Robert Webber, Byron Bay
Wildlife rescuers and carers are already busy with caring for accident victims and chicks falling from nests without having to deal with acts of stupidity and cruelty.
On a recent weekend a neighbour and I retrieved a small plover chick from the bottom of a 1.8m drain in Wollumbin Street, Byron Bay. We knew it was there from the distressed calls of the parent bird that refused to leave the drain.
The chick died a short time later. This was not a natural death. Over several days a group of boys using the street for skateboarding had been harassing the plover family. Despite being asked to leave the birds alone, the boys came back to taunt the birds. Another chick cannot be found.
I hope that the parents who read this will recognise their children and caution them. Harassment of plovers is animal cruelty against a protected species and it should not be tolerated anywhere.
