A report tabled at this week’s council meeting outlined a range of recommendations following a Parks and Wildlife Service Compliance Unit investigation and onsite meetings between PWS, Low Head penguin tour operators and acting George Town general manager Harry Galea.

The Low Head rookeries are located on a combination of private freehold and PWS managed land.

Recommendations put to council for consideration by PWS included “irregular patrols” by authorised officers and council dog control during times penguins move to and from the area, education around pet ownership responsibilities, and increased collaboration between council and PWS on information sharing and investigations.

Investigating and replacing poor and non-existent fencing on the eastern side of Low Head was also recommended, as was the establishment of a “Friends of Low Head Penguins” reference group consisting of the local community and PWS staff.

The funding of cameras to help identify any future offending animals was also put forward.

In the report taken to the January 22 meeting, implementation of the PWS letter was recommended with some expansion of the Friends of Low Head Penguins group to include an elected councillor and input on having the area protected by section 19  of the Dog Management Policy, the desirability of gate-way signage at the start of the peninsula, and “any radical approach” including the exclusion of domestic pets from protected areas.

Tony Rockliff of Devonport was at Low Head with his family and their dogs for the weekend and thought banning dogs altogether would be “unnecessary”, but rookeries needed to be protected.

“Banning all dogs from all beaches isn’t going to stop this.”

George Town Mayor Bridget Archer said the recommendations were carried by council and they will now work with PWS to establish the reference group to address the ways of preventing of dog attacks.

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“None of those have been decided yet, and that group will be able to make some decisions around that,” Ms Archer added. “I guess really at the end of the day what the council is trying to reinforce is that responsible dog ownership is critical for the ongoing management of the penguin rookery at Low Head.

“There have been a number of attacks there at Low Head. We need the whole community to help to ensure this doesn't happen in the future.”

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