Council reminds land owners to shut the gate

8 August, 2013Posted in: Other
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Wingecarribee Shire Council Rangers are asking local land owners and managers to check their property’s fencing following a spate of unattended livestock making their way onto our Shire’s roads.

“We’ve had a series of near misses of late where we’ve had to attend to livestock wandering our roads,” said Council’s Group Manager Development Services, Nicholas Wilton.

The call follows a serious incident in late July where a Toyota Hilux struck a wayward cow in Colo Vale.

“On this occasion the driver was lucky to escape serious incident,” said Mr Wilton. “The same can’t be said for the cow.”

On average Council Rangers attend to approximately a dozen requests per month to help secure unattended livestock. The last two months Rangers have attended to 23 and 31 requests respectively.

“Apart from the obvious ramifications of loose livestock causing injury or worse to motorists, owners of the animals may also be liable for any financial damages and be on the receiving end of an infringement notice from Council.”

“Anecdotal evidence suggests that apart from unsecure or poorly maintained fencing, it would appear that in some of the instances the livestock have gone looking for fresh feed due to the scarcity of winter grass,” Mr Wilton added.

“We therefore ask that apart from securing their fencing, livestock owners and managers also ensure that adequate feed is available to discourage their livestock from looking for alternate food sources.”