A RIVERLAND council has endorsed the culling of little corellas in the district, as the birds continue to cause damage to the local environment and infrastructure.
At Berri Barmera Council’s monthly meeting last Wednesday, elected members passed a motion to permit council staff to undertake “humane lethal destruction through shooting” for population control and “to minimise damage within the district”.
“Anything they get to, they will chew it – so they have got to go,” said Cr Trevor Scott, who voted in favour of the motion.
In a report to council, infrastructure services manager Dave Otto de Grancy said residents had been impacted by corella flocks due to their noise and the mess of leaves they leave behind.
“The clean-up of this comes at a large cost to council through staffing as it is difficult to keep up due to the huge numbers currently within the area,” he said
“Council officers undertake scaring techniques to discourage corellas away from specific problem sites.
“This is only undertaken on council land when corellas are present and are deemed to be causing nuisance, either by damage or excessive noise.
“However, we have found that these techniques are only effective in the very short term – hours, if we are lucky – and as such, additional measures need to be implemented to ensure the protection of our townships.
“Given we are dealing with the largest flock we have seen, and its continued growth, we feel that population control is now required.
“There are a number of humane destruction options available, however, we believe that the most economic, timely and available option to council is to undertake humane culling through shooting.”
The council will continue to use gas guns and bird-fright bullets to disperse flocks.
At last month’s meeting of the District Council of Loxton Waikerie, elected members moved to request that the “Riverland Local Government Forum lobby the State Government to urgently facilitate a statewide approach to management of little corella”