November 27 2017

The petition to keep the Peacocks and other animals at Waring Gardens has been doing a roaring trade over the last twelve or so hours.

So far 200 people have signed the petition which is a higher number than a petition presented to the ERC calling on the removal of the animals from Waring Gardens.

On November 16, Council discussed the issue and the following points were made

– Staff need a Certificate III in Captive Animals
– The ERC will need two staff with the Cert III
– It costs $4290 per person to get the Cert III and it takes up to 24 months
– Enclosure needs $30,000 worth of upgrading to meet standards
– The enclosure is considered by Councils Heritage overlay as low importance
– Annual costs will jump from $6000 to $10,000 per year

Here is a quick list of options

1. Upgrade the enclosure and train the staff
2. Remove the enclosure and re-home the animals

$80,000 is set aside for the Waring Gardens in 2017/18, this includes the replacement of fences, replacing the concrete around the BBQ area, the refurbishment of the Fountain and the refurbishment of the Rotunda.

The Rotunda is the big ticket item costing $30,000 and the fountain has been a long awaited project and delaying that would cause grumblings.

The $30,000 needed to upgrade the Peacock enclosure would have to come out of the $80,000 set aside, if they go for closure and re-homing it will require $15,000 therefore delaying some of the projects planned.

Some people would be happy if they got rid of the airport expansion plan and divert some of its funds to the Gardens as the Air Freight hub idea is very unpopular and the Airport Development has $219,000 next to its name.

To see the complete picture of what can happen concerning the enclosure, click here and pick the November 16 meeting and read from page 44.

EDIT: It has been suggested on our Facebook page that perhaps businesses should unite to donate the $30,000 required to upgrade the enclosure

To reach $30,000, one easy way would to get 30 businesses to donate $1000 each to reach the target, these businesses would likely be rewarded with the gratitude of the people in way of purchases.

A second suggestion has been made that a GoFundMe account could be established but it is recognized that such an account would have to be in the hands of somebody trustworthy and a legal agreement is written up ensuring that the funds are spent solely on the enclosure and full transparency is required from the ERC.

If you got any ideas, please comment on our Facebook post reporting about this post or leave them on the petition page.