And the good news is:  dogs have been banned from the Mornington Peninsula National Park.

It has taken many years to achieve this result and many many people have contributed to this positive outcome. I cannot name them all but importantly they all had Hooded Plover conservation foremost in their minds.  They all gave up their own leisure time to protect this species whilst also putting their safety at risk.

This effort over many years by many people used science to identify limiting factors, involved staff from many organisations who contributed many unpaid hours and dozens of volunteers who have had to watch tiny Hooded Plover chicks disappear, sometimes see them die in front of their eyes.

But the work is not over yet and there is a need for more research and monitoring. The good news is, it will be more pleasant on the beaches once this ban is in force.

 

 

Malcolm Brown