FRANKSTON has come fourth on an RSPCA Victoria list showing the number of cruelty to animals reports during 2017 and 2018. The Mornington Peninsula was ninth on the list which was topped by Geelong. RSPCA Victoria CEO Dr Liz Walker said that for the third year in a row, issues with providing the most basic standards of living for animals – enough food, water and shelter – made up the highest proportion of offences reported. “It breaks our hearts to see our Inspectors and vets attend to so many animals that are severely malnourished and ill, who clearly haven’t been…
Author: Keith Platt
ENTHUSIASM, if not waves, won the day when teams of surfers descended on Pines Beach, Shoreham for the second annual DSAMP Champs contest. Dressed “in wild costumes to match the occasion”, the surfers had to be content with beach games in their efforts to compete against one another. Rod Jones, of the Disabled Surfers Association Mornington Peninsula (DSAMP) said the “offbeat” competition attracted 15 teams. Organised by the Peninsula’s Maladiction Longboarders Club the event raised $2700 for DSAMP’s surfing days at Point Leo, the second Champs event Champs on Sunday 10 November saw surfers dressed as animals, pirates, 1960s rockers,…
PSYCHOLOGIST Vanessa Thiele has chosen to use a dog as the main character of a book aimed at fostering children’s “social and emotional intelligence, work ethic and grit”. Thiele says these are “mindset skills that are of particular interest to parents and teachers”. The main vehicle for these character traits is Biggles, a Jack Russell. In real life Biggles “worked” on farms for 15 years alongside Thiel’s husband Tim and his brother. “Tim worked all over the Mornington Peninsula and had lots of clients, many of who would remember Biggles,” Thiele, who practices in Hastings, says. “I was inspired to…
The horrific burning and drowning of more than 62,000 sheep seems an unlikely source of inspiration for a children’s book. But the loss of the live sheep export ship the MV Uniceb in August 1996, gave freelance writer Sally Nowlan pause for thought: imagine being a sheep caught up in the live export trade? Unlike the thousands of sheep that perished aboard the Uniceb six days into a 16-day voyage from Freemantle to Aqaba, Jordan, Nowlan’s tale does have a happy ending. While Jumbucks Misadventure certainly carries a message about the “the wrongness of live export for such creatures”, it…
A FENCE stopping access to The Pillars rock jumping platforms at Mt Martha is to be built before summer. Mornington Peninsula Shire mayor Cr Bryan Payne said the situation at The Pillars “is out of control and the only option is to close it off permanently”. The shire will also declare a 200 metre exclusion zone for boats and water craft out from the cliff face. The move seemingly defies directions from the government in 2016 not to build a fence. The latest decision to build a fence followed legal advice which stressed the shire could be “liable” if someone…