Radio Melbourne’s Jon Faine, 3AW’s Tony Jones and ABC Gippsland that the council had removed the signs due to safety concerns and VicRoads signage rules.
However, he promised all fees would be waived and the council would work with the rescue group to find the best places for their signs. He also paid tribute to their valuable work.