Territory and Municipal Services have been further incensed by another attack on the fenceline protecting their endangered Bettong population from foxes:
“This wilful vandalism is starting to border on eco-terrorism. The Sanctuary plays a vital role in ecological research and this vandalism is putting at risk years of planning and research, not to mention an Eastern bettong population which has just been released,” Mr Iglesias said.
“This is a threatened species. It is not located anywhere else on the mainland. The bettong research project involves numerous stakeholders including the ACT Government, Australian National University’s Fenner of School of Environment and Society, CSIRO and James Hutton Institute. It is also supported by the Mulligans Flat Woodland Sanctuary Board of Management.”
Mr Iglesias said the vandalism is also coming at considerable cost to taxpayers.
“Replacing the fencing and repairing all the locks which have been destroyed is taking time and money. It is also simply ridiculous that we need to employ staff to walk along a 12 kilometre fence in the middle of the night to try and ensure it is not compromised by environmental vandals.
“Fortunately our patrol has found this latest hole relatively quickly, but all it takes is one fox to get through and the results could be catastrophic. I urge anyone with information to please pass it to Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.”